Booting Winxp Problems with New Motherboard

[bevills1]

The 2400MHZ Celeron CPU went bad on Asus P4P800S-X mobo which was replaced with MSI 870S-G54 mobo with AM3 3000MHZ CPU using existing 1TB Seagate SATA hard drive, but Winxp Pro SP2 doesn't boot. An error screen shows boot menu as if F8 were pressed to boot to safe mode when boot attempt is made, and the mouse stops working when a menu selection is made. If I do a fresh install, everything works fine, but the problem recurs if I restore images of the drive whether using Ghost or Seagate Discwizard to restore the images. There's one very important program in the images that can't be reinstalled. I've tried to do Winxp repair install, but there's no repair install option when setup is run from Winxp CD.

I tried the 8 command recovery console steps shown at http://tech.icrontic.com/articles/repair_windows_xp with no fix. Actually it doesn't prompt which Windows install I wish to repair that seems to me to indicate it doesn't see the Windows install. However, all files are on the drive when I view them after boot to Bart PE CD. I've similarly upgraded numerous IDE systems in the same way with never a problem, but this is my first try with an SATA system. Is there any way to get the restored image to boot Windows with new mobo on this SATA drive? I've considered adding an IDE drive to restore image too that should get the system to boot, but I'd like to be able to boot the SATA drive with restored image if possible. I considered adding IDE drive temporarily, then install all drivers for new hardware and create an image of that IDE drive to restore to the SATA drive, but I'm unsure if that'd work and could be a lot of effort for nothing if it didn't work. Does anybody know if there's a working solution to this problem?

[Sartori]

Buy a cheap secondhand Celeron CPU off Ebay and resurrect the mobo , currently they are going for $10 delivered on Ebay (just checked) .

[bevills1]

I thought about replacing the CPU, but I think there's something wrong with the mobo that may have caused CPU to go bad. The mobo had other problems like PS2 mouse and keyboard failed to work most of the time for which replacing with USB mouse and keyboard fixed that problem, but I think other mobo problems exist.

[autodidact]

Just curious if you have your BIOS settings for SATA Controller mode as IDE or AHCI?

[Sartori]

Using a windows installation on a new mobo is recipe for a million things going wrong , theoretically if you can delete all the drivers and let windows sort itself out , then it (again) theoretically might work (but almost definitely unstable) .

There will be guides for this sort of thing on the net , I remember seeing one in UK PC Answers a couple of years ago (which is where the drivers bit came from above) .

[Bjs]

What in the ? made you think you could restore an image file to a system which no longer matches the original equipment ... a new clean install is a must to prevent those errors in the first place.

Recover what personal files you need using a bootable linux after using the image backup then do a clean install.

[rbivi11572]

I've been told this is one of Microsoft's protection schemes. It keeps you from duplicating a registered Windows hdd onto another computer. The only way I have found to bypass this (sometimes) is to change the hdd controller to the default driver which is standard controller if possible. The other way is to purchase a motherboard closely resembling the original motherboard.

[Nelson37]

Edit - by EXISTING 1tb SATA drive, do you mean that this is the ORIGINAL drive from which the image files were taken? Or is this a new drive , and the ORIGINAL drive is actually an IDE? The rest of my post is assuming the first case, if the second you need a combination of the last couple methods.

Also the mouse is not supposed to work in that menu, are you saying that it DOES work right up to the point where you make a selection?

So the image restore is mandatory for a particular software app? I would recommend a complete, clean re-install for a new mobo but understand the problem.

There is something different about the mode in which the SATA controller is operating from the previous mobo. You need to change it to match the mode of the previous PC. This could involve IDE, AHCI, RAID, or possible other settings unique to the manufacturer. If you can get the modes to match then the Original installation should be seen.

After this is accomplished, you will then get the standard blue screen or Windows Authorization screen. Then, do a repair install and it should recognize the previous installation.

An alternate method is to press the F6 key to load drivers while the Install CD is loading, and supply the mobo SATA drivers. This may, or may not, allow the original installation to be seen.

Now you now why I don't like image backups, they are too intimately tied to the hardware.

It is sometimes possible to copy an app to another hard drive by manually copying files, including DLL's, and editing Registry entries. Not a simple task, but it IS sometimes doable.

Something else you could try is this - do a fresh install on a clean drive, get it bootable. Then, restore the image to an alternate drive. Unhide all files on the image drive, copy and overwrite all over to the fresh install drive. Disconnect the alternate drive, reboot and do a repair install.

[classfour]

Did the OP change too many components for XP to install?

Could he start with the MOBO (using the old CPU and RAM), then install these if he has a successful attempt with XP?

I'm running a Dell MOBO using a HDD image - which started up with 1. another CPU - original RAM from the previous install.

After it booted fine, upgraded RAM, etc.

Maybe the OP installed too many components for XP to accept and authenticate??????????????

[Nelson37]

Apparently both mobo AND cpu are both faulty. MS has a point system which triggers authentication, in my experience a different mobo ALWAYS triggers activation. Simply a new videocard can trigger it, re-installing the same videocard can trigger it, a few weeks ago I replaced a Power Supply and triggered activation.

It's a crapshoot to avoid it and generally easy to fix. His main problem is that he has a backup image that was made with completely different HD controllers, such that the disk won't boot properly on the new mobo. Using the image is mandatory because of software installed and apparently now unavailable.

[drjtech]

Switching from an Intel Celeron mobo to an AMD AM3 mobo drastically changes the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL). There is no way you are going to boot an OS built on an Intel HAL on an AMD HAL system. You'll have to install the OS from scratch and then try to recover what files you can from the old HDD by mounting it on your new system.

[bevills1]

I've had no problems on a number of IDE systems I've upgrade to new mobo and CPU of which some were change from Intel to AMD mobos, and Windows was able to see the install on the hard drive making repair install possible when needed. I'll try changing SATA mode in BIOS if I can locate those settings to see if that helps. If it doesn't help, then the last suggestion in the Nelson37 first post may be my best hope. Pressing F6 to install SCSI drivers in setup results in it asking for drivers on a floppy, but the system has no floppy drive plus drivers are on DVD which would seem to make it impossible to install drivers before or during install. Thanks for all the suggestions, and I'll let you know if I fix the problems and get it going like I want.

[Rogeroo]

I would disable SATA native mode in BIOS first; then see if you can do a repair install. If the mouse doesn't work, use a PS2 mouse and keyboard.

[Constant Gardener]

"Acronis True Image Home 2011 Plus Pack" allegedly lets you restore an image to dissimilar hardware. I haven't tried it myself, but I have used the business version successfully in the past.

"VMware Workstation" claims that you can make a virtual machine from an image. Again, I haven't tried it, but the manual and co-workers insist it can be done. VMware Workstation has a 30-day free trial should you want to check it out. (I'm addicted to virtual machines - they're great for experimenting and running old stuff.)

[lowellriggsiam]

Anytime I have changed the mobo in XP and above I have had to make a clean install.

[Constant Gardener]

I can now confirm that "VMWare Workstation" will make a virtual machine from a disk image. I had an image of a Via Eden mini-itx system, with IDE only, and now it is running as a virtual machine within my AMD SATA Win7 machine. It works nicely, with the exception of the video capture software that requires low-level drivers that are not supported by Windows 7.

[Nelson37]

You may be able to copy the drivers to a USB stick and have that work, or temporarily install a floppy drive. The other option would be to slipstream the drivers onto an install disk.

The clean install is Definitely not mandatory. Done this many, many times. Getting the image to be bootable is the main problem, but the repair install should definitely work.

[bevills1]

The last suggestion in the first Nelson37 post did result in repair install option being available. However, repair install didn't fix the problem. Now that the installation is recognized by setup I ran the 8 command recovery console steps shown at http://tech.icrontic.com/articles/repair_windows_xp, but it didn't fix the problem. It gets to the screen that shows "Microsoft Windows XP" where Windows should be loading, but it restarts there and repeats over and over until the unit is powered off. In the 8 command recovery console steps I tried it once without the "noexecute=optin" and again with that option in the bootcfg step, but results were no different either way. Does anybody have any idea how to fix the recurring restart problem?

Setup seems to seek drivers on a floppy. Would it find them on a USB stick? Installing drivers during setup now seems unnecessary anyway since setup recognizes the install now and repair install option accessible.

[Nelson37]

Did you run the Repair install BEFORE trying those 8 steps? This is Mandatory.
If you didn't, start over from the beginning and do it again. Make sure the drive is bootable before the file copy step.

You must have a valid bootable drive to do the "8 steps", After the file copy, you don't until the Repair is run.

What EXACTLY did you see AFTER running the Repair Install and BEFORE trying the 8 step program.

As I mentioned earlier, the USB stick is an option. Check the BIOS for USB options, use as floppy or USB boot, something similar. Does the unit have a floppy controller?
The last option is to slipstream the drivers into the Windows install.

EDIT - What Service pack is the original image, and does this agree with the Image backup?

[bolinboy]

Never heard such rubbish! It is eminently possible to boot up a restored image of XP from an Intel to an AMD system and has nothing to do with the number of components changed! You must boot using another bootdisk such as BartPE and then disable intelppm. Here is how:

"boot up using Bart PE, use it load the System hive and go to

"HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\I ntelppm"
Change the "Start" Value data box, to 4"
or alternatively

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Intelppm
Change the "Start" Value data box, to 4"


"boot with the Windows CDROM and start the Recovery Console on the interested partition. then type 'disable intelppm' to disable that driver from running. Reboot"

On successful restart, delete Intelppm.sys in system32\drivers

Two simple words saved me hours of work. disable intelppm

Hope this offers more help.

[bevills1]

Repair install was run before the 8 steps were done, but repair install didn't make the drive bootable. After repair install, it would boot to the screen that shows boot menu for safe mode, boot normally etc. At that screen the light on optical mouse is on, but that light turns off as soon as a menu choice is made. Choosing Boot Normally results in restart which then returns to the boot menu screen. Choosing safe mode from menu goes to screen to select Admin or Username entered when Windows was initially setup, but there's no way to select 1 of those choice because the mouse doesn't work.

I think it has no floppy controller, but I'll check to see. Would slipstreaming drivers into the Windows install make it more likely the repair install would work? It might be necessary to slipstream drivers into a DVD install disk since they are on DVD and may be too large to fit into an install CD. Can setup be run from DVD rather than CD? Do you know if nLite has option to slipstream drivers into install DVD, or is nLite for CD slipstreaming only?

The original and backup images are both SP2, but repair install was run from SP3 install disk. Should SP2 install disk be used for repair install, or does that not matter?

bolinboy, how is System hive loaded in Bart PE? I've never opened System hive before. Also I'm thinking the disable intelppm needs to be run from root directory by entering cd.. or cd c:\ as are other recovery console commands. Is that correct?

[autodidact]

If you are getting to the login screen with admin and user names but without mouse functionality, you should be able to navigate with your keyboard using something like Tab or Arrow keys and enter to select. Once logged in the mouse may be detected and installed.

[bevills1]

Arrows keys and tab were tried, but cursor didn't move. This may indicate keyboard is also disabled as soon as menu selection is made.

Edit: bolinboy, I ran regedit after boot to Bart PE and opened HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es and
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services, but find no Intelppm there. Could missing Intelppm possibly be the problem?

[Sartori]

As noted above by someone , try copying the folder to your new hard drive (obvously you dont need to boot the drive to do this) , you should copy the registry entries as well . On top of this I used to use a tool that logged what Registry requests were being made by programs as they booted and another tool that logged all file requests as programs booted - but I`ll be darned if I can remember what either program was called .

[bevills1]

I decided to run the "disable intelppm" command from Recovery Console anyway since I didn't find intelppm in the registry after which PC booted to login screen, but USB mouse and keyboard still didn't work. However, I was able to use PS2 keyboard on the one and only PS2 port on the board that did work to logon and to navigate to Control Panel to change logon password to no password. Then I restarted with PS2 mouse connected to the PS2 port to install all drivers after which USB mouse, keyboard and everything else worked fine. Amazing what 1 simple command can do!

[Nelson37]

I think the change to PS/2 keyboard would have solved the problem by itself.

Once you get to a login prompt, you are good to go. No USB drivers for KB or mouse yet, though. Once you login, then install new drivers and off you go.

[Seeker47]

After this is accomplished, you will then get the standard blue screen or Windows Authorization screen. Then, do a repair install and it should recognize the previous installation.

What if it is a VLK-based windows that supposedly does not require re-authorization?

With a repair install, how much of the prior installation is retained, and what gets lost ? (Out of these: Service Packs, individual hotfixes or patches, installed app.s, Net Framework, desktop layout and other user customizations.)

Now you now why I don't like image backups, they are too intimately tied to the hardware.

So what's the alternative . . . that does not involve a re-install from scratch ? And leaves you pretty close to where you left off ? I'd heard that it is possible to slipstream a great deal more than just some drivers, but have no real idea what the maximum extent of that might be.

MS has a point system which triggers authentication, in my experience a different mobo ALWAYS triggers activation. Simply a new videocard can trigger it, re-installing the same videocard can trigger it, a few weeks ago I replaced a Power Supply and triggered activation.

The same videocard or a new PSU ? Really ? That seems extreme. I'd definitely give the Acronis mover a go, before I'd throw in the towel on that. My results with ver. 10 were mixed (changes to different and larger HDDs only -- haven't tried it with a different mobo, etc.), but it did work a couple of times for me. And there was no need for re-activation.)

[Nelson37]

With a repair install, everything that is already there is saved. I Don't mess with virtual machines.

Re-install from scratch IS the alternative. When switching to a new PC, this is ALWAYS the preferred method. Only in extreme cases do you do anything else. The re-install procedure won't be much more hassle than the op is going thru, and absolutely positively guaranteed to work.

When changing hard drive there is no need for activation and no points accumulated. There is no software program of any kind which will assist with this.

[bevills1]

Change to PS2 keybaord wouldn't allow install of motherboard drivers which is why I restarted with PS2 mouse connected after password change. I don't know if those drivers wouldn't install because I was running them from USB stick instead of the DVD they came on, but I was unable to navigate to different drivers to install with the keyboard. BTW I did have one other small problem after installing the last driver (a high definition sound driver) after which it wouldn't boot normally and gave menu to choose safe mode, start normally etc. However, boot to safe mode and disable that last driver fixed the problem, and all works fine after that.

[DarrellS]

I've never had to install drivers for mouse or keyboard but I did have to go into BIOS and activate USB support for keyboard and mouse.

The key to using a disc image is to uninstall all the old motherboard drivers and install the new ones. If the MB uses a different chipset then you'll need to get rid of those too.

Make sure to download any needed drivers beforehand and put them on a disc..

It's a few extra steps but the best way is probably to put the new HDD in the old PC, copy the disc image to the new drive. Remove the old C:\ and boot from the new drive. Go to add/remove and remove all the drivers there. Go to Device Manager and remove the old motherboard stuff. Make a new disc image with acronis. Shut down the computer and remove the new drive and put the old C:\ back in. Boot the PC back up and then connect the new drive and erase the drive (either format or use something like Killdisc). Stick the Acronis boot disc in the DVD drive and reboot the PC. Restore the new back-up that you made without any drivers to the new drive. Shut down PC and remove new drive. Put the new drive in the new PC and boot up. Install all needed drivers and you should be good to go.