Upgrade help needed

  • Thread starter Thread starter Frank Smith
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Frank Smith

XP Home Edition used.
THe fan went out on my CPU Chip and of course all went to "toast"
Replaced the motherboard and now have a good hardware setup -- BUT

XP thinks this a new box, on Windows startup get the B/W screen for
Safe/Normal/Last Good, etc.
Any option returns me to the same screen - I have been told that this is
normal when you change the motherboard.

What is the best way to get back to "Normal"?
 
A repair install. Reinitializes Windows but retains installed apps and all
user personal data. Your current motherboard resources do not match
the previous, so the Mass Storage controller driver is different - this is
why the PC will not boot.
 
If you have a "generic" plain OEM or Retail version, the locate info on how to
do a repair install.

If you have a "branded" (ie: Gateway, IBM, HP, Dell...) OEM install, you need
to buy a new XP install CD.
 
Scary reading out there.
One place says DO NOT use Recovery Console and another place says use it.
Since I cannot get to Windows:
Can I boot from a Win98SE floppy with CD Support enabled, insert the
Windows XP Home CD and run SETUP to see if I get the Repair option?
OR, is it better to boot directly from the Windows CD?
 
Frank

Whoa up.. Michael isn't scary once you get to know him.. :-)

Boot from the CD and DO NOT press R fro the Recovery Console.. wait for
another R to press which comes up a little further into the process..
 
IF I run into problems
Would it be clean to go get XP Pro and do an upgrade install?
 
Frank said:
XP Home Edition used.
THe fan went out on my CPU Chip and of course all went to "toast"
Replaced the motherboard and now have a good hardware setup -- BUT

XP thinks this a new box, on Windows startup get the B/W screen for
Safe/Normal/Last Good, etc.
Any option returns me to the same screen - I have been told that this is
normal when you change the motherboard.

What is the best way to get back to "Normal"?
Click to expand...


Normally, and assuming a retail license (many OEM installations are
BIOS-locked to a specific chipset and therefore not transferable to a
new motherboard - check yours before starting), unless the new
motherboard is virtually identical (same chipset, same IDE controllers,
same BIOS version, etc.) to the one on which the 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

The "why" is quite simple, really, and has nothing to do with
licensing issues, per se; it's a purely technical matter, at this point.
You've pulled the proverbial hardware rug out from under the OS. (If
you don't like -- or get -- the rug analogy, think of it as picking up a
Cape Cod style home and then setting it down onto a Ranch style
foundation. It just isn't going to fit.) WinXP, like Win2K before it,
is not nearly as "promiscuous" as Win9x when it comes to accepting any
old hardware configuration you throw at it. On installation it
"tailors" itself to the specific hardware found. This is one of the
reasons that the entire WinNT/2K/XP OS family is so much more stable
than the Win9x group.

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

This will also probably 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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