upgraded, now can't boot up, HELP!!

[bored4long]

Hi, I swapped out my mobo and cpu, and now my system will not start up. System worked fine before the swap. I present my problem to you. Hopefully those that are smarter and more experienced than I can identify my issue.

System WAS:
ECS K7S5A v.?
AMD 900 mhz
Windows XP Pro

System NOW:
ECS K7VTA3 v8
AMD 2000+
Windows XP Pro

Now on start up an error screen comes up before windows is loaded that reads "We appoligize for the inconvenience, but windows did not start successfully...."
Then 5 different options are given for startup, with "start windows normally" automatically highlighted. the keyboard is locked out (not working).

After the 30 second countdown, computer reboots to only end up at the same error message. This process would loop forever if I let it.

I tried to boot from the xp cd but after it says "booting from cd" it still goes to the same error message.

Any thoughts?

[John Prophet]

Welcome to the forum!

You are looking at reloading the OS there.

Cant just swap out boards without a reload...not with an NT based OS. You could with 98 etc by deleting the hardware registry key and making it redetect it all.


What you probably will end up doing is throwing in a spare hard drive....build xp on it...then boot off of it...with the present hard drive on the secondary IDE...and just get your data and stuff off the present hard drive.



JP

[cunokyle]

yup, a reinstall of the OS is going to be the only option here. Especially with Windows XP and you will have to reactivate your OS as well.

[bored4long]

hmm, I did this before (but swapped a new, but same cpu and mobo) and all that XP wanted was a re-authorization. I had to call Microsoft for a code to enter.

How much space does XP Pro use? I have a spare 10 gig somewhere.

Would there be a way to reinstall onto the 10 gig, then do another fresh intsall on my primary hd without having to lose all my data on it?

thanks for the help.

[BipolarBill]

The advice that you've been given is correct - especially if the motherboard chipsets are significantly different.

With XP, all you need to do is boot from the CD and reinstall it. Old data will be retained in the C:\Documents and Settings\old username folder. Programs, naturally, must be reinstalled.

[bored4long]

Let me restate: the computer (I'm guessing the BIOS) will not allow me to boot from the CD. Do I need to put in a fresh/fdisked harddrive to be able to boot from the CD? OR is there a different problem that is keeping me from booting from the CD?

[BipolarBill]

Grrr - can't delete my own post.

[BipolarBill]

Check the BIOS settings to be sure that CDROM is set to boot before the hard drive. I think you're supposed to press a key when prompted.

If this is a genuine Windows XP CD, it's bootable. If it's a copy, well...

You can always use a Win98 startup disk. Use that to run the WINNT.EXE file in the i386 folder of the CD.

[Bill in SD, CA]

If this is the BipolarBill I'm familiar with from another forum then his advice is very sage.

Bill

[BipolarBill]

Who else would it be, Bill?