Downgraded from Sandybridge to Core 2, Windows wont boot

[nkarasch]

I sold my i5 2500k and Z68 board today and I'm trying to go back to my Q6600 setup on an Asus P5k-e

I have a 120 gig Corsair SSD with Windows 7 installed as my boot drive and a 1TB hard drive as my second

My motherboard manual says SATA ports 1/2/5 are for boot devices and 3/4 are for other, so I have my SSD with my windows install in SATA6 and my BD/second hard drive in 3/4

My bios sees the SSD, so I set it as the primary hard drive and the primary boot device but when I try to boot it says invalid boot device. I've tried different SATA combinations and enhanced/compatible SATA modes with no luck. Any tips?

I know going from one board to another while keeping the OS intact was a hairy situation back in the day but I heard Windows 7 will just recognize it and rebuild its driver base with ease. I would really like to avoid reinstalling from scratch, my install is only a few months old and its set up nicely

<3 thanks

 

[nikorr]

In most cases u need to reinstall, and if it boots, the performance is down.

 

[nikorr]

Did u checked the AHCI?

 

[nkarasch]

Yeah, its set to IDE mode. From my understanding from searching the topic enabling the AHCI is only to boost performance and has nothing to do with compatibility

 

[nikorr]

If it was installed in the AHCI and u plugged it in as an IDE, it will not boot.

 

[nkarasch]

i tried it both ways

edit: forgot to say thanks for the input!

 

[nikorr]

Than its the chipset incompatibility.

And other drivers too, since it is different mobo and CPU!

Sometimes it works, but mostly, it will fail.

Happens all the time.

 

[nkarasch]

Well, this isn't good. If theres nothing else I can do I guess I'll just have to reinstall. I'm pretty disappointed because I heard Win7 was build to handle that, unlike older versions of Windows. Well, here goes a few days of installation and setup to get things back how they were :\

 

[Outlander_04]

you will need to reinstall windows on the boot drive . The motherboard drivers are not compatible with the new [ older] motherboard

If its an oem installation of win7 you will have to buy a new copy since its locked to the original mb

 

[nikorr]

I was just writing that ^ : ))

The Windows OEM/Retail thing...

 

[nkarasch]

Yeah I'm not going to worry about that, lets be real

Alright thanks guys

 

[WyomingKnott]

You could always try a repair installation to reset the low-level drivers: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/244555-45-performing-repair-reinstall-winxp-tips .

 

[FinneousPJ]

I sold my i5 2500k and Z68 board today and I'm trying to go back to my Q6600 setup on an Asus P5k-e

I have a 120 gig Corsair SSD with Windows 7 installed as my boot drive and a 1TB hard drive as my second

My motherboard manual says SATA ports 1/2/5 are for boot devices and 3/4 are for other, so I have my SSD with my windows install in SATA6 and my BD/second hard drive in 3/4

My bios sees the SSD, so I set it as the primary hard drive and the primary boot device but when I try to boot it says invalid boot device. I've tried different SATA combinations and enhanced/compatible SATA modes with no luck. Any tips?

I know going from one board to another while keeping the OS intact was a hairy situation back in the day but I heard Windows 7 will just recognize it and rebuild its driver base with ease. I would really like to avoid reinstalling from scratch, my install is only a few months old and its set up nicely

<3 thanks

Wait, what?

 

[sincreator]

I was just writing that ^ : ))

The Windows OEM/Retail thing...

I had a motherboard die on me a year ago. The ASUS M3A32-MVP, and I replaced it with a MSI GD-70 motherboard, and I have an OEM copy of Windows 7. I called microsoft and they got me to verify my key and they issued me a new one. I used to do the same thing with XP years ago as well....

Maybe a dell/hp/acer etc.. isn't able to be reactivated after a change of motherboard, but I was pretty sure a home builder that purchased an OEM version themself could follow the steps I had to for reactivation. Maybe I'm wrong, but it worked for me.

 

[nikorr]

I had a motherboard die on me a year ago. The ASUS M3A32-MVP, and I replaced it with a MSI GD-70 motherboard, and I have an OEM copy of Windows 7. I called microsoft and they got me to verify my key and they issued me a new one. I used to do the same thing with XP years ago as well....

Maybe a dell/hp/acer etc.. isn't able to be reactivated after a change of motherboard, but I was pretty sure a home builder that purchased an OEM version themself could follow the steps I had to for reactivation. Maybe I'm wrong, but it worked for me.

Couple of things....
U kept the same CPU, so that is why the MS lets u reactivate the Windows.

U just have switched the mobos, but the chipset drivers installed were for one CPU only, nkarasch inserted the installed system into another PC, where is different CPU and the mobo.

Different generation CPU!

 

[the great randini]

put windows disc in pc and turn on press f8,f12,del what ever it takes to select boot device select cd you can use the windows 7 automated fix or boot to recovery partition
once you select your os in recovery type
fixmbr
type y then hit enter
fixboot
type y hit enter

no windows disc
grab a thumb drive and download
http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd-on-usb-disk
it has a windows pe that you can perform the same task with good luck =)

 

[nikorr]

I had a motherboard die on me a year ago. The ASUS M3A32-MVP, and I replaced it with a MSI GD-70 motherboard, and I have an OEM copy of Windows 7. I called microsoft and they got me to verify my key and they issued me a new one. I used to do the same thing with XP years ago as well....

Maybe a dell/hp/acer etc.. isn't able to be reactivated after a change of motherboard, but I was pretty sure a home builder that purchased an OEM version themself could follow the steps I had to for reactivation. Maybe I'm wrong, but it worked for me.

BTW, with OEM it is allowed to make HW change, but only if your HW does not work and is replaced for comparable performance mobo.

Lets say if u had $120, MS would not let u activate mobo that is for the same CPU, but it is higher grade than the original mobo ($200+)

That's why they did let u do it.

 

[sincreator]

BTW, with OEM it is allowed to make HW change, but only if your HW does not work and is replaced for comparable performance mobo.

Lets say if u had $120, MS would not let u activate mobo that is for the same CPU, but it is higher grade than the original mobo ($200+)

That's why they did let u do it.

Now you really got me confused. lol. At first you guys were saying that the registration/activation was tied to the motherboard, but now your saying the chipset/cpu is why they let me. When I called M$ support, I had to say all the letters individually to confirm the windows I was using to a voice system, and then after that I was directed to an customer service representive. He asked me why I was calling and I told him that my motherboard died and now windows wouldn't let me activate on the new motherboard I purchased. At no point was I even asked if I had retail/OEM. He read me out a new key and I was on my way. I did the same thing with XP multiple times with all kinds of different motherboards, chipsets, and cpus. Maybe I've been lucky with the people that I talked too, and they just let it slide. BTW my asus board was $300 when I bought it new, and the MSI board was only $150, so I'm not sure why price would of been a factor. They both had the 790fx chipset, but one was SB600 and the other was the SB750.

PS: I'm not tring to troll or anything, I'm just telling you what my experiances have been. I understand though that in this case it's alot trickier, and different than my own because of all of the different hardware changes at once.