ASUS MOBO UPGRADE. Help with windows

[stevie44]

Hello,

I just changed my mobo in my HP Pavillion pc. It's an ASUS M4A785-M. Also added Athlon X4 640 Propus. I was told that would need to reinstall windows after changing mobo's. When use my 2 hp recovery disks it says loading windows files, but just sits at far right of the screen. I get no errors or nothing. If no discs in dvd drive, it gives me Windows error. "I have changed hardware" and gives me "Repair" option. But when choosing that screen goes black and nothing happens. Logging onto ASUS website, a few of the forum replies talk about with HP, that you may need to do a fresh full install of windows. I've upgraded all components in the case. New mobo, cpu, psu, ram. Only HDD Western Digital drive is still from when purchased.

This was my first attempt at a mobo change and any help before take to pc repair dealer and pay out the ........

Steve

 

[fleakiller]

I am not real sure but the hp disks are made for the hp system with the differnt mb it wont work i think that you will need a full windows disk anyone please tell me if i am right thanks

 

[stevie44]

thx for the info. So anyone out there, an upgrade windows 7 won't work either then??? I left out, this is windows vista basic 32 bit on the hard drive. I can access my bios only. It shows the quad x4 640, 2gb of kingston hyper x. But won't load windows as described above.

 

[T_T]

In regards to your first issue...

The reason why Windows appears to stop loading is because it is searching for the previous build. I am unclear about which board is the ASUS; is it the old or the new; or both? Either way, a fresh install of a non-OEM copy of Windows will certainly do the trick.

Your second issue...

Upgrading to 7 from Vista Home Basic is possible; however, you'll need SP2 before upgrading. Hypothetically speaking, if you were able to upgrade and you're using different hardware, you could potentially cause BSOD problems. In order for hardware to work together, the drivers have to be installed. If the mobo you changed to is different than the mobo that came with the prebuilt system, then the drivers that are used for your mobo will conflict with tne new. This causes instability issues.

In short, install a non-OEM version of Windows 7, or at very least Win Vista Ultimate w/ SP2.

 

[stevie44]

Thanks for the reply. They were both ASUS MOBO. Well according to HP website old board was called ASUS NYSSA. A forum member on ASUS said Newegg has a system builders windows 7, but it says OEM on the website. So no good huh.

second question: I had Service Pack two on current hdd, that's still in pc case. But again won't boot up.."old windows" vista basic. Again new to this, what is BSOD PROBLEM in noob terms.

 

[T_T]

my apologies...

BSOD is an acronym for Blue Screen of Death, what we refer Windows Stop Errors as. Basically, when you have a software/hardware conflict that is large enough to cause memory read/write errors, Windows will stop everything and display a message related to what it thinks caused the problem.

Because Microsoft is not affiliated or in control of every piece of hardware or software, the Stop Errors, or BSOD won't always be the most accurate reasoning for the Operating System failure. However, since just about everything in the computer uses RAM, it is safe to assume that ~95% of the BSOD are RAM related.

In your particular scenario, though, RAM is being affected indirectly. The software (drivers) that were installed on the HP prior to the system leaving the factory is telling the RAM what to access. The conflict here is that the RAM is accepting the instruction, but can't find what the drivers are pointing to.

In essence, it's like having a map for the wrong city. The instructions are legit, but they don't apply. To have a fresh install of Windows, you have two options:

1. Create a large enough partion to install the OS and to for everything else you need; or
2. Format the Hard Disk Drive and reinstall Windows.

Either way, a fresh copy of Windows will only have the drivers that Windows needs. There are some generic drivers installed with Windows, but they generally don't cause conflict when hardware specific drivers are installed.

The reason for purchasing a non-OEM is to get the support from Microsoft. There are quite a few free services Microsoft offers, but in order to get them, you must validate your OS.

 

[stevie44]

Local computer repair shops are telling me, I must install a "full version" of windows. Due to the new mobo upgrade/change. $150 for 32 bit or 64 bit.

So question to you. Is this correct upgrade won't work for me?? Sorry I know you addressed above, just want to clarify. Before breaking into daughters college fund.

 

[wayneepalmer]

Either way, a fresh copy of Windows will only have the drivers that Windows needs. There are some generic drivers installed with Windows, but they generally don't cause conflict when hardware specific drivers are installed.

The reason for purchasing a non-OEM is to get the support from Microsoft. There are quite a few free services Microsoft offers, but in order to get them, you must validate your OS.

Couldn't he still get away with just buying a legal "upgrade" version of 7 and install it over the old mess?

 

[fleakiller]

stevie44 would have to install a older os first to upgrade to win7

 

[fleakiller]

stevie44 you can check these out http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116758 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116756 or http://www.newegg.com/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=368&name=Operating-Systems hope this helps

 

[T_T]

Couldn't he still get away with just buying a legal "upgrade" version of 7 and install it over the old mess?

It all depends on what SP the OP currently has installed on the HDD. If it's not SP2, then the upgrade to 7 isn't possible.

 

[T_T]

stevie44 would have to install a older os first to upgrade to win7

Older than Vista? First, there is no upgrade path to 7 from XP; none whatsoever. If the OP were to install XP, he would have to format the HDD, just like he would have to do to install 7. His HP came with Vista Home Basic x86, which was probably before SP1 was released.

 

[T_T]

Local computer repair shops are telling me, I must install a "full version" of windows. Due to the new mobo upgrade/change. $150 for 32 bit or 64 bit.

So question to you. Is this correct upgrade won't work for me?? Sorry I know you addressed above, just want to clarify. Before breaking into daughters college fund.

"Full version" is indeed ambiguous, but I know what the tech is trying to tell you, which is the same as what I was trying to tell you.

Thanks to wayneepalmer, I realized that you didn't specifically mention which Service Pack (SP) you have. If you have SP2, you can upgrade to 7 and save yourself ~$50 (upgrade version is ~$99); however, if you're uncertain of which, then just cough the "full version" the repair shop tech is telling you about.

 

[stevie44]

well it has service pack 2 on hdd. But my auto update installed it after bought pc. It didn't come preinstalled. But its on the hdd.

 

[T_T]

If you're sure you have SP2, then you can do an upgrade to Windows 7; however, you may still run into a conflict with the old motherboard drivers trying to communicate with the new motherboard. This is why I recommended a completely new install, in the first place.

 

[stevie44]

Ya, know have SP2 on the hdd. New microsoft progams wouldn't install without having SP2.

So these driver conflicts may not even let me get booted into windows setup, to be able to remove or update these drivers. So the complete install route would wipe out the driver conflict.

 

[T_T]

Yes.

 

[stevie44]

So theres no geek tricks, programs that could burn/iso onto a dvd. To delete this driver conflict or reset the hdd, etc. Grasping at straws, but never hurts to ask..worse you get is no the old would say.

Would you do the full install win 7 yourself or could there be more issues and let an expert do it. My goal was to learn how to do myself, but wondering if getting to the over my head level.

 

[T_T]

There are several programs that can create disc images of the current state of your HDD. In fact, that's what HP did before shipping out the computer. The recovery partition on your HDD is the Factory Image, or the way the computer was prior to leaving HP. As far as removing driver conflicts, there may be ways, but there's probably a mortgage payment-cost involved in such recovery.

Installing Windows is a lot easier now. Create a backup of your document, music, photos, etc. from your HDD before proceeding. Then follow these steps:

1. Turn on computer and then insert the Windows 7 installation DVD.
2. Once the installer is loaded, you will be presented with two options: Check compatability; or Install now. I'm sure you can guess which one you want.
3. Click on "Install now".
4. The installer will proceed to scan your HDD. You will be given two options again:
Upgrage or Advanced. Select Advanced.
5. The installer will find your HDD and show you the current partitions (sections) on your HDD.
6. Choose the partition that has your OS. Leaving your recovery partition alone is good, just in case something goes wrong with the Win 7 install.
7. When prompted, format the partition.
8. Windows installer will/should take it from there.

Your computer will restart once or twice. After that, your installation should be complete.

 

[stevie44]

So just wondering, what would/could/may happen if....Plugged in the old motherboard, deleted all the drivers with device manager and then tried again with the new asus mobo m4a785-m.

 

[T_T]

You would be in the same boat you are now because of the licensing issue. Two things happen that 'hinder' your ability to reuse the hard drive in a new system, when you install Windows. Any time you replace the motherboard, Windows sees that as a new system. Consider these scenarios:

1. You buy the upgrade version, and perform the upgrade successfully. No trouble with driver conflicts. End of story.

2. You buy the upgrade... but you do have old mobo driver conflicts. Now you'll have to fork over the dough to buy the complete version. Then format the drive and install Windows again.

3. You buy the complete version. You install as directed above. You are funtional again.

 

[stevie44]

That goes under best answer. Just want my ducks in a row. I don't want to get down there on payday, and be looking for a cheaper option and ending up paying $300. He said for $100 will install windows but don't get the software/disk. But for $50 you get the whole nine yards. Just trying to understand why these disks am booting up don't work. I keep getting weird errors, besides boot errors. Guess they're all related to hdd driver errors. Yesterday was

File: \Windows\system32\ntkrnlpa.exe

 

[T_T]

ntkrnlpa.exe is a driver related problem that occurs when the computer's hardware has difficulty recovering from sleep mode. There are several levels of sleep mode:

1. Sleep
2. Stand by
3. Hibernation

There are a couple of ways to fix that error, but you need to be able to load Windows first. Have you tried using Safe Mode? Turn on the computer, then immediately and repeatedly tap the F8 key. If you hear beeps, then stop.

Windows Advanced Boot Options (or something like that) should come up. Use the arrow keys to select Safe Mode.

 

[stevie44]

Ya gives me my dvd drive as option 1 and that bloody WD HDD as option 2. Theres no other choices, just those two.

 

[stevie44]

im going down to buy the full version of windows 7 today. I was given link to test the WD hdd, thru their website. It was a boot disk that can test hdd and you can also do this Zero Fill option. Make the hdd like day it was installed, guess also called wiping the drive. Test was zero errors. But didn't do the zero fill option. Bad idea, or would it matter at this point??