Well I bought new parts for my computer because it was old and tired with things dead. My HDD is still good so I didn't get a new one and hooked everything but the computer won't boot if the ide HDD is connected to teh MOBO.

If teh HDD isn't plugged in then I can get to the BIOS screen. If I have my HDD connected nothing happens.

The HDD has Windows XP on it.

Nothing happens? Power? LED's? Fans? Or just nothing on the monitor?

Have you tried both IDE connectors? Or is this a SATA drive?

Once you get it detected you will have to reinstall XP but that has nothing to do with it stopping the BIOS

Nothings happens with the HDD pluged in. It is an ATA/IDE drive set on cable select.
If I unplug teh IDE cable teh computer will let me get to the bios screen and thats all I can do.

Ok well I might of found the problem... If I have power connected to the HDD the computer won't start. I have a 430W powersuply so power souldn't be the problem... I'll keep trying things but I'm alittle confused.

With the cable plugged in and you power on there is no power?

What happens with the cable plugged in with no drive (just cable)

Also try this on both the Primary and Secondary board slot.

I tried both the Primary and Secondary board slots.

When I have the power connected to the HDD and I press the power button I can see the Heatsink fan move a tiny ammount and quit. If the power isn't connected to the HDD the PC wil boot. I tried removing the power from my CD drives but the same result occured.

Have you tried a different power lead?

This drive was working OK previously?

Have you examined the pins?

http://www.fonerbooks.com/poster.pdf

Hmm. Well I'm sorry I wasted your time it looks like it is a bad HDD. I installed a very small one I had in an external device and it just booted. I got new parts because I needed to get a faster and more capabile computer but I thought teh PSU was what didn't let my compter run not my HDD.

No problem.

Let us know if we can help further in the future.

If the new board has SATA ports then you have the opportunity to upgrade to SATA