New Disk

[PC's Plus]

I don't know if this is the right Dis.Group or not but here goes.
I have a computer that the motherboard died on. I built a new one. my
question is can I take the hard drive from the system that died (AMD cpu,
with Compaq motherboard, 512MB memory) and put it in the new system (intel
duel core, with Asus MB, 2GB memory). The hard drive has xp home on it, and
is working ok. I've tryed swaping HD's before and it asked a question about
saving changes and I don't remember the answer. Can any help me.
Thank You

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I don't know if this is the right Dis.Group or not but here goes.
I have a computer that the motherboard died on. I built a new one. my
question is can I take the hard drive from the system that died (AMD cpu,
with Compaq motherboard, 512MB memory) and put it in the new system (intel
duel core, with Asus MB, 2GB memory).

Yes.

But if you are asking whether Windows will work if you do that, the
answer is no. Just swapping the drive to the new machine is not
sufficient unless the motherboards are identical.

Normally, a Repair installation, and then reactivation, is all you
need to do. It's a rare occurrence, but occasionally the differences
between the two motherboards are severe enough that a repair
installation doesn't work, and a complete clean installation is
required.

 

[witan]

I don't know if this is the right Dis.Group or not but here goes.
I have a computer that the motherboard died on. I built a new one. my
question is can I take the hard drive from the system that died (AMD cpu,
with Compaq motherboard, 512MB memory) and put it in the new system (intel
duel core, with Asus MB, 2GB memory). The hard drive has xp home on it, and
is working ok. I've tryed swaping HD's before and it asked a question about
saving changes and I don't remember the answer. Can any help me.
Thank You

I had a similar problem a few months ago, with one difference, that I
had Windows-XP Pro, SP2. Repair installation, as advised in your case
by Ken Blake, MVP worked okay -- i.e., I didn't have to reinstall all
auxiliary programs, like MS Office, anti-virus, etc. But, ALL ancient
and current UPDATES FOR WINDOWS-XP were required.
Also, the repair installation will work with a different motherboard
only if one has a retail version of XP.