xp computer dead, move to vista?

[Guest]

I have an xp professional os with 2 drives, boot up is 160 g with 29 g of
free space; and 80 g mostly filled up. Within the last month, the computer
would freeze. I can't figure out the cause of the freezing, but now it just
keeps beeping long beeps and nothing else. SO, I am thinking of going to a
new machine with Vista.

Can I: (1) plut my hard drives in, and if there is nothing wrong with the
harddrives, will they boot up?
(2) boot up the "new" hd, attach my 2 old hd and run the programs that I
used on my old computer? I have some basic programs, and some that I cannot
get cds for to reinstall. Should both run?

Also, if you have thoughts on another direction or troubleshooting, please
let me know.

Thanks in advance.
Jeff

 

[R. C. White, MVP]

Hi, Jeff.

Congratulations on your new computer! If I understand correctly, it comes
with Vista already installed.

Can I: (1) plut my hard drives in, and if there is nothing wrong with the
harddrives, will they boot up?

Not likely at all. Unless you unplug your new HD (probably not advisable),
your computer will still boot from it (unless you change the boot sequence
in the BIOS). If you do unplug the old and install your old HD as the boot
device, WinXP will be totally confused! It will try to use your old drivers
on your new hardware and most of it simply will not work. It will be like
you woke up in a new house tomorrow with no warning; the kitchen might be
where the bathroom was in your old house. The only way that a WinXP
installation can run when moved to a new computer is when the new machine
has an identical chipset, etc., to the old one, and that is not likely with
your new computer. It usually happens only when a defective computer or
motherboard is replaced with an identical one.

(2) boot up the "new" hd, attach my 2 old hd and run the programs that I
used on my old computer? I have some basic programs, and some that I
cannot
get cds for to reinstall. Should both run?

All your old DATA should transfer without problems. In fact, you don't have
to transfer the data; just point the applications to the locations on the
old drives.

Applications are a different matter. Some will run from the old HDs; others
will need to be reinstalled in Vista. If the program "just runs" without
having to be installed, it should work fine. I have some programs like
this; all I had to do was browse to the .exe file and click on it. Most,
though, need to be installed so that they can make entries in the Vista
Registry. For those, you will need to run their Setup or Install program so
that they can make those entries. Older 16-bit programs may not run at all
if your new Vista is a 64-bit version; they may or may not run in 32-bit
Vista, even on 64-bit hardware. (I had to retire my 20-year-old Calendar
from the WordPerfect Office Library because of this.)

If these are custom programs, you may need to talk to the developers. If
they are off-the-shelf software, you may need to buy the CDs again.

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail beta in Vista Ultimate x64)

 

[Charlie Tame]

I have an xp professional os with 2 drives, boot up is 160 g with 29 g of
free space; and 80 g mostly filled up. Within the last month, the computer
would freeze. I can't figure out the cause of the freezing, but now it just
keeps beeping long beeps and nothing else. SO, I am thinking of going to a
new machine with Vista.

Can I: (1) plut my hard drives in, and if there is nothing wrong with the
harddrives, will they boot up?
(2) boot up the "new" hd, attach my 2 old hd and run the programs that I
used on my old computer? I have some basic programs, and some that I cannot
get cds for to reinstall. Should both run?

Also, if you have thoughts on another direction or troubleshooting, please
let me know.

Thanks in advance.
Jeff

If the machine is used for business then the answers are no and no,
because essential stuff may not work properly or at all.

Data like movies, MP3, documents etc probably will not care what
environment it wakes up and finds itself in, so it does not matter
whether you have a bigger new drive and copy it or plug in the old
drives (Although there may be some things you have to do like taking
ownership of files etc) but programs almost certainly will have to be
reinstalled, and if you don't have original media then you're in trouble.

If you plug the old drive that your old operating system is on unto new
hardware you will most likely have endless trouble because the hardware
will be different and the drivers already installed will likely crash
and make it inoperable.

Your major problem then is recovering software that's installed, you may
not be able to...

Beeping sounds like a hardware failure, maybe something simple like a
fan, often the one on the processor fails causing overheating very
quickly and many systems will simply shut down to protect themselves.
Could be power supply, and it could be any number of other things
depending on the motherboard and what detection it has.

As a first step (not because of the cost of a new machine but because of
the stuff you have installed) I would take the machine apart, usually
case side and or cover, and see if fans are working. If they are then
"Reseat" all plug in boards, memory etc. This means remove and reinsert
to ensure clean connections. Caveats associated with this...

Make sure power is off and that you keep static electricity out of the
picture. Set the machine on a table and while working on it keep one
bare arm on the case metalwork at all times when removing / replacing
boards... always handle boards by the metal supports if possible and
don't take them and walk across carpet then allow them to contact the
case before you do. This is not "Perfect" but should do...

Remember if using an air line or vacuum cleaner to blow out dust...

Air moving across plastic can generate static, keep plastic vacuum tube
ends away from the boards. If using air be careful it's DRY air, if not
sure about the air line use an aerosol duster can.

If using air or vacuum on fans do NOT let the fan spin, it can destroy
bearings and in some cases the over speed can generate enough
electricity to damage other components.

If you can't get it going...

Newer machines often have SATA disk drives so the connectors are not
compatible, however they usually have IDE connector available for the CD
player etc. One possible way you could go is to have a removable drive
tray so that you can "Plug in" your drives, these can be got for both
SATA and IDE although the IDE style needs a 5 1/4" drive bay. SATA
drives can be changed with power on, IDE drives cannot, although to play
safe I NEVER change any with power on.

If you buy a new machine consider searching some place like geeks.com
for a "Barebones" system because their cases are usually easier to work
with than something commercial - it can be very hard to change things
like disk drives with manufacturers like HP and Dell because the machine
is designed to be built in order to a checklist

Sorry if this sounds like trying to put you off but I've made a lot of
these discoveries the difficult way and nobody here wants you to get
something that's half useful and half not.