Win XP, new hardware. Can't repair install.

[Markfw]

OK, I have a lot of games, and codes for the install that I can't even find anymore. I an trying to put new hardware in this old XP game box (all my old 16 bit games and a few 32 bit). So it won't do a repair install, it bluescreens (and yes, I put sata in IDE mode) So then I try to boot in safe mode, and it says setup can't run in safe mode. So now I booted XP install, and said repair using the console. So how do I delete all the old drivers that are causing the problems, without messing up the game dlls etc ?? from a repair console c:\windows prompt.

 

[C1]

There are various ways to attempt to approach your issue, but in all likelihood you'll need reinstall of some of your old software apps particularly games.

First though, try a "scannow" but make sure you have your OS disk as it in all likelihood will be requested/required.

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-use-sfc-scannow-to-repair-windows-system-files-2626161

 

[PingSpike]

Did you set the disk controller in device manager to be the standard microsoft PCI one before trying the swap?

I remember XP being horrible for this but there were some simpler tricks you could if you still had the original hardware working (which usually you didn't of course)

 

[PliotronX]

XP actually had a bad ass repair mode that worked 9 out of 10 times. Its not the recovery console you want, you need to proceed like you are installing and when (if) it detects the old installation, it will ask if you wish to repair it. If that is what is bluescreening, were there any system restore points set? Is the old hardware still working and can you put it back in?

 

[Markfw]

OK, so I decided to just do a fresh install of xp sp3. So I can't even get to the first setup screen (after loading messages) and I get a blue screen talking about ACPI compliance. Now in the bios on most boards, I find a setting for the hard drives for UEFI or IDE, but I can't find that in this bios. ASUS B150 pro D3

 

[vailr]

There was an "XP mode" free software download (~700 Mb) that was once offered by Microsoft; it was basically a free virtual machine that could run under Windows 7. XP running "bare metal" on modern hardware won't work all that well, due to lack of drivers.
I once experimented running XP "bare metal" on a Z97 machine, which worked fairly well, even though certain device drivers were not available. A newer B150 based machine would be even more problematical.
For one thing: modern motherboards don't include a floppy drive connection, but XP can only accept add-on drivers (during O.S. pre-install) from a floppy drive. Another problem is: a USB mouse & keyboard not being recognized, during O.S. installation. Using a PS/2 mouse is a work-around for that problem.

 

[Markfw]

There was an "XP mode" free software download (~700 Mb) that was once offered by Microsoft; it was basically a free virtual machine that could run under Windows 7. XP running "bare metal" on modern hardware won't work all that well, due to lack of drivers.
I once experimented running XP "bare metal" on a Z97 machine, which worked fairly well, even though certain device drivers were not available. A newer B150 based machine would be even more problematical.
For one thing: modern motherboards don't include a floppy drive connection, but XP can only accept add-on drivers (during O.S. pre-install) from a floppy drive. Another problem is: a USB mouse & keyboard not being recognized, during O.S. installation. Using a PS/2 mouse is a work-around for that problem.

I tried virtualbox in win 10. It crashed virtualbox ! So I gave up on that and was going to try a scratch install of XP, but I guess its just too old an OS on anything 11xx or newer. Its working fine on a socket 1366 board, I guess it will have to stay there.

 

[Markfw]

OK, so I had an old AMD 860k quad core laying around, and I was able to install XP SP3 on it ! Now for the games. This seems to be the latest technology that supports XP.

 

[DaveSimmons]

In case you need it, XP VMs worked fine on Sandy Bridge socket 1155 motherboards at least with i5-2500 / i7-2600 CPUs. I just used the VMs for work though not gaming, until we finally dropped XP support for our applications a couple of years ago.

 

[Markfw]

In case you need it, XP VMs worked fine on Sandy Bridge socket 1155 motherboards at least with i5-2500 / i7-2600 CPUs. I just used the VMs for work though not gaming, until we finally dropped XP support for our applications a couple of years ago.

Oh, I got XP to work on a VM< but it crashed virtualbox when I ran the game.

 

[SPBHM]

Oh, I got XP to work on a VM< but it crashed virtualbox when I ran the game.

XP running in a VM is not a good solution for games, the graphics drivers it uses its not all that good; Windows 10 VM drivers are far better;

XP SP3 runs fine on Sandy Bridge (I've used that combination as my main OS in 2011), and I assume also works fine with Ivy Bridge, newer than that I think it's a no; but it also probably depends on the motherboard/bios...

the one obvious problem when installing was the sata controller driver, if running in AHCI you need to provide the drivers during the install with a floppy disk (or mod the windows image to include them), but, the easy solution is use legacy mode on the bios and not AHCI, so it runs fine with the generic drivers;

then there is the graphics cards, GTX 960 and older should be OK, for AMD the HD 7900 series have support but newer than that, maybe the 290x had drivers, but I'm not sure.

the rest, like lan, sound etc should all be good with an ivy bridge and older motherboard.

for AMD I don't really know, I think AM3+ should be good, but the APUs I'm not sure.


if you are trying to play really old games (like 1998 and older), it might be fun to try "PCEm" running windows 98;

 

[Markfw]

XP running in a VM is not a good solution for games, the graphics drivers it uses its not all that good; Windows 10 VM drivers are far better;

XP SP3 runs fine on Sandy Bridge (I've used that combination as my main OS in 2011), and I assume also works fine with Ivy Bridge, newer than that I think it's a no; but it also probably depends on the motherboard/bios...

the one obvious problem when installing was the sata controller driver, if running in AHCI you need to provide the drivers during the install with a floppy disk (or mod the windows image to include them), but, the easy solution is use legacy mode on the bios and not AHCI, so it runs fine with the generic drivers;

then there is the graphics cards, GTX 960 and older should be OK, for AMD the HD 7900 series have support but newer than that, maybe the 290x had drivers, but I'm not sure.

the rest, like lan, sound etc should all be good with an ivy bridge and older motherboard.

for AMD I don't really know, I think AM3+ should be good, but the APUs I'm not sure.


if you are trying to play really old games (like 1998 and older), it might be fun to try "PCEm" running windows 98;

The OS of the computer WAS Win10, the VM was XP, and I had no option, the games will not run under win7 in XP mode even.

 

[SPBHM]

The OS of the computer WAS Win10, the VM was XP, and I had no option, the games will not run under win7 in XP mode even.

I'm not talking about the host OS, simply the VM software offers better drivers for windows 10 for D3D than it does for XP.
if the games are for DOS dosbox is by far the easiest way, if they are for win9x PCEm I mentioned earlier could be interesting, if newer it might also worth checking individually if there is any known patch or something...

 

[Ketchup]

I have had pretty good luck with the graphics driver in VMware player playing games in XP, but it depends on the game. Playing games that were demanding at the time (even back then) still pretty much need real hardware.