Moving XP To Another Machine WIthout Reformatting the HD

[Jeff]

I just built a new computer for myself, and I'm trying to
move my hard drive that already has WinXP Home installed
on it, and I can't boot into Windows. It gives me the blue
screen, and says I need to reboot. Does anyone know if
there is a way to get into Windows after the BIOS, RAM,
and CPU have changed? Or do I need to reformat and
reinstall...(I hope not)?

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[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]

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

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

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


|I just built a new computer for myself, and I'm trying to
| move my hard drive that already has WinXP Home installed
| on it, and I can't boot into Windows. It gives me the blue
| screen, and says I need to reboot. Does anyone know if
| there is a way to get into Windows after the BIOS, RAM,
| and CPU have changed? Or do I need to reformat and
| reinstall...(I hope not)?
|
| Thanks,
| Jeff

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Normally, and assuming a retail license (many OEM licenses are not
transferable to a new motherboard), unless your motherboard is
virtually identical (same chipset, same IDE controllers, same BIOS
version, etc.) to the one on which the other WinXP installation was
originally performed, you'll need to perform a repair (a.k.a. in-place
upgrade) installation, at the very least:

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=KB;EN-US;Q315341

As always when undertaking such a significant change, back up any
important data before starting.

This will also require re-activation, unless you have a Volume
Licensed version of WinXP Pro installed. If it's been more than 120
days since you last activated that specific Product Key, you'll most
likely be able to activate via the internet without problem. If it's
been less, you might have to make a 5 minute phone call.


Bruce Chambers

--
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[Gerald Thompson]

Check the CPU bus speed setting. Initially, I had JP2 in a
L4VXA2 P4 motherboard (Celeron 2.66 GHz CPU, 400 MHz FSB)
set to 'Auto' - changed it to '533'. When I first started
XP and W2K installs, I first had to disable L1/L2 cache
which of course is really slow, and after reboot re-
enabled it - still crashed. Resetting the mobo's bus speed
corrected the problem.
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