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New mainboard & CPU - stops when booting

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by goodoyster

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New mainboard & CPU - stops when booting
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?

12 replies

by thechas

I still cannot find the W2K article on Microsofts site.

I will paste in the text. If it is not clear, I can e-mail it to you if you can give me an e-mail address.

SUMMARY
This article describes how to move a Windows installation to new or different hardware. You can use the information in this article to migrate a working Windows operating system and installed programs to a different or more powerful computer with minimal downtime. You can also use this procedure to replace a small system/boot disk drive to a larger system/boot disk drive, or to restore a Windows backup from a non-working computer to a different computer for disaster recovery purposes.

MORE INFORMATION
Windows Backup (Ntbackup.exe) has the ability to merge differences in hardware configuration information between computers and maintain critical registry entries unique to the new computer to which you are restoring information. This capability makes it possible to perform a full backup of your source computer and restore it on top of a fresh Windows installation on your destination computer to migrate to new hardware.

Ntbackup.exe handles registry restore operations by first querying the following registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\BackupRestore\KeysNotToRestore

This registry key indicates to Ntbackup.exe that certain registry keys under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM key should not be overwritten at the time of restoration.

An entry ending with a backslash (\) indicates a key that is protected and any keys/values below that key should not be restored. If the entry ends with a backslash and an asterisk (\*), all subkeys are "merged." In this situation, "merged" means looking at the start value of the keys in the backup set versus the start value that exists in the current registry to determine the proper key to restore.

by thechas

If the value of the key on the backup set has a lower start value, it takes precedence. If the value of the key in the current registry has a lower start value than the key you want to restore, it takes precedence. This process ensures that all services and devices start properly after a "system state" restoration, even on dissimilar hardware.

For example: If the value of the following key on the backup set has a lower or equal start value, it takes precedence:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Dhcp

If the value of the same key in the current registry has a lower start value than the key you want to restore, it takes precedence.
original system new system before restore / after restore

DHCP Running: YES NO YES
DHCP Running: NO YES YES
DHCP Running: NO NO NO
NOTE: Systems upgraded from Windows NT to Windows 2000 will have the start value for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip = 0x02 in the systemstate backup. New installations of Windows 2000 will have a start value of 0x01 for the Tcpip service. This means TCPIP settings will not be restored from the backup unless the start values are equal. Either change the start value to 0x01on the source system before the backup, or change the start value to 0x02 on the new system before the systemstate restore.

After the computer is successfully restarted, Windows Plug and Play takes care of any minor differences in hardware configuration.

by thechas

Things to Consider
Drive Letters and the %SystemRoot% Folder
For a complete migration to work correctly, the drive letters for any (target) volume(s) that contain a system-state component and the %SystemRoot% folder (the Winnt folder in Windows 2000) must be the same on both the source and destination computers. This means that if Windows on the source computer is installed in the C:\Windows folder and has Active Directory (NTDS) and SYSVOL on separate D and E drives respectively, the destination computer must have Windows pre-installed in a C:\Windows folder and contain drives D and E before the restore operation succeeds.

Hardware Abstract Layer (HAL)
The HALs on both of the computers should be the same. This means both the sourceand destination computers should be using the same HAL types to achieve favorable results. Although this is not a requirement, the computer may not migrate properly if the HALs do not match. To determine the computer HAL type you are using on each computer:
On the toolbar click Start, point to Settings, click Control Panel, and then double-click System.
On the Hardware tab, click Device Manager and view the listing under the Computer branch. Possible values for the system description and associated HAL include:

ACPI Multiprocessor PC = Halmacpi.dll
ACPI Uniprocessor PC = Halaacpi.dll
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC = Halacpi.dll
MPS Multiprocessor PC = Halmps.dll
MPS Uniprocessor PC = Halapic.dll
Standard PC = Hal.dll
Compaq SystemPro Multiprocessor or 100% Compatible = Halsp.dll

The %SystemRoot%\Repair Folder
The Winnt\Repair folder containing your original (source computer) hardware and software configuration files and the Setup.log file may not be valid for the new hardware on the destination computer to which you restored them.

by thechas

You should perform an in-place upgrade on the restored (destination) computer to update these files so you can make the appropriate repairs in the future if needed.

NTFS Volumes
You may need to start special filter drivers before you can restore files that contain reparse points to NTFS volumes. This means that you need to restart the computer after you restore the operating system before you can restore these types of files. Examples of these types of files include Remote Installation Services (RIS) images that rely on Single Instance Storage (SIS), Remote Storage Server (RSS) files that you are restoring to managed volumes, or other third-party services that use reparse points and require filter drivers.

Networking
When you restore a backup, either to the original computer or to another computer, you may encounter problems with networking components.

Procedure for Moving a Windows Installation
1. On the new (destination) computer, perform a new installation of Windows using the same product type that matches the source computer.
Ensure that the drive letter and %SystemRoot% folder names match those of the source computers.

2. Using Disk Management, create, format, and assign drive letters to any additionalvolumes that may be required to hold a system-state component (for example, SYSVOL, Active Directory, or Active Directory Log files). Ensure that all drive letters match the source computers.

by thechas

3. On the original (source) computer, log on as Administrator, and stop all non-essential services you normally stop before performing a backup.

4. Using Ntbackup.exe, back up the system\boot volume, the system state, and associated NTDS and SYSVOL volumes, if applicable.

5. On the new (destination) computer, log on as Administrator. If the system you want to restore is a domain controller, you must press F8 on the Start menu, and then click Directory Services Restore mode before you logon as Administrator. Make a copy of the Boot.ini file in the root of the system partition.

6. Start Ntbackup.exe, and from the Tools menu, click Options, click the Restore tab, and then click Always replace the file on my computer. Restore the system\boot volume, the system state, and associated volumes from the backup that you performed previously. Make sure that you select the option to restore them to "original location" in the backup program.

NOTE: To have access to all removable (tape or magneto-optic [MO] disk) media from the original system after the full system restore is complete, you must also click Restore Removable Storage Database option under the Advanced button before you begin the restore.

7. After the full restoration is finished (and before you restart the destination computer), replace the Boot.ini file with the copy that you made in step 5. This is only necessary if the ARC path in the restored Boot.ini file is different from the original Boot.ini file. Finally, disconnect the network cable to avoid name conflicts if the original system is still online.

8. Restart the computer. Log on as Administrator and initiate an in-place upgrade by running Winnt32.exe from the I386 folder on the Windows CD-ROM. This refreshes the Setup.log and registry files in the %SystemRoot%\Repair folder.

by thechas

NOTE: If the computer does not restart after restoration because of HAL mismatches, you need to perform an in-place installation to make repairs by using the following method: Boot from the installation media. On the "Welcome to Setup" screen, pressENTER as if performing a new installation. When the licensing screen appears, accept the licensing agreement. Setup will then search for previous installations to repair. When the installation that is damaged or needs repairing is found, press R to repair the selected installation. Setup re-enumerates your computer's hardware (including HAL) and performs an in-place upgrade while maintaining your programs and user settings. This also refreshes the %SystemRoot%\Repair folder with accurate information that you can use for normal repairs if required in the future.

NOTE: In Windows NT 4.0, user profiles are stored as a subfolder of the %SystemRoot%\Profiles folder. In Windows 2000, if the installation is an upgrade, the existing profile path continues to be used. In new Windows 2000 installations, a "Documents and Settings" folder is created on the same volume as the Windows 2000 installation to hold user profiles. If the original system was an upgrade from Windows NT, after the restore, the original profiles will be used. However, after an in-place upgrade is performed, you may need to change the profiles paths in the registry back to %SystemRoot%\Profiles by modifying the keys under the following path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

And that is what Microsoft has to say about moving hardware.

Other things to check:
look in boot.ini and the system files to make sure that you are not attempting to load DOS mode drivers for any hardware that is not present.

Chas

by thechas

Hi,

It looks like I may have given you a bad idea as to placing the question here.

There have been several posts to your discussion, but only mine here.

Useually, no posts from the other peers using this forum means that they have nothing to add.

Looking through the posts on the discussion, not much has been added beyond what is in the MS article.

Chas

by goodoyster

OK, found a solution without going through all the registry stuff:
Used win2k boot disks to boot from floppy, did a reinstall of Win2K on the same partition, but keeping the original file structure. I had to create a new user for my son, because Win2K wouldn't recognize his old user name as a valid user. But all his folders were still intact, so I copied and pasted his old Start Menu items, Program Files, etc. into the new user folders and everything works great! He now has a quick little machine with a good graphics card, and he's getting 60 fps when he plays Counter Strike (whatever that means!). Thanks for all the help!

by tech4you

Dear GoodOyster,

Windows2000(pro or server)and Windows XP (Home or Pro)have a Built in SID Code and once you have installed on a PC the SID record all the details of MOBO.
Thus if the MOBO is changed since it (Windows) has been installed, Windows is struggling to find all the details of MOBO according to existing SID record.

To resolve this situation you need to reinstall Windows 2Kpro or put old MOBO - Biostar back into original position.

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