The first consideration is going to be your tax situation. Any withdrawal from your 401K plan must be considered income and it will be taxable income under any circumstances, at any age.

Beyond that, unless you meet the limited criteria, withdrawing money from your 401K before age 59 and 1/2 can cause you to have to pay an additional 10% beyond regular taxation as penalty for withdrawing early.

There are exceptions to the 10% penalty:
Death or disability
Over 55 and retired or left your job
You had a medical crisis that caused you to incur a medical bill that equaled more than 7 1/2% of your adjusted gross income.
The 401K distribution was ordered by a court (separation or divorce decree)

There are more exceptions and, depending on the circumstances you may have at present, it may be well worth your while to retain an accountant to help you figure out what is in your best financial interests.

Now I was laid off from a formoer job and still have the 401k and thenew 401k form my present job. I want to withdraw from the old one

I am not certain if retirement is mandatory to avoid the 10% penalty or whether you only have to be retired from the job where you had the first 401k. It sounds like you are at that stage where you have to decide to rollover your old 401k into the new one or to a private IRA. I simply don't know, other than it would certainly be considered taxable income, if you could get around the additional penalty.

Sorry to butt in but Dr. Dave Smith you are going to be kicked off the site if you continue to advertise yourself and your business. Please refer to the Terms of Service/Members Agreement, etc.