Changed my motherboard, Windows won't start

[zamn10210]

Hey. I last week I broke my motherboard in the process of changing my CPU cooler. The system refused to post and I guessed it was a motherboard problem so I bought a new one. I installed the new motherboard today, and (much to my delight) the system posted. However Windows is failing to start.

Every time I boot up Windows asks to go into startup repair, which runs for ages and then announces that it was unable to complete the repairs. System restore didn't help, and if I select 'Start Windows Normally' the system reboots.

Any ideas? Thanks, much appreciated.

 

[zamn10210]

Oh, if it's any use these are the problem details:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: StartupRepairOffline
Problem Signature 01: 6.1.7600.16385
Problem Signature 02: 6.1.7600.16385
Problem Signature 03: unknown
Problem Signature 04: 21200778
Problem Signature 05: AutoFailover
Problem Signature 06: 6
Problem Signature 07: NoRootCause
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

 

[cirslevin]

when this happened to me recently, I re-installed the system.

 

[zamn10210]

Is there any other solution? I'd really rather not have to reformat the hard drive, I didn't know I was going to be changing motherboard so it's not backed up for the most part.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Your MoBo has various chipsets which use drivers that were installed when you loaded windoze on your 1st machine. Now windows is trying to load those drivers and not finding the hardware associated with them.

Save yaself some headaches and install windows to a freshly formatted drive. Consider putting programs and data on separate partitions this time so you don't have to lose everything next time.

 

[zamn10210]

Thanks for the advice. Is there no way to install the new chipsets without reinstalling Windows? Even if it is a headache, so is reformatting the drive. I'm not going to lose any vital data but it's a pain to re-download hundreds of gigs of stuff on a 7Mbps connection.

 

[cirslevin]

I would try to boot up linux that can see the HDD (such as Knoppix) and copy the data out, then do a reinstall of windwos.

 

[Paperdoc]

Look up what's called a "Repair Install". You use your original Windows Install CD (or at least one for the same version of Windows) as if you were going to do a fresh Install, BUT you do NOT. Instead you select a Repair Install procedure. What it does is inventory all the devices it finds in the machine and all the drivers installed on the boot drive, and try to fix any mismatches. If it works as planned, you will be able to boot after that. IF it works, I really recommend you update ALL the drivers you can.

This process is NOT a full Install, and it does not reformat your drive or lose your files. However, it does not always work.

 

[Jack64]

This has happened to me in the past. After panicing...I thought about it and purchased a second hard drive from a local store and did a fresh install on it, then I hooked the second hard drive up as the secondary and copied all my data files to the new drive, then formatted the old drive and copied my data files back to it among other things.
Then I installed all of my programs that used those data files and used the second hard drive as the data drive with my programs on the new drive. It worked for me and I didn't lose anything in the process...perhaps I was just lucky.

 

[aford10]

+1 @ paperdoc

Jack64 has a good suggestion, but a repair install using your OS disc should avoid having to purchase another hard drive.