new hdd

[#1]

Thanks. Given that one of the connectors was a little dodgy I will replace the hdd cable with o e I used to use when I had ide drives.  It's def an 80 pin cable. Will check dma as well. If still no joy then i will have to reinstall windows which I thought I would have got away with. ..

[#2]

SOLVED.......
Finally sorted the issues. Got back tonight, and checked the dma setting when it eventually booted up, but the primary ide was set to dma5, secondary set to dma3 (dvd drive).
As the system refused to boot off one of the ide connectors last night, I removed and replaced the cable with a better quality one. Immediately the system booted faster but was still a bit sluggish. Although it was defragged last night, and it wasnt fragmented today, according to defraggler the pagefile was all over the drive.  I did a pagefile defrag, used cccleaner to clean the system up as much as poss, and uninstalled all programs he didnt use. Result is great, I timed the system from bios spash to logging in and hdd stopping flashing, it was a shade over 3mins 45secs which for an old xp system I think is pretty good.  (MSE also found a trogan)
Many thanks for everyones help and advice, I appreciate it. Will probably get another gig of ram for it if I can find at a resonable price, its older ddr pc2700.
I will keep the dma thing in mind though, useful advice....

[#3]

Yah!

Best place for DDR of that vintage is eBay - used Corsair Value Select or Kingston *low density* DDR at around  £15
Do not buy high density DDR - even if it looks a bargain - as it's likely to be very unstable or not work at all.
You could also consider an upgrade to the fastest procesor the board can take - check the Mobo spec - again eBay for around £8
......but that's all for another weekend