Resurrecting XPH with a new motherboard?

  • Thread starter Thread starter ***** charles
  • Start date Start date
C

***** charles

Hi all,

I had an amd xp1800 cpu in an ecs motherboard which went south.
I replaced it with an asrock amd64 2800. The ddr ram transfered
over and the power supply was unaffected along with the 80G hd.
I thought I could do a repair install from my legal oem xp home cd
(yes, I know). Trouble is, the cd I think is corrupt. When I boot
to it, the first screens are ok but after it does the driver loading bit
I get a normal character blue screen but there is an equals sign on the
first line in the upper left hand corner and another equals sign on the
second line just below it and to the right also in the upper left hand
corner. Different cd drives give same results.
I can hit return several times and eventually get a eula which
I can then get past by doing an F8. After that I get ????'s a couple
of places on the screen and what looks like a list of two partitions
but with funny characters. At that point there is no way I think I can
get into repair mode so I just shut the computer down. There are
many important files as in pictures and spreadsheets on the 80G that
I do not want to loose. I have tried to replace the 80G with a 20G
and I get the same goofed up installation screens. The reason for the
attempted repair is that I am assuming that I can do it that way and
not put in a key ID number. True? If I copy the cab files and do an
install from them from D drive, I must put in a key ID number, true?
So my question is, what is the best way to fix this without having to
enter another key ID number?

thanks for your patience,
charles.......
 
Hi,

At a guess I'd say either the motherboard/cpu combination is not compatible,
or the ram is not compatible with the motherboard. Whichever, it's a
hardware issue, possibly timing in the BIOS is not set correctly.

Incidentally, with an OEM version, you may find that activation will not
work. This would be because most are permanently tied to the first system
they are installed on, and swapping a motherboard is akin to new system.
This is a limitation not found in the retail version (which is why they cost
more).

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
Rick Rogers said:
Hi,

At a guess I'd say either the motherboard/cpu combination is not compatible,
or the ram is not compatible with the motherboard. Whichever, it's a
hardware issue, possibly timing in the BIOS is not set correctly.

Incidentally, with an OEM version, you may find that activation will not
work. This would be because most are permanently tied to the first system
they are installed on, and swapping a motherboard is akin to new system.
This is a limitation not found in the retail version (which is why they cost
more).
Click to expand...

I am aware of the licencing restrictions but I am hoping to use the key ID
number that was used to install the first time on the 80G hd since it has
been way over the 120 day period

thanks.....
 
You will have to enter a Product Key even if you are attempting a Repair
Install. Some OEM versions of XP are BIOS locked and cannot be installed on
a different motherboard. You swapped out the motherboard and the OEM version
won't install. You may have to bite the bullet and purchase another copy of
XP that is not BIOS locked. Have you contacted the manufacturer of the OEM
disk you have to see if it is BIOS locked to the old motherboard?
 
The computer was purchased by a friend of mine that didn't
know anything about Windows and the legal issues.
Just trying to help him out. Computer had a "pirated" copy
of XP on it and it is just a clone and not a brand name machine.
Glad to know that even when one does a repair, one needs
the key ID number.
I know there are programs out there that will tell you what the
key ID number is on a running XP machine but is there any
programs that can point to a different drive and tell what the
key ID number was in THAT registry?

later,
charles......

Harry Ohrn said:
You will have to enter a Product Key even if you are attempting a Repair
Install. Some OEM versions of XP are BIOS locked and cannot be installed on
a different motherboard. You swapped out the motherboard and the OEM version
won't install. You may have to bite the bullet and purchase another copy of
XP that is not BIOS locked. Have you contacted the manufacturer of the OEM
disk you have to see if it is BIOS locked to the old motherboard?

--

Harry Ohrn MS-MVP [Shell\User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp


***** charles said:
Hi all,

I had an amd xp1800 cpu in an ecs motherboard which went south.
I replaced it with an asrock amd64 2800. The ddr ram transfered
over and the power supply was unaffected along with the 80G hd.
I thought I could do a repair install from my legal oem xp home cd
(yes, I know). Trouble is, the cd I think is corrupt. When I boot
to it, the first screens are ok but after it does the driver loading bit
I get a normal character blue screen but there is an equals sign on the
first line in the upper left hand corner and another equals sign on the
second line just below it and to the right also in the upper left hand
corner. Different cd drives give same results.
I can hit return several times and eventually get a eula which
I can then get past by doing an F8. After that I get ????'s a couple
of places on the screen and what looks like a list of two partitions
but with funny characters. At that point there is no way I think I can
get into repair mode so I just shut the computer down. There are
many important files as in pictures and spreadsheets on the 80G that
I do not want to loose. I have tried to replace the 80G with a 20G
and I get the same goofed up installation screens. The reason for the
attempted repair is that I am assuming that I can do it that way and
not put in a key ID number. True? If I copy the cab files and do an
install from them from D drive, I must put in a key ID number, true?
So my question is, what is the best way to fix this without having to
enter another key ID number?

thanks for your patience,
charles.......
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
http://www.ubcd4win.com/contents.htm
The Ultimate Boot CD is based on Bart's Pe and includes a host of tools
already built in. One of them is Keyfinder -Pe. After you create the CD and
boot with it you can use Keyfinder-Pe tool to located the product key used
to install Windows on a different drive. This is freeware.

--

Harry Ohrn MS-MVP [Shell\User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp


***** charles said:
The computer was purchased by a friend of mine that didn't
know anything about Windows and the legal issues.
Just trying to help him out. Computer had a "pirated" copy
of XP on it and it is just a clone and not a brand name machine.
Glad to know that even when one does a repair, one needs
the key ID number.
I know there are programs out there that will tell you what the
key ID number is on a running XP machine but is there any
programs that can point to a different drive and tell what the
key ID number was in THAT registry?

later,
charles......

Harry Ohrn said:
You will have to enter a Product Key even if you are attempting a Repair
Install. Some OEM versions of XP are BIOS locked and cannot be installed on
a different motherboard. You swapped out the motherboard and the OEM version
won't install. You may have to bite the bullet and purchase another copy of
XP that is not BIOS locked. Have you contacted the manufacturer of the
OEM
disk you have to see if it is BIOS locked to the old motherboard?

--

Harry Ohrn MS-MVP [Shell\User]
www.webtree.ca/windowsxp


***** charles said:
Hi all,

I had an amd xp1800 cpu in an ecs motherboard which went south.
I replaced it with an asrock amd64 2800. The ddr ram transfered
over and the power supply was unaffected along with the 80G hd.
I thought I could do a repair install from my legal oem xp home cd
(yes, I know). Trouble is, the cd I think is corrupt. When I boot
to it, the first screens are ok but after it does the driver loading
bit
I get a normal character blue screen but there is an equals sign on the
first line in the upper left hand corner and another equals sign on the
second line just below it and to the right also in the upper left hand
corner. Different cd drives give same results.
I can hit return several times and eventually get a eula which
I can then get past by doing an F8. After that I get ????'s a couple
of places on the screen and what looks like a list of two partitions
but with funny characters. At that point there is no way I think I can
get into repair mode so I just shut the computer down. There are
many important files as in pictures and spreadsheets on the 80G that
I do not want to loose. I have tried to replace the 80G with a 20G
and I get the same goofed up installation screens. The reason for the
attempted repair is that I am assuming that I can do it that way and
not put in a key ID number. True? If I copy the cab files and do an
install from them from D drive, I must put in a key ID number, true?
So my question is, what is the best way to fix this without having to
enter another key ID number?

thanks for your patience,
charles.......
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
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