Can't boot Windows XP after putting HD into another RAID 1 PC

Question

I have an existing Windows 7 system with RAID 1 set up on two HDDs.

I have a third HD from an old computer that has Windows XP Pro SP3 on it. I want to put this HD into the new computer so I can boot from there to get to XP Pro. I am able to put this HD into the new PC, and Windows 7 recognizes it as F: drive.

However, when I try to boot from here, it gets to the Windows XP Pro splash screen and then fails. I believe it is due to the RAID drivers not being there. Is there a way I can get the RAID drivers installed on the XP Pro HD using the current running Windows 7 system?

I don't have a floppy disk drive to use the F6 method.

PS: Somewhere else it was mentioned that changing a motherboard means you have to completely reinstall Windows. Is this true? In effect, this is what I did – I took an HD out of another computer and put it into my new computer.

Answer 1

Changing a motherboard doesn't always mean reinstallation, (You will need to reactivate though) if you strip out the drivers that Windows is expecting it will boot up and search for the appropriate drivers.
However this is a bit hit and miss, it has and hasn't worked for me. One way that has always worked for me is using Acronis and a bare metal restore. If a product such as clonezilla or other freeware solution does this you could try that.
Otherwise i would try preinstalling the drivers you need to the XP installation, uninstall the hardware and then put it into the new system or borrowing a USB floppy

Answer 2

PS you have to deactivate windows in old computer (with good internet connection) and activate same copy on new computer. Most problems are caused changing video ATI vs NVIDIA or CPU Intel vs AMD.