Operating System won't boot

[Infidelious]

Hi All,

I recently built a computer for a kid. He already had a computer so I used a couple of his parts so it would be cheaper for him. I got the computer built, plugged in his hard drive, and Windows won't boot up. It's Windows XP and it gets to the loading screen and then restarts to the screen that gives you the option to start in safe mode. It says the operating system can't run because of a hardware change. What do I need to do to get this computer running?

 

[ssc456]

The simplest option would be to insert the original Windows XP disk and do a REPAIR, do not re-install windows again or you will lose all of his data.

Alternatively if you do not have the original XP disc, do you have his old hardware?
You could build the machine back up with his old hardware, uninstall ALL of the necessary drivers, then perform the upgrade and it should be fine.

 

[ashpash21]

This maybe because the hard drive you are using is the one out the old computer. You would need to put the old computer back together and copy all his needed data to a thum drive or external hard drive.

 

[The Meta Camel]

Wow. I'm no expert in Windows. Does it allow you to acces the bios? Maybe somebody could back me up on this(or correct me if I'm wrong), but will changing the hardware settings before the Windows kernel is loaded inform Windows further down in the boot?

(*note* I am not fairly competent with windows. Just about all my answers are, "did you check the bios?" Etc, etc. XD)

 

[BikerEcho]

it has something to do with that microsoft don't want people to just clone the harddrive and put the other harddrives into another computer and boot it up with license and everything ready to be used. when you change your motherboard, it is considert by microsoft as a new computer and a new computer that you don't have the windows license for. so... yeah. open source for the win. Go linux.

 

[ssc456]

it has something to do with that microsoft don't want people to just clone the harddrive and put the other harddrives into another computer and boot it up with license and everything ready to be used. when you change your motherboard, it is considert by microsoft as a new computer and a new computer that you don't have the windows license for. so... yeah. open source for the win. Go linux.

Wrong . . . . . .

It's nothing to do with this, it's purely the fact that your hard drive has been in another computer and has the drivers for that computer, that hard drive controller, that chip set, that graphics card etc and when you put it in another computer the hard drive looks for the hardware in relation to those drivers, can;t find it and falls over.

If this was an MS tactic to stop copying windows then they would have made it a little harder to get round (remove all drivers, then make a copy . . . .)

 

[BikerEcho]

hmmm.
I might be wrong. i still think that i am right. i think it happens after you switch motherboard and microsoft don't want you to take your windows install with you to another computer. a standard licence to windows also only cover 1 single machine.
i don't think that your driver theory are right. Why can't i then take a brand new and fresh install of windows that have only booted once on a machine in order to complete the installation and then to be shutdown again. then taken to another computer to boot up. that failed, it didn't boot. it had no drivers what so ever and no internet to get them.
windows can boot without drivers, things just won't work properly until you install them.

 

[ssc456]

Having not tried your method i can not confirm exactly why you can't transfer the drive, my best guess would be that despite you not having installed any drivers, Windows will have allocated some default drivers to your hardware, unless your motherboard / processor etc are very similar these drivers will need to be different when swapped to a new machine.

Trust me if MS wanted to stop you transfering your copy of Windows to another PC they would have tried harder to stop people than them being able to just uninstall all of the right drivers.

 

[strollin]

In this case, ssc456 is correct. Even during a clean install, Windows installs certain drivers depending on what hardware is present. This is further complicated after chipset, ethernet, sound, video, etc... drivers are installed. When the drive is moved to a different computer and it tries to boot, it gets "confused" since the hardware it expects to see isn't there.

What EchoNatek is saying is true but Microsoft doesn't prevent the OS from booting when it detects something like a new motherboard but will, instead, require re-activation of Windows.

There is actually a command called "sysprep /generalize" that will remove all specific drivers from the hdd to allow moving it to another computer. The hardware needs to be pretty close for this to work and using it will require re-activation of Windows.

 

[BikerEcho]

Strollin:
I see.... i didn't know that windows during a clean install installs drivers depending on what hardware you have.
i thought all drivers are installed after the OS has been installed.

ssc456:
I also didn't know that it was possible to make the harddrive transfer if you just uninstalled all drivers on the machine.
that would not make sanse to me, but it does now cause of the fact strollin came with.


I see that i am wrong, and i am sorry for doubting you ssc456.
I guess you learn something new everyday. XD