move installation?

[Paul Riemerman]

My computer just died, with a complex Vista installation on a 250 GB drive.
I have a replacement unit on its way, but is there any way to transfer the
drive with the Vista install to the new computer and get a working system?
My Vista is a full retail copy. I'm now working on XP from my backup
machine, an old Dell Optiplex GX200, with a 733 MHZ P3 that's not capable of
running Vista. I could reinstall Vista, but would lose an awful lot of data
and installed programs.

Paul Riemerman

 

[Chad Harris]

Hi Paul--

Forgive my being slow. Do you mean the HD has failed, or that you cannot
boot?

CH

 

[Paul Riemerman]

Drive is readable. Might be an overheating problem, system shuts itself down
without fully booting. My 0 drive (not the one with Vista on it - Vista's on
the 1 drive) after the system shut down problem once gave me a message that
the 0 drive's smart circuitry indicates trouble.

Paul

 

[DL]

Disconect your 0 drive (remove the pwr connector) assuming they are seperate
drives, does it now boot/run?

 

[Chad Harris]

Paul--

You can do some quick simple things to diagnose a probable overheat problem.
As the link below says, pcs that are hot will often power off or restart to
protect themselves.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/ar...ll_if_your_computer_is_overheating.html?cat=6

http://www.helium.com/items/434674-overheating-as-a-cause-of-computer-crashes

If after investigating, it appears your box isn't overheating and you've
done some routine checks to R/o other hdw or cable connection problems, try
these:

If you need to repair major components of the Vista OS or can't boot, and
don't have a Vista DVD, you can download the .iso from this link and burn
it:

Download Vista Repair Disk
http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/

1) First try 3 options from Startup Repair. If you have a Vista DVD then
restart with it in the drive>press any key to boot from it and run Startup
Repair. From Startup Repair you have 3 good tools with an excellent chance
of fixing your system. If you don't have a Vista DVD from which to boot to
Startup Repair, no problem, Download the .iso from the link below and
burn it, and you'll have the Microsoft Vista Repair Disk with Startup
Repair.

Download Vista Repair Disk
http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/

How to Use Startup Repair from the Vista DVD or the Repair Disk you make:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial142.html

http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/Help/5c59f8c1-b0d1-4f1a-af55-74f3922f3f351033.mspx

2) If Startup Repair does not get your Vista back, then use the 3 bootrec
commands from the command prompt available on the Statup Repair Menu:

The menu I refer to is in this set of directions with a grey background.

http://vistahomepremium.windowsreinstall.com/repairstartup/repairstartup.htm

Those are:

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot
bootrec /rebuildbcd

3) If my second option doesn't work, then try System restore from the
Startup Repair list.

4) If by rare chance you have an actual Vista DVD, you can put it in, boot
from it>choose the Upgrade Option>choose your current broken Vista Drive and
try to do a repair install with the Vista DVD.

How To Perform a Repair Installation For Vista
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/88236-repair-install-vista.html

5) If the above 3 tools don't work, then use the 4 tools available by
restarting your pc and tapping F8 once per second to get to the Windows
Advanced Options Menu.

From this menu click on 3 Safe Mode links to use System Restore. Make sure
you try all 3 if one doesn't work, because just one of them may work.
Tap F8 to Reach Windows Advanced Options Menu Pictured Below:

http://media.photobucket.com/image/...ank/techbliss/Vista-Advanced-Boot-Options.jpg

Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Networking
Safe Mode with Command: At the prompt you would type the command to use
for system restore at the safe mode cmd prompt is:

%systemroot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe

If these 3 tools don't work, you have one more you can try which is Last
Known Good Configuration.

Good luck,

CH

 

[Paul Riemerman]

At this point I've cleaned lots of dust from the air input area under the
front panel of my Dimension 2300, cleaned dust from the rear exhaust ports,
made sure my processor fan is working and moving air, and believe my power
supply fan is working. I replaced the 0 drive with an old 10 GB drive I did
a fresh install of XP on, and the machine works with just the 0 drive
connected. When I reconnect the 250 GB 1 drive with Vista installed, then
try to do a repair install, the machine shuts itself off when the install
routine inititial progress bar reaches 3/4s done. The machine also shuts
itself off when I try to boot from the Dell provided resource CD.

Paul Riemerman

 

[Chad Harris]

At this point I've cleaned lots of dust from the air input area under the
front panel of my Dimension 2300, cleaned dust from the rear exhaust
ports, made sure my processor fan is working and moving air, and believe
my power supply fan is working. I replaced the 0 drive with an old 10 GB
drive I did a fresh install of XP on, and the machine works with just the
0 drive connected. When I reconnect the 250 GB 1 drive with Vista
installed, then try to do a repair install, the machine shuts itself off
when the install routine inititial progress bar reaches 3/4s done. The
machine also shuts itself off when I try to boot from the Dell provided
resource CD.

Paul--

I helped someone with a 10GB HD, and I couldn't imagine where it came from.
I guess they made them in the day.

Try the other measures I suggested besides startup repair to fix Windows in
my previous post.

Good luck,

CH

 

[Paul Riemerman]

I got my new system to work transfering the Vista HD over to my new system.
The "new" computer was a a slight upgrade from the previous one (a Dimension
2350 v. my old Dimension 2300). The differences seem to be ddr ram instead
of sdram, one fewer card and drive connections and a more powerful
processor. Apparently close enough I was able to do a Vista repair install
plus a reactivation (because of the new hardware). Either my new machine was
only used in a clean room or it was never turned on, because I pulled it
apart to look for dust to clean out, and it was spotless.

Paul Riemerman

Paul Riemerman

 

[Chad Harris]

I got my new system to work transfering the Vista HD over to my new
system. The "new" computer was a a slight upgrade from the previous one (a
Dimension 2350 v. my old Dimension 2300). The differences seem to be ddr
ram instead of sdram, one fewer card and drive connections and a more
powerful processor. Apparently close enough I was able to do a Vista
repair install plus a reactivation (because of the new hardware). Either
my new machine was only used in a clean room or it was never turned on,
because I pulled it apart to look for dust to clean out, and it was
spotless.

Paul Riemerman

Paul Riemerman

Glad you got it going Phil. Thanks for the followup.

CH

 

[Chad Harris]

I got my new system to work transfering the Vista HD over to my new
system. The "new" computer was a a slight upgrade from the previous one (a
Dimension 2350 v. my old Dimension 2300). The differences seem to be ddr
ram instead of sdram, one fewer card and drive connections and a more
powerful processor. Apparently close enough I was able to do a Vista
repair install plus a reactivation (because of the new hardware). Either
my new machine was only used in a clean room or it was never turned on,
because I pulled it apart to look for dust to clean out, and it was
spotless.

Paul Riemerman

Paul Riemerman

That should have read Glad you got it going Paul. I appreciate the
followup.

CH