What am I doing wrong?

[Oakind]

Help !
This is driving me nuts. :shocked:

I just built a new computer. AMD 64 3000+, Gigabyte GA-K8U, 512 mb ram, dvd, floppy and 120 gig WD HD. The HD has XP loaded from the previous system guts.

I put everything in the case, powered up and go through bios boot and then get the screen to list
"We apologise for the inconvenience, but Windows did not start successfully. A recent Hardware change may have caused this". :frown:

Then it gives different start options- Safe Mode, Last known Good Config, Start windows normally.

None of the options start windows. :disgust:

When I put the windows disk in the DVD and adjust BIOS to boot from DVD, the Windows XP setup won't load either.

I only built 4 or 5 machines but was always able to fire it up and load windows from the CD or DVD drive without any issues. The only diffierence with this build is that I'm using my old Hard Drive loaded with software - rather than a virgin drive.

How can I straighten out this Windows problem? (other than buying MAC )

Thanks a million for your help. :beer:

 

[augidog]

well, someone else can probably give you more technically correct info, but you won't be able to "swap" XP on the fly...something about a file that contains a certain value based on the hardware configuration, if that value is changed in certain ways, it will stop loading, just as you described.
...i lost a lotta hair over this same thing

 

[nick1985]

you must reformat, IMO

 

[Oakind]

I'd be happy to reformat- but I can't access XP on the CD to even do that.

I NEED a drink. :beer:

 

[augidog]

what, exactly, is happening (or not) when you boot to the XP CD?

 

[fibes]

Can you swap out your DVD with a different optical drive?

 

[Bozo Galora]

Thats the MS authorization check kicking in
You did a major equipment shuffle that made it appear you are trying to load XP on a dif PC. (You rascal you)
You have been shut out.
You can phone them (if you have a legit copy of XP) and tell them what happened and they will give you a new ser.
You can use your HDD manuf utility floppy to format the HDD from A drive

 

[Trizik]

you will have to format because XP installations are based on specific hardware. make sure your CD/DVD-ROM is set to be the very first boot device.