XP Loaded on 2 PCs

[etrain]

I have an old compaq PC that I thought was dead, something wrong on the motherboard side of the power cable, tried a few different things and could not get it running again. So I moved on and got a Dell with XP pro.

The old hard drive I loaded XP Pro using the Reinstall CD that came with the dell. It boots fine on the dell machine. As I was getting ready to put the old compaq in a yard sale low and behold it starting working. (not to upset I wanted 2 PCs anyway). Thing is I take the original harddrive now with XP Pro and put it in the PC. Bios recognizes the drive but windows will not boot. Tried even using the reinstall CD on the Compaq PC but that does not seem to work either.

Am I missing something or can you NOT install XP Pro recieved with a Dell PC on a Compaq PC?

Thanks for the help...

Remember the Past, Plan for the Future, yet Live in the Present for tomorrow may never come.
-etrain

 

[garebo]

You probably cant use the Dell win xp install.
You may have to have a stand-alone retail version to install on the Compaq.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[micker377]

XP is "BIOS locked" (not to mention hardware and drivers). A system install on one computer, won't work on another computer. Actually, it can be done (not easy), if the computers are exactly the same.