New system + old HDD and windows install = doesn't work :(

BahamutZERO

Goddamnit, every time, there's SOMETHING. Something just has to fuck up.

I got my new parts today, installed them and tried to boot from the hard drive from my old system, same windows installation. Unfortunately it BSODs when it tries to load windows. The crash screen doesn't even stay on the monitor long enough for me to read anything on it. I replaced pretty much everything but the hard drive, floppy drive, DVD drive, and the case. So I think I have run into this problem: ASUS tech support forums
... which basically says my hardware has changed enough that my old install of windows thinks it's being used in a different machine and NO YOU CAN'T DO THAT LOL


So what I want to do is not have to fucking reinstall XP, as the first time I installed it I couldn't get it to work for two fucking weeks. Is there any way to do that? Or at the very least preserve my files and installed programs and shit so I don't have to reinstall everything and so on?


Oh yeah, the other problem with reinstalling XP is that I can't connect my DVD drive and HDD at the same time since they're too far for the cable to reach between them. My last system had two sockets on the mobo so I had them on seperate cables. They're both ATA, not SATA.
Hmm, maybe I can scavenge a SATA DVD drive from one of the other computers around here...

EvilBadman

You expected an install of windows xp from a completely different system's harddrive to work.

Bravo.

Your prize is getting to do a fresh xp install. Which you should have been prepared to do, if common sense hadn't left you already.

BahamutZERO

Windows' copy protection doesn't come up very often for me, it's not like I do this a lot. I'm not sure how I was supposed to know that it wouldn't work? I hadn't seen it talked about before this.

So instead of being snarky, could you give me some advice on how to migrate my old files to a new install? Do I need to make a new partition?

Misanthropic

BahamutZERO wrote: »

Windows' copy protection doesn't come up very often for me, it's not like I do this a lot. I'm not sure how I was supposed to know that it wouldn't work? I hadn't seen it talked about before this.

So instead of being snarky, could you give me some advice on how to migrate my old files to a new install? Do I need to make a new partition?

Partition the drive in a non-destructive manner. Install a fresh version of Windows XP. Migrate whatever old files you want to the new boot partition. Non-destructively re-partition the drive.

Always, always have an external backup of what you want and need.

Tokled

If you decide to reinstall windows, and you need to recover your files first, one of the many linux liveCDs is a quick and easy way to access files on a unbootable harddrive so that you can transfer them to a backup drive, flash drive, cd, or whatever you have in mind.

As far as backing up your programs to avoid reinstalling them, I've never tried so I can't say if its possible or not. Maybe with simple programs but I believe some programs have resources spread throughout the filesystem, maybe even tying themselves to the registry in some way that will make using them on a new install of windows impossible.

Beazle

Take out your hard drive and DVD drive and get them close enough so you have have them both hooked up at the same time.

Boot off of the WinXp CD
Choose install (not recovery console)
Choose repair current installation

Install drivers after windows installs
Update windows

Done.

BahamutZERO

Beazle wrote: »

Take out your hard drive and DVD drive and get them close enough so you have have them both hooked up at the same time.

Boot off of the WinXp CD
Choose install (not recovery console)
Choose repair current installation

Install drivers after windows installs
Update windows

Done.

Ah, this is what I was hoping for. I don't know why I didn't think of unmounting the drives so the cable would reach :P I'll do that until I can pick up a longer cable or something.

wunderbar

Yea, windows doesn't quite work that way. Regardless of copyright issues, Windows always freaks out when you move to an entire new system because of driver issues.

When building a new computer you should always, always, always be prepard for a new install of windows.

steeef

You're better off with a new install anyway, as it will probably perform better. Repair will most likely work, but you ought to think about backing up everything and installing fresh when you get a chance.

BahamutZERO

Repair worked like a charm, posting from my old HDD right now. Thanks for the help guys!

Beazle

BahamutZERO wrote: »

Repair worked like a charm, posting from my old HDD right now. Thanks for the help guys!

Glad it worked.