added second hdd and now this problem

The rig is a HP 8275 pavilion, with win me and it was running just fine before I did this:... I added a( unformatted with w98se in it from another rig )small 5 gb hdd WD and set to slave , the cable is also connected as a slave,and I rechecked everything before booting ,then I fire it up, and here is what is happening: the boot sequence indicated that all the hardware and the installed hdd as slave and the splash win me come in for a second and the next it ask to boot in a safe mode and when I go for it, it won't go in safe mode, but return to the option for safe mode again, and in I have tried the normal mode and there too ,is the same on and on, it won't boot to windows or safe or normal at all. So I went back and disconnected the added WD drive ,( now the rig is back to the factory hardware set up ) and the same exact problem, the rig is booting to safe mode option, but no safe mode, ps: I have made the win me EBD before I started this. I like this rig altho it's slow, and a Hp, but it has been dependable and with very few quirks, how can I fix this " inconsistency" thanks a billion!