HELP ! Have an older Sony Vaio w/XP sp3 MOBO DEAD had to replace n

[a1namill]

installed a new MOBO and went to use the recovery disc that came with PC and
now it does not recognize as my computer saying not the right computer when I
try to use the recovery disc that I paid for when I bought it 4 1/2 years ago
and I don't have the $ money for A new PC now am borrowing my Bros PC
temporarilly, Any help would GREATLY be appreciated. Thanks, Dave..

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

installed a new MOBO and went to use the recovery disc that came with PC and
now it does not recognize as my computer saying not the right computer when I
try to use the recovery disc that I paid for when I bought it 4 1/2 years ago
and I don't have the $ money for A new PC now am borrowing my Bros PC
temporarilly, Any help would GREATLY be appreciated. Thanks, Dave..

Many OEM computers come with copies of Windows that are BIOS-locked to
the computer. Your changing the motherboard broke your BIOS-locking
and you are out of luck.

 

[a1namill]

So I do understand correctly iam "S O L" , S*** outta luck and have to either
pay more money to build a new PC around my new mother board or sell said new
mobo and get a new PC or buy another copy of Windows XP ? What would you
recomend ? By the way Thanks for taking the time to reply to my question.
Sincerely,Dave J..

 

[R. McCarty]

You might consider the free Release Candidate of Windows 7. It's good
until June 2010. Just know that the RTM or final retail version will not do
an upgrade over the RC - so a full re-install will be necessary.

Doing this would avoid an immediate OS expense.

Information on the RC preview program is found here:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/download.aspx
*Download is nearly 4.0 Gigabytes !

 

[a1namill]

Thanks sooo much just looked at that and will download that ASAP and Start A
new PC 4 me fund any contributions welcomed (LOL) just kidding you already
have A HUGE contribution w/info, Thank You Very Much, Have GREAT DAY.
Sincerely, Dave J.

 

[Mark Adams]

So I do understand correctly iam "S O L" , S*** outta luck and have to either
pay more money to build a new PC around my new mother board or sell said new
mobo and get a new PC or buy another copy of Windows XP ? What would you
recomend ? By the way Thanks for taking the time to reply to my question.
Sincerely,Dave J..

You're not necessarily SOL. If the machine was booting okay when the MOBO
failed and your attempt at reinstall from the Sony disk has not erased or
corrupted the install, you may be able to move the hard drive to the new
MOBO. If the new mainboard is similar enough, it just might boot. Google
"move hard drive to new mainboard" and see what comes up.
www.michaelstevenstech.com comes to mind.
I used this one http://www.motherboard.windowsreinstall.com/problems.htm
(step 2) to move an install of Win 2000 from a laptop to a desktop
environment and all the apps. survived the move as well. It does require that
you prepare the hard drive on the old mainboard before you move it to the new
one, which you won't be able to do. You might be able to borrow a generic XP
install disk to perform a repair install.

 

[a1namill]

Another GREAT IDEA y'all are A WONDERFULL Group of folks @ microsoft nothing
but TOP Notch service and always very helpfull and innovative foward thikng,
It has been nothing but pleasure to post and reply and the answers came
floodin in (LOLTHAK YOU 2 ALL that have replied to my questions.As
always,PEACE LOVE and HAPPINESS 2 ALL !!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Another GREAT IDEA

Unfortunately, assuming that I'm right about it's being BIOS-locking,
it's not a great idea. Unless it's identical to the motherboard
originally provided by the OEM, I'm afraid that you're SOL.

 

[a1namill]

Hey Man its no problem, iam going to download Windows 7 RC tonight and start
ah saving the pennies (LOL and by next year i'll have the change (no pun
intended) to buy the full reatail version cause from what i've read so far it
looks pretty sweeeet and I can't wait to try it out gonna invest in a new
hard drive and ah start or should I say catch up w/ the rest of the world or
its ah gonna leave me behind (LOL)! Thanks again guy's 4 the time you have
invested in me and look for ya later maybe tomorrow when I get Windows 7 RC
going> Have A GREAT DAY, Dave J..............

 

[Patrick Keenan]

So I do understand correctly iam "S O L" , S*** outta luck and have to
either
pay more money to build a new PC around my new mother board or sell said
new
mobo and get a new PC or buy another copy of Windows XP ? What would you
recomend ? By the way Thanks for taking the time to reply to my question.
Sincerely,Dave J..

You can dispose of the hardware as you like, but the error messages mean
that the disks you have look for a manufacturer's signature in the BIOS, and
your replacement board - not being from that manufacturer - doesn't have
what the disks need to see.

As it happens, the license key on the COA sticker *might* work with a
"generic" OEM CD. You can only find out by attempting an install.

Technically, your XP license died with the original motherboard.

As to recommendations - if your system is older, consider that you can get a
used P4 system around 3gHz with a valid XP Pro license for under $200.
Recently, I've been seeing 3.4 gHz dual Xeon systems for about $350.

HTH
-pk

 

[DataCabbitKSW]

installed a new MOBO and went to use the recovery disc that came with PC
and
now it does not recognize as my computer saying not the right computer
when I
try to use the recovery disc that I paid for when I bought it 4 1/2
years ago
and I don't have the $ money for A new PC now am borrowing my Bros PC
temporarilly, Any help would GREATLY be appreciated. Thanks, Dave..

Like Patrick Keenan said, you might be able to use a generic OEM
install disc for XP and get your license to work with that in order to
do the install. It’s not a full restore, as you will have to find your
drivers and other base-installed programs, but it is a good start.
Further than that, you can try out the Windows 7 Release Candidate for
free like was stated earlier. Get it here: http://tinyurl.com/9agzvs .
Be sure that you try to get it and burn it to a CD before the end of the
month. The page says it will only be offered through June. If you don't
have a DVD burner you can try installing the .ISO image to a large
flash drive (5+GB) and make that bootable so you can install it from
there. Load times from flash drives are generally pretty good too (For
visual instructions on how: http://tinyurl.com/das3lv ). The RC will
expire on June 1 of 2010, and it will start doing 2 hour reboots on
March 1, 2010. However, Windows 7 will be officially released to stores
on October 22nd, and that gives you more than 4 months to switch from
the RC to the final. Be aware that there is _NO_ upgrade path from the
RC to final, so it will be a full reinstall when the time comes.

Kurtis Whittington - Microsoft Windows Client Team
*************
a1namill wrote:
installed a new MOBO and went to use the recovery disc that came with
PC and now it does not recognize as my computer saying not the right
computer when I try to use the recovery disc that I paid for when I
bought it 4 1/2 years ago and I don't have the $ money for A new PC now
am borrowing my Bros PC temporarilly, Any help would GREATLY be
appreciated. Thanks, Dave..

 

[Mark Adams]

You can dispose of the hardware as you like, but the error messages mean
that the disks you have look for a manufacturer's signature in the BIOS, and
your replacement board - not being from that manufacturer - doesn't have
what the disks need to see.

As it happens, the license key on the COA sticker *might* work with a
"generic" OEM CD. You can only find out by attempting an install.

Technically, your XP license died with the original motherboard.

Apparently not even Microsoft believes this, as even they provide
instructions on how to replace one.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/824125
This is not in violation of the EULA, and is obviously supported by Microsoft.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Apparently not even Microsoft believes this, as even they provide
instructions on how to replace one.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/824125
This is not in violation of the EULA, and is obviously supported by Microsoft.

Although what you say is correct, the web page you cite does *not*
support your point of view.

The web page deals with replacements of the motherboard in general,
not with replacement of the motherboard on OEM systems, which is what
Patrick's comment is about.

An OEM license is tied permanently to the first computer it's
installed on. It can never legally be moved to another computer, sold,
or given away (except with the original computer).

So the question (which has been asked here many times) is what
constitutes a new and different computer. Patrick's comment
("Technically, your XP license died with the original motherboard") is
based on the premise that changing the motherboard makes it a new
computer. For a long time, it wasn't clear exactly what constituted
the original and new computers, and many people felt that replacing
the motherboard made it a different computer.

However, Microsoft has clarified the situation. See
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/buyorupgrade/activationfaq.mspx
or http://tinyurl.com/384gx5

which states

"If you acquired Windows Vista pre-installed on a computer from a
major manufacturer (sometimes referred to as an Original Equipment
Manufacturer or OEM), Windows Vista will require re-activation if you
replace the motherboard with a motherboard not provided by the OEM."

So clearly, if you can reactivate it, it's legal to use it.

However, leaving aside the question of legality, as I said (and as is
quoted below) most OEM copies of Windows are BIOS-locked to the
original motherboard, and changing it to one not identical to the
original will not work with that copy of Windows.