new hardware big issues

i recieved a new videocard, ram and power supply. my husband installed them the other day. after installing windows would reach the desktop and continually restart. so he had the bright idea to format the hd. after formatting it was virtually impossible to get windows reinstalled. so we cloned his hd on to my hd. even bigger issues windows wont even try to load before it restarts. we have tested the hd on his computer and it works fine there. what else could be causing issues? i am using an emachine with 2gb of ram, 3.33 ghz progessor, 460 watt power supply, the new videocard isnt in the computer yet so its an onboard pci-e atm.

sorry i forgot to add that now that windows is on the hd, that my computer will not boot windows at all it gets to start windows normally when i select that it restarts without attemting to load windows.

Wow! Sorry to hear things went wrong here.

If you have any data on that hard drive you do not want to lose, then before anything else, I strongly recommend you pull that drive and install it in the other PC, then copy off your documents, pictures, email, favorites/bookmarks, etc. so you have a back up on hand.

Formatting and reinstalling is always a last resort as so much is lost, including drivers needed for the system to boot, as well as months, if not years of critical security updates.

Cloning his copy of Windows to install on your machine is, quite frankly, stealing! Don't do it. Beyond that, unless the hardware on both PCs is identical, down to the exact same make, model, and revision number of the motherboard, it will fail. Remember, the motherboard is not one piece of hardware with one driver. Most motherboards have integrated sound cards, network interface cards, USB controllers, EIDE, floppy, and SATA drive controllers, and more - all with unique drivers! So because his copy is configured for his hardware, it chokes when it sees yours. Windows loads up his drivers, and they don't work with your hardware.

It would be nice if all PC makers provided original Windows installation disks with all PCs but they don't. Some only provide a "recovery disk" to restore your computer back to the off-the-shelf status. Some computers only come with a hidden partition on the hard drive used for recovery. Check your manual to see how to "recover" your computer.

If none of that helps, you may need to purchase an XP license for an original installation disk for that computer, then do a fresh install. I would not recommend Vista. Current operating systems require current hardware to run as expected.