Swapped mobo now HDD fails at boot 1

[pmonett]

Just replaced my motherboard and CPU to get AMD 64 3500 performance.
The previous motherboard was a A7N8X-E Deluxe (nforce 2 chipset), the new one is a A8N-SLI (not that I want SLI, the regular non-SLI version is unavailable).
Anyway, swapped mainboard, RAM and CPU, put it all back together, and now my main HDD says "DISK BOOT FAILURE, INSERT SYSTEM DISK AND PRESS ENTER".
Now I find it very surprising that my HDD, that worked quite well just before I swapped motherboards, suddenly decided to not boot anymore. Especially since, intermittently (when I have the XP CD in the drive and I do not press a key to boot on it), it does give me the boot menu. At that point, if I try booting in Safe Mode, it hangs after loading the nv_agp driver (systematically).
Now I understand that my system is currently set up for the nforce 2 chipset and I have an nforce 4 chipset. But how can I load the new drivers if my disk cannot boot ?

Pascal.

 

[AckNack]

Is the drive on the primary IDE? Are the jumpers set properly on the drive? Is the drive detected in the BIOS? Are cables (power and data) connected correctly?

AckNack

http://www.computer-help-guide.com

 

[pmonett]

As I said, the drive was booting fine before. And it does boot now, at least, it gives me the XP boot menu, but only when I choose not to use the XP CD as boot.
I believe the issue is that the old nforce 2 drivers are crashing the system, but how can I load the nforce 4 drivers without the OS ?

Pascal.

 

[bygeek]

You'll probably need to do a repair install of XP.

 

[pmonett]

Am trying that now. Kept it for last as I hope it will not trash my settings and passwords files and installed apps.

Will see soon.

Pascal.

 

[micker377]

XP doesn't like some hardware swaps. As bygeek says, you prabably need to do a repair install, your other info should be safe. Also, pull any boards and peripherals not needed. The 64 install disk may not have all the drivers you need for your current hardware.

 

[pmonett]

No dice anyways - after repair the normal startup still bluescreens on me.
Looks like I just have to wipe it and start fresh. Which, of course, means that the Docs&Settings folder will be wiped, along with all my bookmarks, password files, and application installation information.

I hate Windows when this kind of thing happens. This is not secure, not stable, and a major pain in the backside.

Pascal.

 

[AckNack]

Sorry pmonett, I mis-read your explaination earlier.

As far as recovering your files from the drive, you could try BartPE or Knoppix before you re-do the drive.

AckNack

http://www.computer-help-guide.com

 

[rvnguy]

pmonett,

Hope that you are still following this and have not yet done a complete re-format.

The "repair install" procedure will fault depending on what version of XP Pro you have (Your CD + SP1 or SP2) if you have SP2 installed but have an orig CD (no ser pk) you cannot do a repair install directly from CD. Also fatal for other combinations i.e. Orig CD & SP1 installed, Win XP w/SP1 & SP2 installed. if this is the case there is a method to remove the Service packs first through the Repair Console and then to run the "repair installation" If you have a recent WIN XP w/ser pk2 then this will work directly.

Posting this I know late but will re-post links about this later. Hope that I can catch you before you have given up.

rvnguy

 

[rvnguy]

pmonett,

Again sorry for the late post but "I know everything, I just can't remember it all"

Here are a few links, some are probably too late

How to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341

"STOP 0x0000007B" error message when you restart your Windows XP-based computer

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316401

probably too late for this one but for future ref:

How to replace the motherboard on a computer that is running Windows Server 2003, Windows XP, or Windows 2000

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;824125

rvnguy

 

[pmonett]

Thanks rvnguy, nice info there. A star for you is the least I can do. What a shame that MS does not make that easier to find !
In addition, without finding the last article, I did try a Repair, but it did not work.

Anyway, it is unfortunately too late. The partition has been wiped and XP has been reinstalled. The system is up and running fine, but I've lost all my password info and I can't connect to my FTP site anymore. Also, I have obviously had to re-activate it, which means that my license has now diminished by 2 installs out of 5, and that also bugs me. It's their fault I could not get XP to boot up again, not mine.
Hopefully, in the future, I'll be able to try this mobo replacement procedure and find that it actually works, so the activation is not really an issue.

What I really need now is a way to move the Documents and Settings folder out of the Windows partition. Anyone know how to do that ? Just replacing stuff in the Registry is not enough.

Pascal.

 

[rvnguy]

pmonett,

Glad you are up and running. Too bad you had to Reformat but we have all sadly done this. Read the following about activation (I seem to be one step behind you agan). Anyway, this is not a "crack" just a work around for a legitimate install and saves diminishing your installs or for those of us who have re-installed way too many times, the call to MS. I apologise for not being able to give proper credit for this as I have forgotten where I came across it.

"I know everything...I just can't remember it all"

When Windows XP was released everybody was complaining about the activation... As time went on people began to realize that they could backup their activation file. I get enough people asking about this that I thought I'd just put the information here. All you have to backup is two little files!

Go to your _:\WINDOWS\System32\ and find a file called "wpa.dbl" and "wpa.bak" back those files up to a floppy, CD or whatever you want to put it on.

When you want to restore these files go into safe mode and put them into your windows\system32 directory. When you reboot you should be activated without actually going through MS

Move the Documents and Settings ??? are you trying to make a copy?? or physically relocate it another drive/partition?

This might be what you are seeking:

How To Change the Default Location of User Profiles and Program Settings

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;322014

rvnguy

 

[pmonett]

rvnguy :

You are decidedly a mine of interesting links ! And yes, my goal is to relocate the Doc&Settings folder to another drive - I think that would have allowed me to avoid the issues I ran into last week.
I've gone over the MS article and the words "unsupported", "no guarantee" and "unstable system" annoy me. It's a folder on a partition, where's the issue ? Anyway, I'd like to try that, but don't I first have to copy the current folder ?

Ah, and thanks for the activation file backup trick. I now have that on my Backup folder, waiting for burn to archive medium.

Pascal.

 

[rvnguy]

pmonett,

Loking back at why I believe you are looking at doing this I might suggest a different approach.

Your concern: Losing this when and if you had to excecute a repair install...if this is correct I would suggest that you occasionally back up the complete "Documents & Settings" folder to the media of your choice, just not on the boot drive. If you have to do a repair install again(owing to MS stability or lack there of) you will, after the repair install is complete, load the (replace) Folder with your back-up.

If you still want to relocate: yes you will have to copy these files to another location before you point the registry to them.

I would not delete them from the boot drive but just rename the user folders that you are redirecting. Do this to insure that XP is actually using the relocated files.

Again, sorry that I did not catch you earlier but glad you now have the activation tool for next time.

jusqu'à plus défunt bon ami

rvnguy

"I know everything..I just can't remember it all