Virgin dual boot, Win7 Pro + XP Pro

I'm ready to boot up for the first time, after the hardware upgrade, but I can imagine there must be a correct route to follow.
I've been running XP Pro 32 bit w/o any hassles.
Now installed a new mobo plus a 2nd h/d (also SATA).
The aim is to install Win7 Pro 64 bit (already purchased) on the new h/d and use dual boot.
Should I boot up and attempt to install Win7 or should I first disconnect the XP drive?
From which angle should I start?
I expect XP will not accept the new mobo? Before I boot up, any suggestions, or ref sites, that should be followed to reduce the pain?

Thanks JK but will XP accept the new mobo w/o any complaints or are you saying I must do a repair of some kind which will bring the driver updating in play?
I'm a bit slow here cause I'm worried I may do damage that I cannot fix.

XP requires a Repair Install on new hardware to acclimate it correctly.

Boot the XP CD, ignoring first R for Repair but continuiing with Setup until it finds the installation, then choosing that "R" for Repair. You'll need to reactivate when finished.

Now unplug XP and try booting Win7. It has started straightaway in about a dozen moves to other hardware I have done, swapping out all Drivers while requesting several restarts.

Shut down, replug XP then either run a Repair Install of Win7 (if it has any kinks to work out) which will reconfigure the dual boot, or install EasyBCD 2.0 after doing quick registration to use beta, add XP on Add/remove tab accepting offered boot files.

If any probs post back a screenshot of full Disk management drive map, using Snipping Tool in start menu, attaching file using paper clip in reply box.

We (my friend Murphy) are back and other hassles stepped in.
Thanks for the advice and I followed it by startting with a XP CD boot up.
I immediately noticed that the CD/DVD drive not kicking in, no noise.

The first window that comes up is from the new mobo and mentions that it requires set up. Pressing the delete key brings up the Bios settings. I can see that the prev mobo still shown there and that my CD/DVD drive is listed as 1st boot up. It says it is USB which I find strange, it is connected to the mobo via a 24-pin plug which is shown as IDE.
My guess is that the CD/DVD drive is not actually in the boot up string? It is a Nec ND4570.
After above I get BSOD with 0x0000007E (0x00000065, 0xBA9F8756, 0xBACC342C, 0xBACC3128).
The new mobo is an AsusM4A785TD-M EVO, the cpu is AMD Athlon II X2 and I've installed x4 RAM of 2GB each.
I did not make any changes in the Bios. My topic now drifting away from normal Win7 dual boot, any hope?

JK - No I do not have any options, only the Delete key to open the Bios setup. The popup is a full color screen showng the Asus mobo trade marks and logo. Once past that I'm back to BSOD with 0x0000007E (0x00000065, 0xBA9F8756, 0xBACC342C, 0xBACC3128).

It seems MS will be winning this round
I cannot boot up with my XP CD - BSOD due to new mobo
I cannot boot up with the new mobo CD because the only option I get is:

"Welcome to ASUS Motherboard Make Disk for DOS Menu"
Within I have two options:
Make ATI XP/XP 64bit AHCI/RAID Driver Disk - I do not have a floppy drive
or
FreeDOS command prompt which gives me a C: prompt and that's it.

Time to give up and forget about dual booot?