XP Home OEM to new mother board

[MrB]

We have an XP Home OEM edition computer that had a power problem that fried
the MB and CPU. We took the hard drive and installed it on a new motherboard
cpu combo. Windows would not start. Error message was ox blah blah blah. Any
suggestions on how to start this system? Old system was Intel..........new
is Athlon 2700.

 

[Perdita X. Dream]

We have an XP Home OEM edition computer that had a power problem that fried
the MB and CPU. We took the hard drive and installed it on a new motherboard
cpu combo. Windows would not start. Error message was ox blah blah blah. Any
suggestions on how to start this system? Old system was Intel..........new
is Athlon 2700.

Simple answer maybe that you can't. If booting from the CD (be it
recovery/restore/rescue whatever) doesn't work, then it may be BIOS-locked.
This means that there is a code in the BIOS and a code on the installation
disc. If either is missing, then Windows refuses to install/load. If this is
the case with youes (and I'm not saying it is, it's just a scenario) then
your only choice is to purchase the full retail version (unless you have a
retail version of either 95 (clean installation only)/98/ME for home or as
before and NT/2000 for Pro) as the licence you currently have is now invalid
(manufacturers who BIOS-lock consider the motherboard the computer,
obviously).

Sorry...

 

[R. McCarty]

The one unique device driver that Windows must have to start is the
primary storage (Disk) driver. Without that Windows cannot begin
to run and re-enumerate the components on the new motherboard.
In your case, the old motherboard used an Intel ATAPI/IDE driver.
When the new motherboard was installed, it uses (probably) a VIA
IDE driver. When Windows attempts to start it is using the Intel IDE
driver which isn't present and you received the Stop Error 0x70 that
indicates a mass storage failure.
The accepted way to fix this is to run a "Repair" install. XP's install
runs using "generic" drivers, much like safe mode. This accommodates
many different vendor's hardware.

 

[Bob Knowlden]

One method for moving to a new mainboard is to do a repair install:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341

"How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP"

(In short: change the BIOS settings to boot from the CD drive. Boot from the
XP CD, and choose to install rather than going to the Repair Console. Do a
repair installation rather than a new one.)

That'll detect the new hardware and install the correct drivers.

However, you may not be able to do this with an OEM copy of XP. If it's a
manufacturer's OEM, it may be BIOS locked, which means that it would only
install on a board whose BIOS states that it's of the same make. If it's a
generic OEM disk, you may be able to install it, but I'd bet that you'll
have a problem activating it.

OEM copies are cheaper than retail ones, but at a price.

If you must buy a new copy of XP home, and you have access to a copy of a CD
of an OS that qualifies for the upgrade:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/howtobuy/upgrading/matrix.asp

then you can do anything with the upgrade CD that you can with the full
retail one for $100 (USD) less. (If you did a clean install, the XP
installation routine would request that qualifying media be inserted in the
CD drive to show that you own it. I use a CD-R backup copy of my retail
Win98 gold upgrade CD. Surprisingly, the check does not ask for an
installation code for the old OS.)

Good luck.

Bob Knowlden

Spam dodger may be in use. Replace nkbob with bobkn.