ACK! I need help...FAST!

[pentium]

Since my father refused to completely reinstall all his software I moved his old drive to his newer system when the time came to upgrade on the fly.
Then came the problems.
XP begins to boot but then you get the brief glimpse of a blue screen before the entire system completely restarts. If I try any kind of safe mode I get the same symptom. If I however use my ubuntu live cd I get a complete and successful boot.
I'm assuming that with the new board, XP is screwing itself up at boot and by default it will give the command to restart, right?
I need this fixed fast. My father will eat me alive (or at least kill me) if he does not have the computer going soon and I will not have a chance tomorrow afternoon as I am going to a S.T.A.L.K.E.R LAN party and won't be home until saturday afternoon...my father will not accept to downtime that long.
What can be done to fix my problem?

[shadow]

Re: ACK! I need help...FAST!

Hmm...I have no idea to tell you the truth. The momentary blue screen followed by a restart is normal Windows XP behaviour. Basically there has been a BSOD and Windows XP by default restarts after a BSOD.

Besides that changing motherboards is a very drastic change to do on the fly. Since you tried to boot in safe mode, driver problems are unlikely the issue. Can be anything really. I have never successfully diagnosed and fixed a BSOD type of problem. I found that a reinstall of Windows is the very simplest solution to the problem. It was never worth my time to try to find the solution to the fundamental problem, which could be anything since you only have a cryptic and vague Microsoft type error message.

Maybe it is Windows XP giving the shits about re-activation?

Besides that, someone should teach your father a lesson. Reinstall of Windows equals good thing.

[Topcat]

Re: ACK! I need help...FAST!

thats common when the driver for the controller for some reason cant load, making the boot drive inaccessible (causes a blue screen and a reboot), since the OS can not read from the boot drive anymore. Common problem when taking an old drive and sticking it on a different controller in a different box. Format time, or set it as a slave drive on a clean install.

[gonzo0815]

Re: ACK! I need help...FAST!

IF you wanan make it right, shure formating is the way to go.
As lazy as i am, i ususally only install the default MS IDE driver on the old system, as this driver is capable of running the vast majority of IDE chips.
With this trick i managed to keep my development and working environment w2k system stable & fast over abouth 4 years awith several major system changes (e.g. new boards&cpu).
If the new system is using SATA IDE, you may want to enable the IDE compatibility in BIOS.
Then all SATA drives are working fine with the default MS IDE driver.
After the first succesfull boot on the new system, just put in the driver installer disk and install all drivers.
Now you are ready to change all bios settings to whatever you want, including AHCI, Raid etc.

[willawake]

Re: ACK! I need help...FAST!

i would clone the disk before starting messing around

[Paul S]

Re: ACK! I need help...FAST!

I think that you can fix this installation by booting into a Windows installation disk. You would go through the same process for a new installation, but don't reformat.

I have done this before, but it was a while ago and I don't remember the details. I am not referring to the windows recovery console (at least not that I remember). Possibly, I may have entered the DOS mode. Commands like fixboot, fixmbr and at least one other would be used.

And I echo the recommendation of cloning the drive first, for backup.

[starfury1]

Re: ACK! I need help...FAST!

OK really not the bloke for this job but this maybe of some use

I would as willawake says clone it before you start messing around with it
(since you have already booted it it may already be screwed but hopefully not)

I think (and working from the top of my head here) the HAL or whatever it is is probably being screwed.

Suppose it depends on how different chip sets etc are

There is I think is a way of doing a repair reinstall that should keep settings as above
(did have a link to a page on it will try to find it)

I do remember it did involve going to the recovery console but explicitly NOT running it but doing something else

it was a while back how well it works, not sure

mean time some links...didnt read them but may help
hal replacement

repair windows

Another repair site here

I think this was the site I was looking for but I think the last time I used it on a spyware ridden box it just did a reinstall and left the data there.

xp repair install

Again I stress Make an image of the HDD at lest if you have a working original image you can go back to it and clone one to start again with....

Ideally the best is a squish it and reinstall it if you want the lest problems from windows
but you maybe lucky and get it working ok with a repair

Paul S idea may work if it asks you to keep current setting or something like that....but I don't know and don't have a box to try it on
(Think it use to work for win98 running a reinstall over the top)

Been awhile since I have done a windows install

Anyway thats the best I can do and again not the guru here ok

HTH

[starfury1]

Re: ACK! I need help...FAST!

I should add my BIG mistake with that box was NOT making an image first....it was an SATA drive and I didn't at the time have a way of easily cloning it....

I will not make that mistake again

[starfury1]

Re: ACK! I need help...FAST!

TC and the others if I understand correctly were talking about MB chipset drivers etc
thats what I am thinking but not sure if that falls under HAL
So I may have stated that incorrectly

Been a long time since I looked at any of this with windows but from a quick refresher I am thinking not
HAL wiki

So yeah think I am wrong on that statement about hal

[Paul S]

Re: ACK! I need help...FAST!

Now that I had all day to think about it, here's what I THINK you have to do.

Boot from the windows disk as I mentioned above. When you get to the installation part, windows will search for previous windows installations. When if finds it, you will have the option to repair the current installation.

I had to do this when my VIA mobo crapped out because of bad caps. Afterwards it will ask you to register windows again, as it will act like a new install. If you register with the same name and e-mail address, there should be no problem.

P.S. I use Boot It NG (BING) to copy my drives. It is share ware that will work OK for 30 days. After that you should either buy it or remove it, as it becomes a pest. It is installed on a small partition, and it also acts as a boot manager.

[Harvey]

Re: ACK! I need help...FAST!

As other have stated - Windows doesn't like big hardware changes, like a new motherboard, and its pot luck if it will boot when you change motherboards or IDE/SATA/SCSI controllers.
Quickest way is to a repair reinstall - boot to the Windows CD, Windows will find the old install and you can do a repair install without formatting. You'll probably get a few prompts for drivers but if you haven't got the CD's handy you can just cancel them and install them later.

Whenever I'm changing an install to a new motherboard I've found this works: create a new hardware profile, check that both the old and new profiles are selected to be available a boot, shut down, change motherboard and when you power up Windows will ask what profile to use - select the new one and 99.999% of the time it boots correctly and rediscovers the hardware. Then just delete the old hardware profile and your done.

[pentium]

Re: ACK! I need help...FAST!

So basicly it is the best to go fresh and migrate settings over from the old drive prior to ditching it.

I'll work on that tomorrow. Right now I am shooting my friends (remember the lan party?).

[pentium]

Re: ACK! I need help...FAST!

I finally persuaded my dad to co for a clean install of xp and everything went fine right up to activation when I was told that my dad's copy XP home had exceeded it's maximum number of systems running from the same CD...one...and that I would need to get a new serial. Now how do I tell him that it will cost $100+ to get XP going? Right now I am also reinstalling XP after a system folder vanished and crashed the system.

[pentium]

Re: ACK! I need help...FAST!

Damnit!
My last drive over 10 gigs (a 30 gig Western Digital) is constantly corrupting itself. I can't even install windows or even do a complete format without a problem and I find a quick format works but the drive is unreliable.

[shadow]

Re: ACK! I need help...FAST!

Hmmm...seems like you had an OEM copy of Windows XP. OEM copies are only licensed for one system. The proper retail copy as far as I know has three licenses. So you can install it on three different computers. Maybe I am wrong on this, maybe that is not applicable to the home edition (I use professional). I know for sure that that is the case for Windows Vista, I read it in an article.

Anyway, you can always use a 'circumvention application' to fix the activation problem. As long as you have a valid CD-Key, you will be alright.

[Paul S]

Re: ACK! I need help...FAST!

The only time I have had a problem is if I tried to activate too many times, too soon. Also, if I chose not to register, I would get that.

If I waited six weeks (or something like that ) and register with the name and Email that I used for the original registration, it usually is OK. I was even able to install on a machine that had rejected the registration before. I waited about six months and made sure I registered correctly.

I only use the OEM versions, why pay more? If your disk came with the computer, It may have been pre-registered. That may be the problem, you may need to call MS and tell them that you repaired the computer and had to re-install. In fact, tell them that you had to re-install to get Service pack 2 to install, don't tell them about the new mobo.

[starfury1]

Re: ACK! I need help...FAST!

Humm yeah forgot about that.... (activation crap)

did you keep trying to activate it when you got that message? or was it spat out first time
Also Dont it give you a grace period? (I know that can depend on a few things)
In other words dont activate it till you know it all works....
(although in this case its closing the stable door after the horse has bolted)

I put one piece of hardware in this box that should never have triggered a reactivation and it did...also I don't think gave me a grace period or it was a 3 day one or something.

I think on a first install you get 30 days

I am guessing your going to have to sweet talk MS and cry Wo is me.
(or turn to the Dark side Luke,)

Also be careful with activation sometimes things like nortons and FW anitspyware can stuff up the process.
(esp nortons...better to not install them till its done turn off any firewalls)
I think I had that problem and ended up having to call MS to get it activated

If what I read can be believed MS have tighten up the activation thing with keys part of their "Genuine Advantage" crap.

Sounds likes that HDD may need the hev ho

Sorry Pentium cant really help you with this one

[pentium]

Re: ACK! I need help...FAST!

Okay, thanks guys.
The copy of XP home I have is not OEM but was purchased to replace the ailing windows 98 OS that was on the system. We had to do a clean install (the drive was formatted) due to lack of space and SP2 was included in the install cd.

I'll search for a new drive before we try again.

[gastorgrab]

Re: ACK! I need help...FAST!

If I waited six weeks (or something like that ) and register with the name and Email that I used for the original registration, it usually is OK. I was even able to install on a machine that had rejected the registration before. I waited about six months and made sure I registered correctly.

That makes sense. I read that the list of hardware registered to each copy of WinXP was reset every 60 days
.

[pentium]

Re: ACK! I need help...FAST!

We will see what happens. I can't try again until I get another drive and knowing how I forget, It should be 60+ days the next time I try to upgrade.