How would I go about transfering a hard drive from a computer that no longer works do to the motherboard, to an existing computer?

If you are just wanting the drive or it's data just unplug and remove it from the non-working case and then plug it into the working computer.

If you need help with this process please ask. We can find some tutorial I am sure.

If you want to extract data you will need to change the jumper to slave and install as a slave drive.

If you intend to continue to use the XP that is on the drive as an Operating System then you would install as a Master.

After this you would need to run at least a Repair Install of XP. A Clean Install would be recommended.

Well what i did was plug the hard drive into the new computer. But the system hangs on the boot screen thats asks if i would like to start up with normal system settings, safe mode, ect.

You need to boot the XP CD and either Repair or Clean Install.

If possible, it would be better to install your hard drive as a slave in the working computer because then you can keep all your music/videos/documents and everything on the existing hard drive as well (including all programs you have installed and any XP updates)

however, if you install it as a master and remove the other drive,
like Jephree said, you will need to perform a clean install or repair install of xp, if you chose the clean install, you will lose EVERYTHING on your drive, with a repair install, you can keep all documents but your programs will need to be re-installed (e.g. office, games and any other software you have installed)

so how do i install the second hard drive as a slave?

There are a few guides in this search:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&s...ve&btnG=Search

Let us know if you need further clarification.

I put the drive in and designated it as a slave correctly. It comes up as drive (E) under my computer, but I cannot access the drive. When i click on it i get promped to format, and that is a problem b/c I want the info on the drive.

Is it seen in Disk Management?

Right click My Computer then click Manage then Disk Management

If so what is the file system and does it detect any used space?

It is in the Disk Management. There is no file system listed, and it does not detect any used space.