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Can't get new computer to boot up Windows XP

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pugaholic2003

Technical User
Jul 29, 2003
5
US
Hi all: I'm new to building a computer, but I've put everything I need in it - BUT IT WON'T PULL UP WINDOWS XP!

I have a :

SOYO SY-KT400 Dragon Lite motherboard
Antec Performance II Tower with a 350v. power supply.
Bios on the Motherboard is V6.00PG
Corsair DDR 512 MB of RAM 64 X 64 Cas. 2.5 333 MHz.
Quantum Fireball 30GB HDD that I took from my old 433MHz computer that has Windows XP on it
Western Digital 80GB HDD.
3 1/4" floppy Smart Drive
CD-RW
external ZIP drive
Arcade FX AGP 64MB

I can't stop the sytem to read the blue error message that flashes on the screen, but it seems that the system is recognizing all the drives, but it keeps wanting me to restart Windows over and over again but it won't boot up.

I read in the SOYO website, that I might have to reinstall the OS if the one I'm putting in is from another chip set, but I'm uncertain how to set that up. When I put the Windows XP disk in, the drive appears to be working, but nothing happens.


__________________



 
If you're trying to boot XP from drive set up in another machine, you are likely to have problem like yours (backup & clean install is best option IMO). If you don't want to do that -


might be helpful.

Or you could try a repair reinsall of XP - might get all its drivers right during this process (
 
Dito that!
Your Existing hard drive was configured with your old hardware, so the drivers won't allow a clean boot, thats why you're blue screening.
It's always best to clean install windows after such major surgery.
Set first boot device in the bios to CDrom, reboot, the computer should ask if you want to boot from CDrom and press any key, the PC load necessary drivers then ask if you want to setup windows on a given partition, that will already have windows on it, choose to reformat (quick NTFS) after that it will take you through setup.
Obviously all data will be lost on the drive.
Martin

Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.
 
If you still have your old PC you do have one option that you can try.

Slap the hard drive back into the old machine and boot it up. Open up the Device Manager (Control Panel, System, Hardware tab) and start deleting. I would start by getting rid of the sound card, network card, then the USB controller, then the system devices. Don't get rid of the graphics card or mouse until you are done with the rest, or you will have a hard time deleting the other stuff.

Once you are done, shut off the PC and move the drive back to the new one. I have had success doing this with Win2k, but haven't tried it in XP.

There is no substitution for a clean install in this scenario. I like to get a new HDD when I do this so I have all my old data as well.

Good Luck
 
With Win XP the stupid computer may think you have violated its holy grail of its stupid OS License. If you change too much in the system it assumes you are a software license pirate or some such stupid thing.

XP is a pain when it comes to installing a new motherboard. The best thing to do is to write zeros or 1s to the entire dive and then reinstall windows as a fresh install. You could reinstall the old motherboard and then back up your files maybe.

XP works great till it has a fatal crash and then it is a pain in the neck!



If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.
 
I think it will bring up the Desktop before it tells you that you need to contact Microsoft, but I could be wrong.
 
Usually XP gets stuck trying to initialize a driver and it just hangs. You could try doing a Repair of the OS using the XP install disk if you can boot from a CDROM.

It is a lot safer having 2 hard drives with XP so you can store all your data on a separate fat32 drive. They make some software to read NTFS from DOS, but I have never tried it.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.
 
Thanks for all the helpful responses! I installed a new HDD alone and put Windows XP on it and it worked fine -- NOW I need to recover my data from the old HDD. I installed the old HDD after installing Win XP thinking that I could now access the old HDD, but no such luck. Now, instead of booting up it just displays the motherboard logo screen and hangs there. What now Oh Great Gurus of GUI?
 
Just install the old hard drive in the new system as slave (i.e. don't try to boot from it). XP will assign it a drive letter (assuming BIOS recognizes it) and drag your old junk from D: to C: (just an example).

Don't think you're going to transfer applications over -- those will need to be re-installed from scratch.
 
Make sure your master/slave jumper settings are correct on both drives.
 
Do you mean you've installed old drive as slave and new installation won't boot with old drive present? Or, that you've tried to boot from old drive again, after installing XP on new?

If the first, have you got the jumpers set correctly (on both drives - new 'master' may need different setting with a slave drive present. Or you could set them both to cable select - make sure new drive on end connector in this case).
 
Well, I now have my new HDD that has a clean install of XP on it as master and old HDD with all my data on it as slave on one cable (IDE1) and my CD-ROM and 3 1/4 Floppy on IDE2 as master and slave respectively. Now when I turn the computer on, the mobo logo stays on -- and another funny thing, even though I have my CD-ROM connected to my power source, it doesn't flash and it doesn't even open.
 
"my CD-ROM and 3 1/4 Floppy on IDE2 as master and slave respectively"

Are you sure about that?
 
I keep hoping I hit the right combination. Right now, I have the new HDD with XP as master and CD-Rom as slave on IDE1, then I have 3 1/2 floppy as master and old HDD with all my valuable date on it on IDE2. System still hangs at mobo logo and cdrom doesn't flash or open.
 
Your 3.5 floppy is not an IDE device! Take it and the cdrom out of the system and see what happens.
 
Actually, my 3 1/4 floppy drive is a Smart Drive and needs an IDE connection. I would love to know, step by step, which device to put on IDE 1 as master, then slave, then what on IDE 2. Is there a difference if I put the jumpers on the drive to master or slave rather than cable select? You guys are great out there -- I know someday, my first computer built from the ground up will start!
 
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