Windows not loading?

[BearMills]

Hey all,
I've recentley bought a new PC,A Dell (Not sure which series,Beleive it's DE051)
I took the hard drive out and formatted and installed Windows XP SP2 on it using my main PC I use (Custom job). I've plugged the Hard drive back in and when I boot the Dell up it tells me to strike either F1 to continue or F2 to go to system menu,the bios. I've tried everything and all I get is the black screen saying:
Start windows normally
Start using last good config
etc etc
If I choose normally,It loads the white bar and just restarts the PC again!
Does anyone have a clue as to what my problem is...I beleive it is the OS.

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

It is the OS, in a way. You installed it using a different computer that probably has different parts (most importantly the mainboard), so it has your main PC's drivers installed, not your Dell machine's.

If you need to install the OS using your main PC, follow this guide:

How to replace the motherboard on a computer that is running Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, or Windows 2000

 

[raybay]

When you install it with a different computer, you cause the problem.
Windows XP, particularly one from a manufacturer's disk set, will behave badly when the drive is installed in any other machine.
Windows XP detects all the hardware when it starts up. Changes in memory are OK, but changes to video graphics, motherboard chipset, BIOS, or hard drive will alert Windows that the hardware configuration has changed. This is a violation of the piracy protection installed by Microsoft. As soon as the Windows on the hard drive detects those changes, it will shut down. Windows will want the configuration with which it was originally installed. It will quit automatically, and will not start up again, once that configuration has changed... even if you go back to the original machine.
You can do a repair install with the full version of Windows XP, but that option is not available with the Dell disk set.