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New mainboard & CPU - stops when booting

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11 replies

by goodoyster

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I replaced the mainboard and CPU in my son's computer to give him a motherboard with an AGP slot. The "old" setup was a Biostar board and an 1.3 GHz AMD Duron, 256 MB SDRAM. The "new" one is a Chaintech board and another 1.3 GHz Duron, with 512 MB SDRAM. The "old" setup used onboard video, the "new" one uses an AGP nVidia GeForce4 MX440. OS is Win 2K Pro. Problem is, I can't get past the "Windows Starting..." screen - the thing freezes up. It won't go into Safe or any other mode. Any suggestions?

11 replies

by thechas

There is a specific proceedure that you need to follow when moving a W2000 or XP installation to new hardware.

I don't have the knowledge base article on this PC, and could not find it with a quick search at Microsoft.

I will add a post tomorrow with the article link.

As a side note, you will get more and quicker responses to technical questions if you post them in the Technical Q&A forum instead of the discussion forum.

Chas

by thechas

Hi,

I still cannot find a link to the article on Microsoft's web site.
Since they changed the links for all Knowledge Base articles, some are still lost!

I pasted the text into an answer to your Q&A question.

Many of the steps look like they assume that you are performing this update in a controlled fashion, with both PCs operational.

Chas

by francois_desaegher

I already heard about similar a problem, but its was during the installation of Windows XP. Some combination of motherboards and graphic cards can freeze the installation of Windows, so it can freeze the PC for the same reason during the startup. I should exchange (temporary) the graphic card with an other model to see if the problem lies there.

by thechas

I have experianced just the problem you are referring to.

I have a monitor that does not suppor tthe XP 'default' refresh rate.

Once I force it to work by changing video cards, everything works fine.

However, with the monitor problem, Windows boots all the way in, you just have a blank display.

Chas

by mrafrohead

I'm curious.

You replaced the hardware. Did you do a fresh install of the OS or did you just try to carry it over.

I honestly would recommend this. Format and reinstall. If you need to gather some data from the computer for backup purposes,use a NTFSDOS disk and boot with that. Copy your files needed and then format and reinstall the OS.

With 2K/XP I would not recommend just letting the software reconfig itself with the new hardware. I would expect there to be far more errors and problems than is worth dealing with. If you install the new os anyhow, you will have a nice fresh install of an OS and none of the problems that start to develop throughout time.

Mrafrohead

by public

Sometimes, and i mean sometimes, WIndows 2000 will be able to boot if you do such a major swap of hardware that you just did. It will successfully detect that you've changed the hardware. However, there are times, like in your situation, where it is not successful in doing so. In this instance, the best thing to do is to re-install the operating system. However if i remember correctly, there is a program that you run in win2k BEFORE you change the hardware majorly called sysprep or sys something. (i believe sysprep is only for changing the computer SID and forcing the installer to re-input the windows serial number. great for corporations who ghost their computers). But i remember there being something purely for hardware. But in your case, well, its a bit to late for that. You will have to reinstall.

sorry i couldnt help you better.
Anyone else have a better idea?

-Ginel

by public

If you need your old files, the EASIEST way to do it is to place your hard drive in another computer that already has win2k (NTFS) on it, and copy the files you need over to that computer. This is the easiest way of doing it.

-ginel

by djent

Migrating your install to new hardware is risky. However if you remove drivers related to the old MB, set display to default VGA, remove all expansion cards not needed to boot, you wil improve your chances. If this works then add MB drivers for new MB, add other devices and install drivers.

by francois_desaegher

The problem was caused by the combination of certain motherboards and certain videocards. Some motherboards need a Bios Update to be able to support GeForce4 cards. My own motherboard had this problem.

by thechas

I haven't run into any video card conflicts with XP.

However, ALL of my installations of XP have been onto new systems with new motherboards.

I have run into motherboard issues with certian sound cards and modems though.

Chas

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