Black screen w/blinking cursor after hdd install

Twoods

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Jan 16, 2012
11
0
18,510
Hi all,
I tried to upgrade my dad's Dell Dimension 4600 with a new hard drive. He currently has a 40 gb IDE drive. I tried to install a 500 gb WD sata drive. After installing it I booted up the computer and the BIOS recognized it and I was able to access it. I then tried to copy the old hard drive onto the new one with the manufacturer's software and the computer restarted. Now the BIOS recognizes the new 500 gb sata drive, but when the computer passes BIOS it goes to a black screen with a black cursor. If I unplug the new sata drive the computer boots up just fine. I have the old IDE drive set as primary master and the cd-rom set up as primary slave. I've tried the sata drive on both primary and secondary and I get the same results. He is running windows xp sp3. Does anyone know how to fix this or give me any insight?