You can make it work, if you have an ABAP only system, but you will have to convert your new system to non-unicode first:
- Determine the current kernel version of your (Unicode) kernel: Open the SAP MMC console on the server, right-click on your system and select "Version info".
- Download the non-unicode kernel of the same version with the same or higher patch level.
- Your system's Unicode kernel is stored in <drive>\usr\sap\<SID>\SYS\exe\uc\<hardwareKey>. Create folder <drive>\usr\sap\<SID>\SYS\exe\nuc\<hardwareKey> and unpack the kernel archives from step 2 to this folder.
- Shut down your system including all services, then copy the non-unicode kernel from step 3 to all <drive>\usr\sap\<SID>\<Instance>\exe folders of your system. (In a test system, there is typically just one.) Make sure to replace the entire folder content, so there are no Unicode binaries left.
- Edit all start profiles of your system and replace the uc folder from step 3 with the nuc folder. (If you forget this, then sapcpe will copy the Unicode kernel right back.) Double check all other profiles, to make sure they don't contain the uc folder, just in case!
- Restart all services. Your instances should now come up.
If you still get errors, please attach the log files.