Changing Hardware with XP

[Guest]

I have three computers in the house, (mine, daughter's and son's). Am not too happy that I had to buy three seperate copies of XP Home (full) for each of the comuters in my house, or else network them all together, but I can understand that if there was any way around this, there will always be software pirates to exploit it. But now I may be faced with an upgrade problem
I've upgraded a lot (harddrives, CD/DVD burners, USBs, sound, video and modems). Never had any problem (with the harddrives) at re-installation and re-activation. But I'm going to upgrade my daughter's computer from a PIII 450 to a P4 3.2. Of course, this will require a different motherboard, CPU and different memory modules. My question is, what will XP (already on her harddrive) read when we turn it on? Will it think that it's been put on a different machine, or will the fact that it was already on the harddrive make it accept the upgraded system? I'll be damned if I'm going to buy a FOURTH copy of XP just because I'm upgrading my daughter's system. And just out of curiosity, what happens to a copy of XP if you trash the computer it was once activated on? Can it never be activated on your next computer because it thinks the first computer still exists and it's still on it? Did anyone foresee this
Steve

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Changing a Motherboard or Moving a Hard Drive with XP Installed
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/moving_xp.html

How to Perform a Windows XP Repair Install
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

[Courtesy of MS-MVP Michael Stevens]

Windows Product Activation (WPA) on Windows XP
http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm

[Courtesy of MS-MVP Alex Nichol]

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--


| I have three computers in the house, (mine, daughter's and son's). Am not too happy that I had to buy three
seperate copies of XP Home (full) for each of the comuters in my house, or else network them all together, but
I can understand that if there was any way around this, there will always be software pirates to exploit it.
But now I may be faced with an upgrade problem.
| I've upgraded a lot (harddrives, CD/DVD burners, USBs, sound, video and modems). Never had any problem
(with the harddrives) at re-installation and re-activation. But I'm going to upgrade my daughter's computer
from a PIII 450 to a P4 3.2. Of course, this will require a different motherboard, CPU and different memory
modules. My question is, what will XP (already on her harddrive) read when we turn it on? Will it think that
it's been put on a different machine, or will the fact that it was already on the harddrive make it accept the
upgraded system? I'll be damned if I'm going to buy a FOURTH copy of XP just because I'm upgrading my
daughter's system. And just out of curiosity, what happens to a copy of XP if you trash the computer it was
once activated on? Can it never be activated on your next computer because it thinks the first computer still
exists and it's still on it? Did anyone foresee this?
| Steve

 

[Mike]

Reading supplied literature and researching on the internet can lessen the
impact of frustration borne of pre-empting problems in ignorance.. Carey has
supplied an easy way to overcome your problem.. your family doctor can
supply blood pressure medication by prescription.. good luck..

I have three computers in the house, (mine, daughter's and son's). Am not

too happy that I had to buy three seperate copies of XP Home (full) for each
of the comuters in my house, or else network them all together, but I can
understand that if there was any way around this, there will always be
software pirates to exploit it. But now I may be faced with an upgrade
problem.

I've upgraded a lot (harddrives, CD/DVD burners, USBs, sound, video and

modems). Never had any problem (with the harddrives) at re-installation and
re-activation. But I'm going to upgrade my daughter's computer from a PIII
450 to a P4 3.2. Of course, this will require a different motherboard, CPU
and different memory modules. My question is, what will XP (already on her
harddrive) read when we turn it on? Will it think that it's been put on a
different machine, or will the fact that it was already on the harddrive
make it accept the upgraded system? I'll be damned if I'm going to buy a
FOURTH copy of XP just because I'm upgrading my daughter's system. And just
out of curiosity, what happens to a copy of XP if you trash the computer it
was once activated on? Can it never be activated on your next computer
because it thinks the first computer still exists and it's still on it? Did
anyone foresee this?

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the link, Carey, that was what I needed. All of my XP copies are retail full installs, and I have plenty of experience with operating systems if something should go wrong. But I had the feeling that the Windows Activation Program was going to cause a headache, especially since I wasn't up on how it works. Specifically, Alex Nichol's article on XP Activation was what I needed. I had no idea about the seven 'yes' votes, that the motherboard upgrade wipes them all out, and that you have to phone in to Microsoft with a fifty digit number to start your system again. I would have torn some hair out if my machine wouldn't boot again and I didn't know about that! But, as I said, given the types of people out there, sadly, it has to be done. Thanks again

Steve

 

[Guest]

Thanks. If you read my reply to Carey, you'll see that he pointed me to the exact info that I needed. I learned long ago that asking the right people where the info you need can be found saves hours of research, especially when you're stuck with a 56k dial-up, like we are here. Oh, and I already take four different blood pressure medicines...my doctor says I don't need any more

Stev

PS. 'borne' means carried on or by, as used in my handle, Timeborne...'carried by time'. What you wanted to say in your insult was 'born of pre-empting problems in ignorance', without the 'e', meaning 'created of or given birth by'. You guessed it, I'm a tight-assed author/writer, and people trying to write and using the wrong words bugs me, moreso when they consider what they're saying important enough to write in the first place.

 

[Mike]

Yo Steve

56K is as good as it gets for small communities in Eastern Ontario, Canada
too.. the biggest surprize is that they don't use stone age tools.. we are
just 50 mins away from Canada's fine capital city, but as far as technology
goes, we may as well be living in caves (or igloos).. my blood pressure is
low normal so no medications required, but I have at times lost hair because
a planned expedition is always on the cards if I want software or hardware
bits.. computer bits are available locally, but never what I want.. oh well,
I will grab a Molsons beer, sit in an armchair, and keep telling myself 'I
am Canadian'.. .. good luck

Mike

Thanks. If you read my reply to Carey, you'll see that he pointed me to

the exact info that I needed. I learned long ago that asking the right
people where the info you need can be found saves hours of research,
especially when you're stuck with a 56k dial-up, like we are here. Oh, and
I already take four different blood pressure medicines...my doctor says I
don't need any more!

Steve

PS. 'borne' means carried on or by, as used in my handle,

Timeborne...'carried by time'. What you wanted to say in your insult was
'born of pre-empting problems in ignorance', without the 'e', meaning
'created of or given birth by'. You guessed it, I'm a tight-assed
author/writer, and people trying to write and using the wrong words bugs me,
moreso when they consider what they're saying important enough to write in
the first place.

 

[Sharon F]

But I'm going to upgrade my daughter's computer from a PIII 450 to a P4
3.2. Of course, this will require a different motherboard, CPU and
different memory modules. My question is, what will XP (already on her
harddrive) read when we turn it on? Will it think that it's been put on
a different machine, or will the fact that it was already on the
harddrive make it accept the upgraded system?

Before you shutdown for the last time on the old machine, use MSCONFIG to
disable startup programs. Enable wanted startup programs when the transfer
is complete.

Don't try to load the already installed XP when you first power up the new
system. Due to the hardware differences, it will fail to load and you may
lose the chance to do a repair install. The only way out of this situation
is a clean install.

Instead, assemble the computer components. Do not connect to the internet
yet. Go straight to BIOS setup on the first power up. Set the CDrom drive
as the first boot device. Mess around with any other settings you want to
tweak in here. Insert the WinXP CD. Then restart the system and run a
"repair install." (Carey has already given you some nice links about this)

Do not take the first option to repair. You'll end up being asked which
Windows you want to log on to and the recovery console will load. You don't
want that.

Instead, choose to proceed with Setup. The setup program will check for the
previous versions of Windows. If the current Windows installation on the
hard drive is not hopelessly damaged, you will be given the choice to
"repair" it.

The rest proceeds like a regular install -- new hardware components
identified and setup, etc. Difference is that most programs, settings and
data will survive the ordeal. There will be a prompt to enter the CD key
during setup and an offer to activate. Security patches are not in place
yet (think sasser and msblast). Because of this, suggest taking the
activate by phone option instead of the activate by internet.

Get your security patches installed next. If not already downloaded or if
you don't have the Security Update CD, be sure you are behind a router or
firewall before obtaining this. Once the updates are installed, you should
be pretty much "back to normal" on new hardware.

Motherboard drivers will need to be installed in there somewhere. You can
do that after activating or after installing the security patches.

I just did this routine last night and all turned out well. I was working
with the original XP CD and a drive that had XP with SP1 + current updates
added to it. I hit a few expected errors during setup due to the versioning
(MSDART.DLL and 2 others). If working from the original CD version, just
click through those errors. Be patient. It takes a long time for them to
clear (waited 15 minutes for one of them) but setup will eventually
continue.

 

[Guest]

Hi Mike

I'm in a tiny New Hampshire town, with a phone system so remote that DSL is out of the question. There is broadband from the cable company, but the company (Adelphia, the bankrupt one) is so lousy that the Internet service part of it is down more days than it's up, and there are letters in our editorial page every day begging the town to get rid of them and get us Comcast. People want refunds for the down days. I certainly don't wish to join in their misery. I have a satellite dish, anyway. Satellite is a great option, and the service is not too expensive, but I could buy a used car for what the setup equipment and fees cost, they won't give you the equipment to get your business like DSL companies do. And even though I know how to do it myself, they won't allow it. Someday I'll get exasperated enough with dial-up that I'll relent and pay their blackmail money, but until then, I, too, am doomed to the 'stone age'. Good talking with you

Stev

PS. Don't do beer, myself, I go for Margaritas on the rocks with salt, or a simple Rum and Coke.

 

[Sharon F]

Thanks Sharon; Good to hear you got through it unscathed. I'm not an IT,
but I've owned computers since the DOS age (before Windows and an old
8088 machine...basic 640k, 20 meg hard drive, and 5 meg of
memory...whew!) and I can usually work my way out of the incredible
screw-ups I cause with my unnecessary meddling. It was basically the
re-activation I was concerned about, because I knew so little about it.
I will be armed with that code and the emergency 800 number, just in
case I screw this up. Thanks for the help.

Steve

You're welcome and good luck. Will admit I got a little nervous with those
errors that stuck around for a while during setup. Luckily had another
computer that I could use to look up the errors and find some answers. I
was very thankful that the solution was so easy. Again, good luck with the
upgrade!