Replaced mobo & cpu - Win XP not booting...

[DisinfectedDuck]

Hey.

I just installed a new mobo & cpu in my pc, and win xp isn't booting. The pc boots and shows me the msi corechip or something screen, then it goes to the screen that says win xp wasn't shut down properly. Whatever I do (normal, safe mode..) the screen goes black and nothing happens. I went to the BIOS and noticed the pc recognized all my IDE drives and my VGA card. I really don't know what to do now...

This is my pc -

P4 2.8 C
MSI 865PE NEO-2
2x 256 mb Micron RAM 21000 pci 266mhz
WD 80gb HDD Caviar Edition
Asus GF3 V8900
Hercules GTXP
an alcatel modem for ADSL

What should I do? i'm really lost here guys, please help me out..

Thanks!

 

[NokiaDude]

Let's say your mobo + CPU are the "body" of a computer. Windows XP is the "brain", even today, there is no possible way to transplant one person's brain into another person's body. That's what you did to your computer, you switched "bodies" on XP. Windows XP has not clue where to look in it's "new body" to access information. Your only solution is to take the HD out, hook it up to another computer and take the important stuff off. Then reformat and re-install XP.

 

[0roo0roo]

reinstall windows. u shouldn't have expected it to work in thefirst place.

 

[DisinfectedDuck]

really? I never knew that. I thought XP automatically recognizes the mobo & cpu..

Do I have to reformat or is re-installing xp enough?

 

[zodder]

You might be able to get away with just a reinstall, but since you just switched out 2 major pieces of equipment, the best bet would be to do a reformat. That way you can load all your own drivers, get rid of the deadwood, and start from a clean slate.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
reinstall windows. u shouldn't have expected it to work in thefirst place.

 

[Tango57]

Originally posted by: DisinfectedDuck
really? I never knew that. I thought XP automatically recognizes the mobo & cpu..

Do I have to reformat or is re-installing xp enough?

Windows will allow you to make a certain number of hardware changes to the system before it finally says you can't anymore. Major hardware changes require a reformat and new install. You should reformat and run a clean install but backup any important data first.