Changing Machines

[Bruce]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Hi Folks,

I have an older P3 dell with a lot of suff in it: 2-ide hd's, a serial
drive w/pci card driver, 64mb video card, usb cards, dvd-rom, xp-pro.

A barebones win2000 P4 workstation is being retired at the office which
I can have, and I would like to move all the old gear to it from the
P3, including the winxp drive with all its software installed. C:
drive (old machine) is an 80gb eide (parallel), and has nothing on it
except the OS and the software. All data is on the other dirves. I
would like to remove the win2000 disk from the new machine and put the
C: with winxp into it from the old one, saving me having to re-install
the software, etc. Would the P4 detect it? Would it accept it? Would
XP boot normally? I have no idea.

I have heard this may be a problem. Would moving the winxp drive to a
different machine corrupt its MBR or boot.ini? That could render both
machines inoperable until someone repaired these files, and I'm not so
capable in that dept. Both machines have been flashed to the latest
bios in case that's a factor in your response. An option is to upgrade
the win2000 to xp and go from there. I have a registerable disc for
that. It would then be a matter of re-installing all the software,
drives, etc.

So in a nutshel, I want to remove a hd from an old-slow machine and put
it into a nice faster machine. Maybe I'm making too big a deal out of
this, but if I screw up, I will render two funtioning machines useless.
The deal is, that Photoshop is having some real problems at 733mhz.
The newer machine is at 2.4mhz, and I think life will better over
there.

Best regards,
bruce

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

bruce wrote:
> Hi Folks,
>
> I have an older P3 dell with a lot of suff in it: 2-ide hd's, a serial
> drive w/pci card driver, 64mb video card, usb cards, dvd-rom, xp-pro.
>
......
>
> So in a nutshel, I want to remove a hd from an old-slow machine and put
> it into a nice faster machine. Maybe I'm making too big a deal out of
> this, but if I screw up, I will render two funtioning machines useless.
> The deal is, that Photoshop is having some real problems at 733mhz.
> The newer machine is at 2.4mhz, and I think life will better over
> there.
>


Normally, and assuming a retail license (many OEM installations
and licenses are not transferable to a new motherboard - check yours
before starting), unless the new motherboard is virtually identical
(same chipset, same IDE controllers, same BIOS version, etc.) to the
one on which the WinXP installation was originally performed, you'll
need to perform a repair (a.k.a. in-place upgrade) installation, at
the very least:

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=KB;EN-US;Q315341

The "why" is quite simple, really, and has nothing to do with
licensing issues, per se; it's a purely technical matter, at this
point. You've pulled the proverbial hardware rug out from under the
OS. (If you don't like -- or get -- the rug analogy, think of it as
picking up a Cape Cod style home and then setting it down onto a Ranch
style foundation. It just isn't going to fit.) WinXP, like Win2K
before it, is not nearly as "promiscuous" as Win9x when it comes to
accepting any old hardware configuration you throw at it. On
installation it "tailors" itself to the specific hardware found. This
is one of the reasons that the entire WinNT/2K/XP OS family is so much
more stable than the Win9x group.

As always when undertaking such a significant change, back up any
important data before starting.

This will also probably require re-activation, unless you have a
Volume Licensed version of WinXP Pro installed. If it's been more
than 120 days since you last activated that specific Product Key,
you'll most likely be able to activate via the Internet without
problem. If it's been less, you might have to make a 5 minute phone
call.

--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
both at once. - RAH

 

[JGM]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

If trying to understand any of the answers to your problem is realy
meaningful to you read the thread.Go to:=
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

Saturday, January 29, 2005 8:25 PM

Move XP/Office Software to New PC?

Where I asked a similar question.

Graham

--
"Oh Lord, may I be directed what to do and what to leave undone. " (Fry)
"Ankaufend "XP" macht frei"




"bruce" <bmcelya@bellsouth.net> wrote in message
news:1107111418.087510.244360@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> Hi Folks,
>
> I have an older P3 dell with a lot of suff in it: 2-ide hd's, a serial
> drive w/pci card driver, 64mb video card, usb cards, dvd-rom, xp-pro.
>
> A barebones win2000 P4 workstation is being retired at the office which
> I can have, and I would like to move all the old gear to it from the
> P3, including the winxp drive with all its software installed. C:
> drive (old machine) is an 80gb eide (parallel), and has nothing on it
> except the OS and the software. All data is on the other dirves. I
> would like to remove the win2000 disk from the new machine and put the
> C: with winxp into it from the old one, saving me having to re-install
> the software, etc. Would the P4 detect it? Would it accept it? Would
> XP boot normally? I have no idea.
>
> I have heard this may be a problem. Would moving the winxp drive to a
> different machine corrupt its MBR or boot.ini? That could render both
> machines inoperable until someone repaired these files, and I'm not so
> capable in that dept. Both machines have been flashed to the latest
> bios in case that's a factor in your response. An option is to upgrade
> the win2000 to xp and go from there. I have a registerable disc for
> that. It would then be a matter of re-installing all the software,
> drives, etc.
>
> So in a nutshel, I want to remove a hd from an old-slow machine and put
> it into a nice faster machine. Maybe I'm making too big a deal out of
> this, but if I screw up, I will render two funtioning machines useless.
> The deal is, that Photoshop is having some real problems at 733mhz.
> The newer machine is at 2.4mhz, and I think life will better over
> there.
>
> Best regards,
> bruce
>

 

[bar]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware (More info?)

Not sure that the others have quite got your question down pat. If I have
then your question could be:

I have an old PC and I want to move the two existing HDDs into a new PC.
What are the major issues?

Step 1. Licencing - if you have an OEM edition of XP you will not be able to
move the Windows Operating System unless you buy a new version of XP - even
an Upgrade Edition of XP Pro is good enough [buy one and perform step 2]

Step 2. If you move the Operating System hard drive from one system to
another with the differences as you describe, then you can be 99.9% confident
that it is necessary to perform a repair installation before XP can run, this
will reset the system configuration to ALL the different components
[including CPU, Sound Card etc].

In any event, perform this is a relatively quick process: about 39 - 49
minutes with your new CPU performance; just make sure that you have all the
driver files for the Mobo before you start, download and burn them onto a CD
for convienience and don't forget to place each driver into a unique folder
representing the Mobo and PCI components [Audio Card, AGP Card, NIC, USB
Chipset etc].



"Bruce Chambers" wrote:

> bruce wrote:
> > Hi Folks,
> >
> > I have an older P3 dell with a lot of suff in it: 2-ide hd's, a serial
> > drive w/pci card driver, 64mb video card, usb cards, dvd-rom, xp-pro.
> >
> ......
> >
> > So in a nutshel, I want to remove a hd from an old-slow machine and put
> > it into a nice faster machine. Maybe I'm making too big a deal out of
> > this, but if I screw up, I will render two funtioning machines useless.
> > The deal is, that Photoshop is having some real problems at 733mhz.
> > The newer machine is at 2.4mhz, and I think life will better over
> > there.
> >
>
>
> Normally, and assuming a retail license (many OEM installations
> and licenses are not transferable to a new motherboard - check yours
> before starting), unless the new motherboard is virtually identical
> (same chipset, same IDE controllers, same BIOS version, etc.) to the
> one on which the WinXP installation was originally performed, you'll
> need to perform a repair (a.k.a. in-place upgrade) installation, at
> the very least:
>
> How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade of Windows XP
> http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=KB;EN-US;Q315341
>
> The "why" is quite simple, really, and has nothing to do with
> licensing issues, per se; it's a purely technical matter, at this
> point. You've pulled the proverbial hardware rug out from under the
> OS. (If you don't like -- or get -- the rug analogy, think of it as
> picking up a Cape Cod style home and then setting it down onto a Ranch
> style foundation. It just isn't going to fit.) WinXP, like Win2K
> before it, is not nearly as "promiscuous" as Win9x when it comes to
> accepting any old hardware configuration you throw at it. On
> installation it "tailors" itself to the specific hardware found. This
> is one of the reasons that the entire WinNT/2K/XP OS family is so much
> more stable than the Win9x group.
>
> As always when undertaking such a significant change, back up any
> important data before starting.
>
> This will also probably require re-activation, unless you have a
> Volume Licensed version of WinXP Pro installed. If it's been more
> than 120 days since you last activated that specific Product Key,
> you'll most likely be able to activate via the Internet without
> problem. If it's been less, you might have to make a 5 minute phone
> call.
>
> --
>
> Bruce Chambers
>
> Help us help you:
> http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
> http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
>
> You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on having
> both at once. - RAH
>