MB, CPU, Video Card Upgrade - XP not initializing

[David James]

Upgraded to Windows XP Home Edition (Upgrade Version)
last year from Windows 98SE. Am attempting to change out
the motherboard from an Abit BE6 (PIII capable, AGP 2x
capable, 100 Mhz FSB) to an Abit IS7-E (P4 capable, AGP
4x/8x capable, 800 Mhz FSB). As a part of this change
out, the video card is going from an ATI Expert 98 AGP 2x
to a Saphire (ATI) 9600 128MB AGP 8x, CPU from a PIII 450
100 Mhz FSB to a P4 2.4 GHz 800 Mhz FSB, and memory from
the PC100 SDRAM to DDR 3200 (400 Mhz). System will fire
up, run through the BIOS, which appears to recognize all
the various hardware without a problem, and then Windows
XP Home Edition causes a reboot and a screen comes up
declaring that hardware changes forced Windows not to
load properly and gives the options of various types of
start-ups (i.e., safe, safe with command line, etc.).
The reboot "loop" XP puts the system in never ends
regardless of which option you select. How can I get
around this XP aversion to hardware changes? I have
tried unloading all the hardware possible prior to
switching to the new hardware and just coming up with the
graphics card on the the new board, but the same problem
exists.

Please note that the above E-Mail address is good in the
afternoons (i.e., (e-mail address removed)). During the day, my E-
Mail is (e-mail address removed).

 

[Dan T.]

sorry this is gonna be a long explanation to the problem.

i have had a similar problem when upgrading motherboards.
i went from a compaq p3 with xp on it and i took out the
hard drive from it and put it in my new system which is
an asus p4s333 with ddr pc2100 512 mb. i can actually get
into windows and everything, but when i start playing
some games, for some reason, they tend to freeze up. i
couldn't figure out the problem until i realized that the
drivers installed for my previous motherboard are
attempting to run on my new one which is laid out
differently and uses different drivers. i had to delete
my windows folder and start from scratch. i installed
windows 95 through a series of floppy disk and when that
installation was done, i upgraded back to my xp. when i
finished though. i couldn't reinstall service packs or
even download them because microsoft thinks i installed
xp onto another computer. i was so angry and couldn't
talk to support because as you know it costs 99 dollars
or even 245 dollars to do so. i had to purchase a brand
new xp this time a home edition and installed it and it
worked perfectly on my computer. no more problems. but as
time goes along, technology improves and i want to
upgrade. The problem seems to lie within what driver is
running the motherboard. if it's the right driver it
seems to work ok. if i want to upgrade to a better
motherboard i'll have to reinstall windows xp so it
configures itself to my new motherboard. This rises a new
question. is it possible to do so without it thinking
that i have pirated it? i would like to know because i
plan on upgrading motherboards soon, and i don't want to
have to buy another copy of xp.

i'm not sure what i can say you can do but maybe you can
somehow downgrade to a lower version of windows. then do
an upgrade install so that windows xp configures itself.

it seems that we both need help with this thing

 

[Crusty \(-: Old B@stard :-\)]

Unless you exchange the M/B with the exact same board, you will, more than
likely, need to perform a repair install. All of your software and personal
files will be retained. After the reinstall you will have to reapply SP1 and
any updates that appear when you run Windows Update.

Note: During the reinstall, when you get to the window where you insert your
name and password, make certain you use the same name/password as originally
used. Otherwise you may find that you locked yourself out of your personal
files. At that point, you will have to jump through some minor hoops to gain
access to them.