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Bonesdad

Platinum Member
Nov 18, 2002
2,213
0
76
Just used Plug n Pray (as I had no other option at the time) and it went flawlessly. Upgraded from P35 to P45 motherboard...it never blinked...I still plan to do a fresh install, but I had to grab some files that had never been backed up.
 

craftech

Senior member
Nov 26, 2000
779
4
81
It seems that this is a good place to ask this question.

I just ordered a Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD 3P motherboard that will be here in a day or so.

I am currently running a computer with a Bad Axe 2 motherboard and a Q6700 CPU that I use for video editing. It works flawlessly. I installed an original Windows XP Pro retail disc on it and updated it over the years (currently running SP2 and latest updates except SP3).

Here is the problem:

I bought this motherboard because it will run 65nm and 45nm processors as a spare motherboard. The Bad Axe 2 will only run 65nm processors.

Since it has a limited return policy, how do I test it?

Do I buy an OEM XP Pro and risk losing it? Do I pay $250 for a retail XP Pro again?

What would you guys do in this case?

Download and install UBUNTU to test the motherboard before I put it away?

Surely others have done what I want to do?

Thanks for the input.

John
 

Gillbot

Lifer
Jan 11, 2001
28,830
17
81
If you just want to test functionality of the system, download a live linux CD and run it from a CD-ROM. That will load you into a working "desktop" environment with applications to test the system without going through the hassle of reconfiguring windows.
 

craftech

Senior member
Nov 26, 2000
779
4
81
Originally posted by: Gillbot
If you just want to test functionality of the system, download a live linux CD and run it from a CD-ROM. That will load you into a working "desktop" environment with applications to test the system without going through the hassle of reconfiguring windows.

Thank you for that suggestion. I really appreciate it.

John
 
Nov 29, 2005
160
0
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yeap you can take your pick of linux distros @ distrowatch.com I would recommend iso that is 700MB or less and make sure it says "LIVE CD". Then depending on the linux distro, you can then view your current hardware settings (number of cpu core, cpu speed, ram speed, etc) - its a quick tool to checkout the system :)
 

XMan

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
12,513
49
91
Hey, Gillbot, can you update your instructions on Sysprep for Vista? I've never been able to use plug and play or a repair install since switching to Vista. With XP I was always able to just use plug and play with few issues.
 

Gillbot

Lifer
Jan 11, 2001
28,830
17
81
Originally posted by: XMan
Hey, Gillbot, can you update your instructions on Sysprep for Vista? I've never been able to use plug and play or a repair install since switching to Vista. With XP I was always able to just use plug and play with few issues.

I would love to, but i've NEVER used vista. :shocked:

If anyone out there has the info, I'd gladly include it.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,230
9,990
126
Hey, here's an IMPORTANT update.

If you are moving from a mobo with an Intel CPU, to one with an AMD cpu, AND you have XP SP2 or XP SP3 installed, then it will NOT WORK. You will get a Stop 7E error.

Even a "Repair Install" WILL NOT WORK.

The solution is to use "Recovery Console" to "disable intelppm". link

This is one of the same gotchas as updating to SP3 on an AMD system, causing hangs and bluescreens.


This just happened to me recently, so I thought I should pass it along. It's a real bitch when even a repair install wont fix it.
 

Gillbot

Lifer
Jan 11, 2001
28,830
17
81
I have used sysprep to migrate cross platform without issues. I went from AMD Athlon A64 S939 to Intel S775 and vice versa no problems. Can you list your steps?
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,230
9,990
126
Originally posted by: Gillbot
The setup/Repair Method:
I'm not going to cover the Setup/Repair method as I have never gotten it to work properly. If anyone cares to add more info about this section, I'd be happy to add it in here. Basically, you place your old drive into the new system and boot from the install CD. Choose repair and use the repair console to fix your installation or you can also run setup over top of your existing install.

I should probably mention that your description of this is incorrect. You do NOT use the "recovery console" to perform a "repair install".

You boot the XP OS CD, and then when it asks you if you want to install Windows, hit ENTER (and NOT "R" for recovery console), and then hit F8 for the license screen, and then it should detect your existing Windows install, and then it will prompt to hit "R" (the SECOND R), to perform a "repair install". This will revert your service pack level to whatever service pack was included on your install CD, so you will have to re-update your SP after the install is finished. You might be prompted to re-activate your Windows too.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,230
9,990
126
tcsenter pointed this out in another thread, I thought it was important to add it to this one.

Specifically, it seems to indicate that if you have IE7 or IE8 installed onto XP SP2 or SP3, then when you perform a repair install, it doesn't properly revert back to IE6. Instead, you will end up with a corrupted IE that doesn't work.

Now, the last time that I did a XP SP2 w/IE6 repair install, on top of a system with XP SP3 w/IE7, I did not have this problem. But apparently, it can happen.
 

SolMiester

Diamond Member
Dec 19, 2004
5,331
17
76
I have used the plug & pray method without fail over a dozen times before. The secret is to change hardware drivers to generic 1st and uninstall hardware drivers.
Of course, I always to a backup 1st though....
 

alexruiz

Platinum Member
Sep 21, 2001
2,836
556
126
I am right now going through the pain of changing motherboards and CPUs in the children's machines.
Old specs were ECS 6100GMM (Geforce 6100 + nforce 405) and Athlon 64 X2 3800+
New Specs are Gigabayte GA-MA78GM-S2HP (ATI 780 / SB700) and Athlon II X2 250

I did one of the machines, uninstalled all the nvidia drivers, replaced the mobo and fired up... after logging in the nice blue screen greeted me. Booting into safe mode works fine, no crash. Can I still do the sysprep in this machine while in safe mode? What parameters are you using for sysprep?
Oh yes, I have images of the machines. Long live Ghost 2003... :p


Thanks
 

Gillbot

Lifer
Jan 11, 2001
28,830
17
81
I am not sure you can use sysprep after the fact or from safe mode. Try the MS help site for sysprep to see if there is info, otherwise restore the PC and run it before tearing down.
 

alexruiz

Platinum Member
Sep 21, 2001
2,836
556
126
Originally posted by: Gillbot
I am not sure you can use sysprep after the fact or from safe mode. Try the MS help site for sysprep to see if there is info, otherwise restore the PC and run it before tearing down.

Hi there. Sorry it took me this looong to reply, but here I am with some interesting findings :D

1) Yes, I was able to run sysprep from safe mode. The sysprep I got is ver 2.0, so really no choices as far as parameters. in the end, it didn't matter as the nice BSOD still greeted me after all the new detection was done

2) So, because sysprep from safe mode didn't work, I took one of the machines that still had the old CPU and mobo, and performed the sysprep in that machine. Ghosted the image to the computer with the new mobo hard drive after sysprep was done. After the ghosting was done, restarted the computer with the new motherboard that now had the sysprepped image... after logging in, still the freaking BSOD.

3) By now, I tried to recover the minidump file and interpret it. After a few hours wasted with the MS tools, I gave up.

4) Restored the last good image of old mobo, uninstalled drivers of almost everything... Ghosted again to new mobo, restarted, logged in... another BSOD.

5) Restored the last good image of old mobo. I decided to perform the XP in place repair with the XP CD. I slipstreammed SP3, and proceed as expected... at the scree that asked me for the license key, I typed it... rejected! XP SP3 didn't like the license.....

6) Restored the last good image of old mobo. I tried another in place repair, this time using the XP SP1 CD... this one took the license key fine, though it went much slower, eventually brought me to the log in screen... "I made it finally" was my thought. Not so fast, after logging in, the dreaded BSOD greeted me again. This time, however, being XP SP1, it gave me more time to peek at the message and identify the culprit, something that didn't happen in all the XP SP3 previous attempts as the machine rebooted right after the crash. Hex address displayed, and then it said AMDLLD.SYS A quick google search revealed that this is the AMD dual core optimizer, and that some other people had this problem before, which was corrected just by renaming the amdlld.sys

7) Start in safe mode, disable the dualc ore optimizer in msconfig, rename amdlld.sys, restart.... success!!!! No crash after logging in.... Because I wasn't to reinstall sP3 and patch SP1, I just restored the last good Ghost image once again, went directly to safe mode after the restore was complete and disabled the dual core optimizer... smooth as butter. Installed the SB700 drivers, enabled AHCI, and was up and running in a matter of minutes.

So, after like 10 hours wasted, I learned that the AMD dual core optimizer is extremely picky. Uninstall it to ensure you will make the transition successfully You also know that the mobo SATA must be set to IDE or compatibility, but that was never an issue as I had it in IDE all the time. In gigabyte mobos, enabling AHCI is dumb easy... have your hard drive connected to port 4, go to bIOS, change ports 0 to 3 as AHCI, keep ports 4 and 5 as IDE... restart, install the AHCI drivers, restart, enable AHCI in BIOS, restart... you got hot plug capability :) Run the raidexpert to enable NCQ

I wonder if the comment of the dual core optimizer can be added to the main post.



Alex
 

Spydermag68

Platinum Member
Apr 5, 2002
2,599
87
91
Sysprep - Warning. If you use this don't forget to backup your bookmarks and e-mail address book/e-mail.

This will wipe it out.
 

Gillbot

Lifer
Jan 11, 2001
28,830
17
81
Originally posted by: Spydermag68
Sysprep - Warning. If you use this don't forget to backup your bookmarks and e-mail address book/e-mail.

This will wipe it out.

it's always a good idea to back EVERYTHING up in case something doesn't work out anyway.
 

JC1970

Junior Member
Oct 19, 2009
3
0
0
I recently did the plug and play method with Vista 32 going from LGA 775 board to a P55 board and it went very smoothly, except it didn't fully recognize the i7 860 processor. all 8 cores showed correctly in device manager, but taskmanager only showed 4 and the Turbo functions would not work. The fix was to remove the core selection in msconfig/boot/advanced and turn on detechal. Windows Vista rebooted detecting the processor correctly. It was all very strange as windows gave no errors. This also restored power management options for the processor.

At least I think this was the entire fix, I had also enabled detecthal from the WinRE and it didn't seem to help and uninstalled some of the cores in device manager while doing the msconfig fix.
 

Gillbot

Lifer
Jan 11, 2001
28,830
17
81
Many (including myself) have said that plug-n-pray can and will work, you just need to be prepared if it doesn't.
 

ingeborgdot

Golden Member
Jan 12, 2005
1,322
24
81
So, let's see if I got this right. If I needed to install a new motherboard I would not have to do a fresh install? I could do a repair and then with a new mobod (different one with different drivers) it would work. I did not have time to read it all but I will have to go in and install all the new mobod drivers right?
 

Gillbot

Lifer
Jan 11, 2001
28,830
17
81
Many (including myself) have said that plug-n-pray can and will work, you just need to be prepared if it doesn't.

I tried plug-n-pray this weekend, going from x58 Intel DX58SO to an Asrock x58 Extreme and got a nice BSOD loop. Had to load fresh and start over, but luckily I had all my data backed up and was prepared for this to happen. :biggrin: