hi all i have a hand me down laptop and i would lile to add a bigger HD to it here are the details (i have a 20gb from a dead Archos) i cloned it with
ghost but after swapping the drives it does not boot (i might need a Bios update any ideas

Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (build 2600)
650 megahertz Intel Pentium III
32 kilobyte primary memory cache
256 kilobyte secondary memory cache

Board: IBM 26459FU
Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
BIOS: IBM ITET48WW 11/30/1999

12.07 GB 3.81 GB free
576 Megabytes Installed Memory

Ok, if your laptop does not boot, I'd suggest formating your HD and reinstalling XP. If you want to get your files off your old HD, my suggestion is too get an adapter that turns it into a USB drive. Here is an example (http://www.pccyber.com/scrItem.asp?product_id=3248&product_subtypes_id=111&product_types_id=9)

You can probly find something of the like where you live. (I live in Canada)

Good luck

Is the BIOS set to auto-detect all the drives?

The drive parameters need to be correctly configured in the BIOS Setup.
That's normally done one of three ways:
1. Dynamic Auto-Detection.
[The best method. The drive is detected & configured anew at every boot.]
2. Static Auto-Detection.
[Not so good. The dive is detected & configured manually and the settings remain static until re-detected. If the drive is changed and not re-detected, the settings could be wrong. (Probably what's happening in your case.)]
2. Manually entering the drive settings. [Same disadvantages as 2 above.]

When you added the new HDD as slave [on the Primary IDE Controller], it needed to be detected and catered for.
Then when you switched Master/Slave jumpers, that change also needed to be catered for.

Were both connected to the Primary IDE controller?
Is the BIOS capable of giving addresses to the full capacity of the new larger HDD?