Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain (
More info?)
Hi, Steve.
WinXP can't tell whether you've put a hard drive into a new computer, or put
a new computer around your old hard drive. Either way, the bathroom's where
the kitchen used to be and the poor operating system can't find anything.
:>(
When WinXP is run, Setup first detects the hardware configuration and
customizes your copy of WinXP to fit that environment. When you
significantly change that configuration (and either the main hard drive or
the motherboard/CPU/chipset certainly qualify as significant!), you must let
Setup run all over again to detect the new configuration and re-customize
WinXP to fit that. In other words, unless the new mobo is virtually
identical to the old one, WinXP must be reinstalled.
You can do an "in-place upgrade" as described in this Microsoft KB article:
How to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;q315341
This will reinstall WinXP itself, but preserve your installed applications
and data. It will take about as long as a full reinstall.
RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
rc@corridor.net
Microsoft Windows MVP
"steve" <steve@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:7B405D0C-16F1-4B55-93AA-269C2A012824@microsoft.com...
> Hello I just bought a new computer without a hard drive and tried to move
> the
> hard drive from my old one to the new one and it won't boot up it gets to
> the
> safe mode or noermal boot screen then I select normal or safe mode and it
> starts to load and thats as far as it gets. It locks up on a blank screen.
> can I use my old drive. thanks for any help
> --
> steve