xpp home wont boot from HD

My Father got a computer from my brother with xp home on it. I spent some time removing all the junk on it and adding things for him to use. I added a new network dialup for an ISP I signed him up for and it checked ok, I was then changing the email login when the computer locked up.
I rebooted and it would not recognize the HD. I just get a - at the top of the screen.
I removed the HD and put it on my computer and it looked ok. I copied the HD (files) to my HD. I then reformatted and copied back all his files. It still wont boot from his HD. So I downloaded a XP boot disk that has
boot.ini
ntdetect.com
ntldr

on it, it boots from the floppy and loads into XP on his computer with his HD as long as I boot to the floppy first. So I know everything is ok. However I cant make it boot from his HD Drive 0 without booting to the floppy first. I also tried booting into safe mode. Same problem.
I copied all the files to C: but it still wont boot.
I tried booting with my XP pro cd into the recovery consol but it wants the Admin password and I dont know it nor does he and my brother forgot it. I tried to change it with a linux floppy that goes through the motions except changing the password which doesnt change. I only have XP pro and nobody has a xp home CD. I am guessing that the MBR is bad but dont know how to fix it without the recovery consol. If I cant find an answer soon Ill have to put a copy of XP pro on it but it wont be legal which the XP home was.

Does anybody know how to get the computer to boot from the HD?

Thanks
.

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