New mobo/CPU. XP/Win7 32bit - Install from scratch???

freedomdwarf · Feb 25, 2016

I have an old Abit IX48 system with a an Intel Core2 Quad 8600S CPU.
It has been a faithful old beast and done well over the many years it has been running.
But.... it is slowly beginning to not work properly - any graphics drivers (new or old) for nVidia or ATi crashes it at boot time when windows tries to load on either windows (XP or Win7 Ultimate).
I suspect that something has happened to the PCIe slot that the graphics card sits in.
So, for the moment, I can use it fine as long as I use the standard Windows VGA drivers.
Not good, but it's usable for most things as long as I don't try to play games.

I can't seem to find another IX48 mobo to swap-out and my budget is virtually zero.
To that end, I've managed to find an MSI Z97 Gaming 7 mobo and i7-4790K combo that I can just about afford.

Now my question: Yeah, I know you're gonna laugh (a LOT!) but I seriously need XP and Win7 Ultimate (both on 32-bit) and I'm also hoping to stick a 3rd boot option for Win7 Ultimate 64bit.
We all know that XP is finicky if you majorly change hardware (like the mobo) so I'm wondering if there's ANY sensible way to get the darned thing to boot XP/Win7 32-bit so I can install the relevant mobo and other drivers for the change of hardware.
I was thinking along the lines of going into safe mode while the IX48 is still running and uninstalling all the mobo-specific drivers in the Device Manager; things like the Via USB drivers, PCI Bridge, ICH9 etc.
I know it'll run like a dog but hopefully it'll find the new hardware for the new mobo and I can go from there. Failing that, I'll have to install from scratch.

Don't suggest upgrading to Win8/10 coz I might as well chuck the whole thing in the bin and never use it again - I really HATE those new OS's with a passion and I don't like any flavour of Linux either (I have about 6 different versions and hate them all).

Any suggestions on getting XP to accept a new mobo without installing from scratch?
I'd really loathe the idea of losing all my tweaks and stuff over the years.

FALC0N · Feb 28, 2016

XP accepts new boards much better than newer versions. All you needed to do was run a repair install from the cd. Your biggest concern with XP is getting a board and GPU that has XP drivers. The AMD FX stuff is all still fully XP compatible. The rest is a bit hit-and-miss and would likely require a little know how.

freedomdwarf · Feb 28, 2016

FALC0N :

The GPU isn't a problem as it's a nVidia based one.

What I've ordered so far is -
MSI Z97A Gaming 7 Mobo (I need the 8 Sata slots).
Intel i7 4790K CPU.
16GB (2x8GB for expansion later) of Kingston HyperX FURY Black Series.
A cheap PNY GeForce GTX 560 Ti OC2 GPU for now until I can afford something better.
I already have a H80 water-cooling solution that I absolutely love to death.
My PSU is an AeroCool 1150Watt modular thingy.

So, I have decent cooling, a semi-decent Mobo/Ram/CPU, a cheap (but better) GPU than my current 9600GT and a PSU that has plenty of spare capacity to run the 6 Sata drives and 2 DVD burners.

My main concern was XP as unfortunately, I have some stuff that will only run on 32-bit and although it runs in Win7 it doesn't really run as nicely as it does on XP. I also have some really old games that I run on XP that refuse to run on Win7 or anything 64-bit

The mobo doesn't seem to have drivers for anything below Win7 32-bit (that's the only thing that has arrived so far) so I'm hoping XP will find enough drivers to run a basic system - as long as I can get audio and internet it should be fast enough to overcome any other short-falls that would usually lag in the system (eg, specific mobo drivers, Sata drivers etc).
I don't do much on the Win7 side so I'm happy to splat that partition and start from scratch if needs be.

As an aside, I won't touch anything AMD either.
I don't find them particularly reliable and like ATi drivers, they suck.
I also have stuff that refuses to run on AMD kit - at least every bit of AMD I've come across and tried.
I'll always go Intel and nVidia every time.

Oh well... looks like I'll have to suck it and see what happens. lol.

schmuckley · Feb 28, 2016

XP/Win7 32bit
Only supports up to 3gb RAM.
X64 supports more.

freedomdwarf · Feb 28, 2016

Yes, I know (actually, it's about 3.5GB).
I'm well aware of the 32-bit OS limitations with Ram as well as the 2TB drive limits.
That's why I have 6x2TB hard drives so XP can see them sensibly.

FALC0N · Feb 28, 2016

Actually, it's 4GB, minus whatever memory addressing your specific hardware needs.

FALC0N · Feb 28, 2016

The mobo doesn't seem to have drivers for anything below Win7 32-bit (that's the only thing that has arrived so far) so I'm hoping XP will find enough drivers to run a basic system

If your trying you install XP and looking at the board manufacturers site for drivers. Your out of luck. The trick is to use reference drivers. Sometime, you need to try last generation reference drivers. I'm not sure how much mileage you get with XP out of haswell era chipsets, but it's worth a try. You will likely get at least partial functionality, but you really do have to know what your doing.

freedomdwarf · Feb 29, 2016

I've been building & installing stuff since PC'S hit the market, long before the invention of mouse, HD and colour monitors.

I'll probably have to hunt down some reference drivers from various sources - wouldn't be the first time.

I already have XP installed on an IX48 mobo.

We'll see what I can scrabble together.

FALC0N · Feb 29, 2016

Sounds like your up to the challenge. My feeling is that it can still be done, albeit with a fair amount of work. Let us know how it turns out. I'm curious myself. I just don't have a haswell system to test it on.

freedomdwarf · Mar 1, 2016

The mobo has arrived; just waiting on the rest of it which should get here sometime this week.
The board doesn't have a DVI or VGA port so I've had to get a displayport/VGA adapter as it sits on my old 8-way KVM switch with the other 5 PC's on my desk.

Hoping to rebuild it over the weekend.

Just out of interest, what do you think of my idea of uninstalling all the mobo drivers at final shut-down of XP?
If I do a repair, I'll lose most of what I've already installed (and updated since) so I don't see the point in going the repair route; I might just as well take my chances with a clean install.

FALC0N · Mar 1, 2016

You don't lose anything on a repair install, except windows updates. That's the beauty of the XP repair install. Just make sure you use a disk with service pack 3 to do the repair.

As for uninstalling drivers, i don't know if it will make much of a difference, but it can't hurt.

freedomdwarf · Mar 2, 2016

I have an XP install disk that I've slipstreamed various the drivers and the 3 service packs onto.

It should be interesting to say the least. lol.

I'll post my results on here when it's up and running again.

freedomdwarf · Mar 5, 2016

Well.... got the mobo, CPU and everything together.
Here's what happened =

WinXP: Crapped out With a BSOD 7B, consistently, every time.
Win7: Same as XP.

Tried switching the mobo into 'slow' mode but that didn't help.
Couldn't get into safe mode on either system.

XP recovery couldn't happen - even the Setup disk crapped out as soon as it reached the "Starting Windows" bit.
Win7 managed to boot the Install disk but it failed to do any sort of recovery Couldn't load any drivers from the MSI drivers disk because they are all done via setup programs, not the usual .INF/.SYS/.DLL/Cab method I'm used to do doing.

Conclusion: I have 2 patitions With Win7 & XP that I can't boot on this motherboard.
I've had to re-install a Win7 Ultimate from scratch - XP won't even finish the Setup process.
So I'm going to have to re-install everything I had on the old Win7 system and can't run XP at all.

FALC0N · Mar 5, 2016

That error sounded like the classic AHCI issue. Did you have the board set in IDE mode?

giantbucket · Mar 5, 2016

this thread and your situation are both hilarious and completely baffling...

1 - you have a budget of almost zero, but you BOUGHT:
a Z97 board
an i7-k processoe
16G of ram (!!)
and despite having a 9600GT, you BOUGHT a 560Ti to tide you over until you can afford something better

WTF!?!?!? economics fail! common sense fail!

why oh WHY did you not try to simply remove the hard drive, swap in a new one, and do a fresh test install of WinXP to see if the drivers still crap out or not. if they don't, then clearly the hardware is (mostly) fine and you really do need to clean up the install.

i hope you weren't dumb enough to use the same original hard drive on the new build(s)... man... i sincerely hope you kept that drive safe just in case and used a new/different drive to install your WinXP and Win7 onto.....

freedomdwarf · Mar 7, 2016

giantbucket :

I had no choice.
My IX48 was crippled and barely usable beyond normal browsing and emails.

I did the whole thing for less than £400 that I scrabbled with a loan.
I had a zero budget. I managed to get a £400 loan (~$580) and did it.
I still have a zero budget.

And yes, I used the same HD I had before.
I just shuffled a few bits around and made space for a new partition - the old ones are still intact.
I now have a 3-way multiboot at startup.
Dunno why tbh, I can't see myself getting another Abit IX48 board.

As for re-installing XP, you obviously mis-read my post.
I can't even get the setup to run.
It loads all the default stuff and when it gets to the "Starting Windows" bit - it craps out with a BSOD.
I don't have the budget to buy another hard drive!

freedomdwarf · Mar 7, 2016

FALC0N :

It was originally set to IDE in the early days but I switched to AHCI about 2 years ago.
I bought a new 2TB SSHD last year when I had the chance and copied the boot partitions over using MiniTool 8.
It worked like a charm and have been using XP/Win7 dual-boot until my PCIe slot crapped out on me.
At first I thought it was the graphics card.
I have about 14 PC's here so I borrowed about 7 or 8 of them from different working machines.
Some were low-end (NVidia 5500) and some were nearer the top.
There were a couple of ATi cards too.
None of them worked when I tried to use the drivers.
I even tried some in the PCIe x1 slot. Nada. Zilch. None of them worked.
All fine with Windows standard VGA drivers until I installed and actual driver for the cards.

If you Google the error, it mentions about time zones and the clock not being set correctly.
But that wasn't the problem here. I even did an Ms Update which is notoriously finicky on that.

The Win7 repair takes about 15-20 minutes and eventually pops up saying it could not repair the system.
XP Setup won't even start so I don't even get the chance to select a repair option.

Oh well... I'll probably eventually use the XP partition for some sort of Linux build (Cinnamon 18??).
Dunno yet. Either way, it won't be anytime soon.

For the time being, I'm slowly restoring a fresh install of Win7 Ultimate 32-bit and 64-bit versions,

FALC0N · Mar 7, 2016

You mean the XP install cd won't start? Remember that XP can do the repair install when you boot from just the CD. You don't have to initiate it from inside the functioning OS, like you do with Vista through 10.

freedomdwarf · Mar 8, 2016

FALC0N :

Seeing as most of my machines here (salvaged or home-built from spare parts) are still running XP, I have several copies of the XP install disk. Most are the slip-streamed ones because of various special drivers needed at boot time (Several laptops and a Tosh tower) and not many have a floppy drive, plus several basic copies of the origina XP Corporate disk that I've used successfully on literally hundreds of installs since 2001.
When I got Win7 reloaded (the one I'm using right now), I even burned a fresh copy of those various flavours from the ISO images.

So.... Boot CD from cold start.
I tried the basic install disk and the various slip-streamed flavours (about 7 in all I think) and none of them work.
As I described earlier, they all boot ok, load all the drivers at Setup, then it reaches the bit where it says "Starting Windows" then craps out with a BSOD. It's just after this point where it asks you what you want do (repair, install, run command prompt) but none of them ever get past that final bit to get any options to choose from.
I even tried my friends XP Home install CD and it does the same thing.

Just had a thunk..... I know the AHCI drivers are slipstreamed onto the CD on most of the flavours (obviously not the original one) so I might have a go at looking in the BIOS to see if I can get it to boot in IDE mode.
Why didn't I think of that before?? *facepalm*
I'll have a look later - it's just gone 6am here right now.
Need sleep and coffee. lol.

New mobo/CPU. XP/Win7 32bit - Install from scratch???

Commendable

Splendid

Commendable

Distinguished

Commendable

Splendid

Splendid

Commendable

Splendid

Commendable

Splendid

Commendable

Commendable

Splendid

Dignified

Commendable

Commendable

Splendid

Commendable

Share this page