Desktop

General discussion

Gravatar
Locked

PC won't boot with transplanted HDD

By Tom_in_NJ ·
I recently tried changing a hard drive running Windows XP from a 500Mhz Celeron to a P4 2.26. Both computers have 512MB RAM.

When I fire up the P4 with the transplanted hard drive, it goes through POST and gets as far as the Windows splash screen, then I get a BSOD that flashes faster than can be read and the PC reboots and repeats the cycle.

One other clue: for an unknown reason the PC will boot up if the original XP disk is in the CD drawer.

Any suggestions?

This conversation is currently closed to new comments.

11 total posts (Page 1 of 2)   01 | 02   Next
+ Follow this Discussion ·
| Thread display: Collapse - | Expand +

All Comments

gravatar
Collapse -

by dryflies In reply to PC won't boot with transp ...

Go into your BIOS and change the option that tells it to reboot on a failure. then you will be able to read the BSOD. That will help you troubleshoot the problem

gravatar
Collapse -

by Tom_in_NJ In reply to

Thanks, this should steer me in the right direction.

gravatar
Collapse -

by Ricky In reply to PC won't boot with transp ...

Re-detect the Hard drive (from the BIOS before boot-up - at POST) on the new system. Seems like it's reading the new drive with the wrong geometry.

HTH.

gravatar
Collapse -

by Tom_in_NJ In reply to

This answer may work, but I don't know how to redetect the hard drive during POST.

gravatar
Collapse -

by ghimpe-- In reply to PC won't boot with transp ...
gravatar
Collapse -

by Tom_in_NJ In reply to

No text with answer.

gravatar
Collapse -

by NormH3 In reply to PC won't boot with transp ...

Ok..maybe I am way off base here, but the Celeron has a different internal architecture than the P4 (ie..no L1 cache etc)..is it possible that moving the hardrive from a Celeron machine to a P4 machine just won't work??..I rally don't know..just thinking out loud here.

gravatar
Collapse -

by Tom_in_NJ In reply to

This answer isn't conclusive and will require additional research.

gravatar
Collapse -

by jkaras In reply to PC won't boot with transp ...

Hey Jersey,
this link shows that if the chipset is the same it should work without a hitch, if different well at least you can try. http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1755&page=5

If I were you I would get an old HDD load windows on it and boot to it, then slave your old one to extract whatever it is you need from it. Then I would wipe that bad boy for the new board. It will be a pain but if you need certain things you can determine how trouble it is worth to get the goodies. Since you went to all that trouble for a nice new board, start fresh, less hassel, then properly configure your pc for optimal settings.

gravatar
Collapse -

by Tom_in_NJ In reply to

This link provided additional details.

Back to Desktop Forum
11 total posts (Page 1 of 2)   01 | 02   Next

Start or search

Related Discussions

Related Forums