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How to use existing WinXP with New Motherboard?

B

bmaytum

Junior Member
My blind father's 6.5-year old Pentium4 motherboard recently failed, prior to failure it was running WinXP Pro SP3 and all installed programs just fine. That old mobo has integrated sound and integrated Intel video.

I bought a new motherboard (Asus P5QL-EM) with integrated sound & Intel video, and a compatible Core2Duo E5200 CPU and 2GB (2x1GB) DDR2 memory. I also got a new 320GB hard disk drive, and have used Norton Ghost 2002 (on bootable floppy) to make a complete image backup of the original (120GB) HDD. The new drive is connected; the old disk is currently disconnected (for safe keeping).

On power up, the new mobo BIOS completes it's POST with no problem (and shows all installed hardware & the connected 320GG HDD, CD-ROM and floppy drives, as expected). This PC boots with no problem from Win98SE DOS boot floppy, and the files and folders on the (Ghosted) HDD are listed properly using A:\>dir c:\<path> commands from the DOS bootfloppy.

However when attempting to boot from the HDD by selecting Windows XP Pro and either "Boot Normally" or F8> Advanced Boot Options > Safe Mode boot, the computer immediately shuts down and auto-reboots itself with no visible error messages displayed.

I had expected WinXP would detect the new hardware and allow me to install applicable new chipset, audio, network, and video drivers from the Asus driver disc furnished with the new motherboard; and I expected WinXP would require me to Re-activate Windows due to the significant differences between old and new mobo+CPU+RAM hardware . But WinXP currently will not boot in either mode from the HDD. [Side note: from what I've seen in MS Knowledgebase, there's no hope to do an In-Place "Repair Install" using my WinXP Pro SP2 installation CD now that my installed WinXP Pro has SP3 and IE7 installed].

So please advise me how to diagnose and/or work around the boot failure. The HDD has many installed programs and some data, I really hope to NOT be forced into a complete "clean" install of WinXP Pro + programs (+data copy) from scratch.

Thanks in advance!
 
Originally posted by: bmaytum

I had expected WinXP would detect the new hardware and allow me to install applicable new chipset, audio, network, and video drivers
Click to expand...

It won't detect the new hardware because it already has drivers installed.

You should have uninstalled all the drivers you could before ghosting.

About th only way to do what you are trying is to copy (ghost) the OS over and then run a Repair Install from the original Windows OS disk. That gets you the default Windows drivers and a post/boot. then you can updaye the drivers.

Also, are you sure the BIOS version you have supports that CPU?

 
I think you can also use sysprep when you change motherboards to do what you want, but it would have needed to be ran on the old motherboard before you switched to the new one I think.

There is a SYSPREP tool on the XP CD.

You will need to extract files from the Windows XP CD, files are located at CD:SUPPORTTOOLS in a cab file called DEPLOY.CAB. The files are Sysprep.exe and Setupcl.exe. Extract these files to the same folder.

With the old motherboard still in the system:

You run sysprep.exe and tell it to "RESEAL" Windows XP. Note that it will shutdown the PC when it completes the reseal process.

Now pull out the old MB, install the new one and fire up the machine. It re-activates Windows XP and populates the device manager list.

You do need to re-activate with the same key-code.
 
Use NLite to slipstream SP3 into your XP Install CD. Then do a Repair Install by booting to the new slipstreamed XP Install CD.

After it boots, install the Chipset drivers and other drivers for the new motherboard. Note that if this is a large-manufacturer (Dell, HP, etc.) OEM copy of XP, you won't be able to Activate XP online. You'll have to call Microsoft for Activation.
 
Something could possibly have gone wrong with the ghost or new drive. Can you boot the new ghosted drive with the old system? Does it get you into windows or does it do the same thing it's doing now?
 
Thanks guys for all your prompt replies and suggestions!

First to clarify: The old motherboard died unexpectedly, so techniques like Sysprep (and see also this AnandTech thread) when doing a pre-planned mobo changeout aren't applicable in my case.

In short I was forced into doing the "Plug-and-Pray" approach (see link above), but it hasn't panned out since the hardware (and required drivers) are significantly different between the old mobo and the new. Last night I booted from DOS and used F8 (Advanced Options) > "Disable automatic restart on system failure"), which displays a BSOD STOP Error 0x0000007B. Microsoft Knowledgebase article 324103 "Stop 0x00007B" clearly indicates driver & hardware incomaptibilities (esp. related to to IDE controllers) between old & new mobo.

I might try RebateMonger's Slipstream SP3 + Repair In Place Re-installation, that is an attractive approach. Otherwise, it looks like a "clean" install" is in order.

Again, many thanks to all for your help & suggestions!
 
Ghost 2002 and prior do not support writing disk images to NTFS partitions. It can, however, do a sector-by-sector clone (disk to disk) of NTFS partitions.
 
If you originally installed XP SP2 and then updated to SP3, do the restore with an SP2 CD then install SP3 again.
 
Originally posted by: bmaytum
Thanks guys for all your prompt replies and suggestions!

First to clarify: The old motherboard died unexpectedly, so techniques like Sysprep (and see also this AnandTech thread) when doing a pre-planned mobo changeout aren't applicable in my case.

In short I was forced into doing the "Plug-and-Pray" approach (see link above), but it hasn't panned out since the hardware (and required drivers) are significantly different between the old mobo and the new. Last night I booted from DOS and used F8 (Advanced Options) > "Disable automatic restart on system failure"), which displays a BSOD STOP Error 0x0000007B. Microsoft Knowledgebase article 324103 "Stop 0x00007B" clearly indicates driver & hardware incomaptibilities (esp. related to to IDE controllers) between old & new mobo.

I might try RebateMonger's Slipstream SP3 + Repair In Place Re-installation, that is an attractive approach. Otherwise, it looks like a "clean" install" is in order.

Again, many thanks to all for your help & suggestions!
Click to expand...

I do not think this will help you since I think you said you can not even boot into safe mode. I have not done this myself, but was told you could move the new HDD into a new system then boot into safe mode and then run sysprep on the new system. If you can't get into safe mode, this would be no help but wanted to add it to the thread just in case it could help someone else down the road.

 
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