[noobsaibot21]

Hello again geeks,

After the previous advice i got here:

http://www.geekstogo...ems-t57300.html

I am now past the hardware issues i had. I am however still using my dell as i cannot get into Windows on my new PC. Basically, when i power on the PC with my old 8Gb hard drive connected (which has windows XP installed on it), it will ask me if i want to run Windows. When i go to load up Windows, it gives me a blue screen saying that Windows has stopped loading as there has been a device failure.
It then asks me to clear the Hard disc of Virus' (which i can't do as i can't get into Windows). It alternatively asks me to ensure the HD is connected properly (which it is) and if it has any errors (which i don't think it does as i'm using it now with no problems).

If i try to use it with my brand new 80Gb hard drive, it asks me to insert the correct boot media to the correct boot device. I can't find my Windows XP disc but i do still have my windows 98 Floppy and CD-Rom however it is attempting to boot from the floppy drive and when i put in the "Disk 1 - Setup" floppy, it says it's an invalid system disk. Please remove and replace with the boot disk.

What do i do? If you need me to type out EXACTLY what it says when i try to run it i can hook up my new PC and write out what it says (such as any Technical messages ect...)

100 free virtual pints of Guinness for anyone who can help me.
Many Thanks,
Noobsaibot21

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Sometimes XP has a hard time going from one system to another, especially if the type of hardware used is different, like going from a different socket mobo to another. Most of the time you have ot do a fresh install of Windows XP, but first you could try to REPAIR this version of XP and see if that clears up your problem.

Keep us posted!

Jarenien

[Jarenien]

Sometimes XP has a hard time going from one system to another, especially if the type of hardware used is different, like going from a different socket mobo to another. Most of the time you have ot do a fresh install of Windows XP, but first you could try to REPAIR this version of XP and see if that clears up your problem.

Keep us posted!

Jarenien

[gerryf]

Sadly, a repair works only once, if at all.

When moving a drive with windows xp to a second machine, you set up the machine and to boot from CD first, insert your windows xp cd, then boot and run a repair before the harddrive is accessed--if Windows trys to load from the harddrive, it attempts to load the old installation and hopelessly screws up the OS installation.

You cannot recover this installation.

You can install Windows 98, if you wish, on the new drive, but dropping into bios and setting the boot order to cd-rom, harddrive, floppy

Then, reboot with the Windows 98 cd in--it is bootable and then install as normal.

You may have a hard time finding drivers if the hardware is new.

[noobsaibot21]

Repair Windows XP?
How would i do such a thing?
I have taken the liberty of writing down exactly what it says with the old 8Gb hard drive installed. Here Goes:

A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage
to your computer.

If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen,
restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow
these steps:

Check for viruses on your computer. Remove any newly installed
hard drives or hard drive controllers. Check your hard drive
to make sure it is properly configured and terminated.
Run CHKDSK /F to check for hard drive corruption, and then
restart your computer.

Technical Information:

*** STOP: 0x0000007B (0xF8974640, 0xc0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)


Based on the above, i have a slight inkling that it has something to do with the HD. I am using the very same HD right now on my old Dell PC with no problems. The HD should be "properly configured and terminated" if it's working now right?
What is this CHKDSK /F thing all about? How do i run it?

Many thanks again,
Noobsaibot21

[gerryf]

Let me repeat...when you moved the harddrive with Windows XP from one machine to another, and windows tried to load, it was like a drunk waking up in the wrong house next to the wrong woman...it is hopelessly screwed.

Chkdsk, repair, whatever, will not work. The registry tried to load hardware that did not exist and simply rolled over and died an ugly death.

There is no saving the installation, It has gone and joined the bleeding choir invisible.

It is a kiboshed OS.

You need to reinstall windows...

You should do that, on the new 80gb drive, then insert the old drive as a slave, and you can recover the data, but the OS and the programs are not salvagable

[noobsaibot21]

You can install Windows 98, if you wish, on the new drive, but dropping into bios and setting the boot order to cd-rom, harddrive, floppy

Then, reboot with the Windows 98 cd in--it is bootable and then install as normal.

So, if i install 98 on the brand new 80Gb HD, it should work? Ironically, i have everything i need to install XP zipped on the old 8Gb HD. If i slave 8Gb HD, can i install XP onto the new HD and discard the old HD?

Thanks again,
Noobsaibot21

[gerryf]

OK, now, this is the tricky part....windows xp is by default installed on an ntfs formatted drive

windows 98 is installed on a fat32 drive. Windows 98 cannot read an ntfs formatted drive, so doing it as you describe will not work easily.

However, you are typing this on a different computer...is it an XP or windows 2000 PC?

You could install the 8gb to this computer, copy the contents to a temp drive, then install the new drive, copy the old 8gb stuff to a temp folder on the new drive, then run the install from the drive itself after booting with a boot disk.

(that's the shorthand explanation)

[noobsaibot21]

This PC i'm using is a Pentium III 450Mhz
It has XP installed on it. The HD is just over eight years old and has everything i'd need to install XP in a zipped file. I no longer have my XP CDROM

The new PC is a Pentium 4 2.66 Ghz. No Windows installed on it but i am about to try and install 98 on the new hard drive and see if that works.

Is this action wise?

[gerryf]

It's fine, but you will not be able to access the old drive if it was formatted with ntfs

[noobsaibot21]

The old drive is a FAT32. I'm not sure about my new HD though. I don't even think it's been formatted yet. It hasn't been used yet.
So am i good to go with windows 98?

[gerryf]

yes, but what I am saying is that if you install windows 98 on the new drive (partition and format it), then install the 8gb drive, you will not be able to read the drive since windows 98 cannot read ntfs drives

[noobsaibot21]

Right then.
I will have to borrow a mate's copy of the XP CD and use my product code. How do i partition and format the HD? Is it in the set up menu somewhere?
I will keep you all posted tomorrow.
Many thanks again,
Noobsaibot21

[Jarenien]

You are able to format and partition the hard drive any way you like when you are installing XP using the CD

[noobsaibot21]

Viewtiful stuff.
I will keep you all posted. Thanks for everyone's help and i will post the good (or bad) news tomorrow.
Many thanks,
Noobsaibot21

[noobsaibot21]

Hello again,

Sorry about the lack of update but i had a bit of a surprise holiday..... Anyway, i am still having major trouble with the new PC & HD so i will try to be as detailed as possible.

I don't know what make the old 8Gb HD is as it came with my Dell Dimension XPS T450 all those years ago.

New HD: Samsung SpinPoint P80 80GBIDE ATA/133 2MB 7200RPM.
New MoBo: MSI 915GM4-FI, I915G, Socket-775, BulkVGA, SATA, m-ATX, GbLAN.
New Processor: Intel P4 506 2.66GHz SocketLGA775, 1Mb, EM64T w/ fan.

I am unable to install Windows 98 on the new HD. Everytime i try to install it, the system does a "routine" check of the HD and everything seems fine for installation. After the check, the computer must restart and whenever i restart, the computer asks for the Windows 98 CDROM and, when inserted, repeats itself with it's routine check. It never breaks from this cycle.

I have Windows 98 installed on my old HD for use with the new MoBo but i can only run Windows in safe mode. This HD also has Windows XP for use with my old Dell PC which i am using at the moment.

Moving on to Windows XP, i borrowed a friends XP CD and it installs onto my new HD but when the computer restarts after setting up the files, it returns to the setup menu asking me if i want to install Windows XP (again). It should be noted that this XP CD came with my friends Dell PC which had XP pre installed and is apparently only for reinstalling XP.
Could Dell have edited the XP CD? Will i need a proper retail version? I am unwilling to fork out ANOTHER €130 for something i've already paid for.
I have copied the XP installation files from my old HD onto a CD-R and tried to install it from there but it has an invalid I/O input or something.

I truly am at the mercy of this problem. If anyone can help me, i would really appreciate it. If you need any more details, just ask and i will try to get them for you.

Many thanks in advance,
Noobsaibot21