Booting Problem (Major Issue)

[Blizzarious]

Hi guys, how are all of you? I recently got this PC from a family member of mine and he told me that it wouldn't boot up. I decided to take it off his hands because I simple thought I could go into system recovery but now I don't know what the issue is.

Power > Distorted boot screen > Nothing else

The only reason I want this computer working is to get all the family photos off of it. About 3,000 of them, also some music. So, what I'm thinking is can I put this hard drive in my computer and see if it works? Will it be compatible and or mess up my other hardware? Or can I have both hard drives in at the same time and choose which one to boot?

Computer that's broken: Windows XPhttp://www.amazon.com/dp/B000KILB32/ HP Pavilion a6500f PC
My computer: Windows 8.1 Build

If you need me to run tests/diagnostics that are possible on this computer please let me know what to run and I will do it right away!

Here is a video of what's happening: https://vid.me/AH53

 

[carnageX]

If you just want to try and recover stuff off of the drive, then you can do that like you said:

Plug in the HDD from there into your computer (as long as it has the correct connections), and then boot off of your HDD like normal. Once you get into Windows you should be able to browse the drive. You may have to take ownership of some of the folders (such as My Documents / My Pictures), but that's easily done as such:
Take Ownership of a File or Folder

If you want to try and get this system booting, then I'd start out by trying out 1 stick of RAM and see if it boots or not.

 

[Blizzarious]

If you just want to try and recover stuff off of the drive, then you can do that like you said:

Plug in the HDD from there into your computer (as long as it has the correct connections), and then boot off of your HDD like normal. Once you get into Windows you should be able to browse the drive. You may have to take ownership of some of the folders (such as My Documents / My Pictures), but that's easily done as such:
Take Ownership of a File or Folder

If you want to try and get this system booting, then I'd start out by trying out 1 stick of RAM and see if it boots or not.

Removing the RAM didn't work. I took the HDD and put it in my computer. It loads up BIOS and moves me to choose "Run Windows Normally" or "Repair". When trying to start normally it shows a blue screen, super quickly it goes away. I can't even read what it says. I've repaired twice. I can't get in, what should I try now?

 

[carnageX]

Removing the RAM didn't work. I took the HDD and put it in my computer. It loads up BIOS and moves me to choose "Run Windows Normally" or "Repair". When trying to start normally it shows a blue screen, super quickly it goes away. I can't even read what it says. I've repaired twice. I can't get in, what should I try now?

Don't try booting off of the other HDD. That's not going to work.

Just boot off of your HDD like normal and have the other HDD as a secondary drive. Then you can browse the old HDD while in your account.