It should work OK Sun, as long as you download and install it new, and let it find an applicable sensors, etc. Functionality just depends on the motherboard, and what sensors and capabilities it has.
I'm perplexed by the no bot status of your old hard drive - normally it would boot but would run funny as it would contain old drivers etc, that were specific to your old system that it came out of.
"Friends don't let friends dial-up"