Harddrive Swap and System won't boot

[Genuene1]

I have two computers. A HP about 5 yrs old and a compaq about 3 yrs old.
Both are running XP. The Compaq had a system board problem. So I removed
the harddrive from the Compaq and attempted to put it into my HP. In the
beginning, the system booted normally but after actually going into Windows,
an error stated. "Your configuration has changed significantly since you
activated Windows, please reactivate, you have 3 days." Then it went to a
blue screen stating, configuration error and physical memory dump instructing
me to remove new hardware or reinstall drivers. Now I only get the blue
screen after the Windows XP log. Sometimes it will boot with a 251 post
error - showing checksum. I tried to run in safe mode which it did
initially. But while removing devices in the control panel, it went to a
blue screen again. Now it will only freese in safe mode. My hypothesis is,
since the harddrive from the Compaq has the BIOS, processor type, drivers and
system registry for that system, the harddrive doesn't recognize the HP it's
now installed in. MY question is, is there anyway I can get the HP system to
do so without reformating and reloading. I have to much information to lose.

 

[mikeyhsd]

repair install is usually the way to go.

be sure and try and backup any critical data.


(e-mail address removed)



I have two computers. A HP about 5 yrs old and a compaq about 3 yrs old.
Both are running XP. The Compaq had a system board problem. So I removed
the harddrive from the Compaq and attempted to put it into my HP. In the
beginning, the system booted normally but after actually going into Windows,
an error stated. "Your configuration has changed significantly since you
activated Windows, please reactivate, you have 3 days." Then it went to a
blue screen stating, configuration error and physical memory dump instructing
me to remove new hardware or reinstall drivers. Now I only get the blue
screen after the Windows XP log. Sometimes it will boot with a 251 post
error - showing checksum. I tried to run in safe mode which it did
initially. But while removing devices in the control panel, it went to a
blue screen again. Now it will only freese in safe mode. My hypothesis is,
since the harddrive from the Compaq has the BIOS, processor type, drivers and
system registry for that system, the harddrive doesn't recognize the HP it's
now installed in. MY question is, is there anyway I can get the HP system to
do so without reformating and reloading. I have to much information to lose.