|
Changing motherboard question....(sorry. long post)....please help.
|
|
Member
|
5. September 2007 @ 18:56 |
Link to this message
|
OKay here goes...
my problems started about 2 weeks ago with my PC freezing during startup, mostly at the Windows XP loading screen, when it would get past that, it would lock up at the Identities screen.
I tried redoing my hardware (Nvidia 7600GS video card, and Seagate SATA HDD are both fairly new) to no avail.
RAM checked out fine, so i went to repair install windows. Froze up twice during the setup (89 and 59% respectively)
Safe mode wouldnt load either (would freeze on drivers.mup always, then on the very first driver to load after the failed repair installs...
So i take the PC in to a repair shop to get looked at. At fisrt they think its the RAM, then the power supply. But tests show them its the mobo that isnt firing up, so now im at my dilemma.
My old mobo is a ASUS P4S800, socket 478. The only 478 readily available to me and close to my current specs is a Biostar (P4M80-M4).
Will this change of brand (mobo/BIOS/chipset) affect whats already on my Primary HDD? Will i get conflicts?
Also when last I went to repair install Windows, rather than showing me which Windows I wanted to repair, it showed me ALL of my partitions, and when I went to C: to install, it told me Im about to install an OS on a partition that already has an OS, and basically that ISNT good....Im all for doing it, but Id lose everything in my shared documents wouldnt I?.....what about my other partitions?...wouls the data stay intact if I went ahead with the reinstall?
Please help, any advice is appreciated as I am lost without my PC....thank you, and I welcome any questions about things I was unclear about!
|
|
Advertisement
|
 |
|
|
Member
|
5. September 2007 @ 19:01 |
Link to this message
|
|
Also of note, I want to avoid changing as much as possible, meaning I want to keep my P4 2.8, my DDR ram, and my vid card and HDDs....
this is why Id rather not upgrade to a newer style mobo....
|
AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
|
5. September 2007 @ 19:15 |
Link to this message
|
|
Well you won't run the Windows installation on it. You should probably backup your data because you WILL have to re install windows.
If you can't access you data take it to a friend and hook it up as a secondary HDD, and copy over your data.
|
Member
|
5. September 2007 @ 19:23 |
Link to this message
|
|
so regardless, I will have to fresh installo windows?....guess i have to break out my spare 5GB IDE drive again then....any other thoughts?
|
AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
|
5. September 2007 @ 19:28 |
Link to this message
|
|
If you change the chipset you need to re-install windows.
|
Member
|
5. September 2007 @ 19:32 |
Link to this message
|
|
OK, im beginning to accept that fact. Ill just have to use a dummy HDD as priamry so I can access the SATA drive to pull my files from C:..(my shared docs and emails....But my other partitions on the primary SATA HDD...that wont be affected will it?
|
AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
|
5. September 2007 @ 19:37 |
Link to this message
|
|
Just the Windows partition. Even then you can choose to leave the current file system intact(I believe that is one of the options).
|
Member
|
5. September 2007 @ 19:42 |
Link to this message
|
|
Thats a repair install youre talking about no?....It wouldnt give me that option to do that last time i tried. It gave me the "installing an OS on a partition that already has one" message...
The hardest thing to do is get back my emails after a wipe...but i may have to sacrifice that already....
|
AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
|
5. September 2007 @ 19:44 |
Link to this message
|
|
Why don't you keep your emails on a web server? Plus I was talking about using a Windows XP setup disk not a repair disk.
|
Member
|
5. September 2007 @ 19:48 |
Link to this message
|
|
I believe my emails are kept on the web server, I just dont know for how long, Ill have to look into that.
As far as the Disk, I have my Windows XP disk, which is what I always use to repair/reinstall...thats what youre talking about right?
(thanks for your help thus far too man, I really appreciate it as this is my worst PC problem Ive ever had...)
|
AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
|
5. September 2007 @ 19:53 |
Link to this message
|
|
No problem, that's what we hang around here for. when I am using my normal windows xp setup disk and I try to install windows on a partition with windows already on it it will give me some option, and one of them is to leave the current file system intact. Put in your setup disk and see if you get that.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. September 2007 @ 19:55
|
Member
|
5. September 2007 @ 19:57 |
Link to this message
|
|
Ill try it when i get the PC back, I think im going to pick it up tomorrow, and go buy the motherboard tomorrow too, so I can work on it over the weekend...
"Leaving system settings intact", what does that do exactly?....see I never went past that screen where it shows me all my partitions and asks me which I want to setup windows on...not when i knew I had some stuff Id lose....
|
AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
|
5. September 2007 @ 20:00 |
Link to this message
|
|
I have personally never tried it for XP, but when Vista first came out it would have all your XP files in a folder called windows.old. I am guessing it's the same thing here. You can probably copy over the files you want and delete the entire folder.
|
Member
|
5. September 2007 @ 20:06 |
Link to this message
|
|
abuzar1....Ill see if my disk gives me that option, personally I dont remember ever seeing it, but Ill look.
Either way, I think I know what I have to do, and what Ill lose and not lose. Just hope my external has enough space. Ill update you when its done!
thanks again!
|
Member
|
7. September 2007 @ 02:28 |
Link to this message
|
abuzar...
I decided to upgrade just about everything, got a new mobo (MSI K9MM-V)
a new CPU (AMD Athlon64 3000+) new RAM (DDR2 - 2gb) and along with my fairly new HDD, vid card, and DVD Drive, gonna attempt to get my PC alive again....
A few ?'s now...
the mobo CD doesnt give me an option to make a raid driver CD for XP, do i not need to make one for this mobo?
Also, will a repair install overwrite my files in the Shared Document Directory? or just the OS files?...(this would save me TONS of time and work...
also wth is this?:
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-061: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-M0F: Exiting Intel PXE ROM
I got this when trying to boot for the 1st time after removing the XP CD and install my mobo drivers, then i put the XP Cd back in nd it boots fine...
issues...i swear...thanks a ton man!
|
AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
|
7. September 2007 @ 05:03 |
Link to this message
|
|
The PXE errors areprobably caused because of your hard disk. Go into the BIOS and change the boot order and make the HDD boot first. Also check your cabling to see if all the cables are tightly secured.
I would suggest you do hook up your old 5 GB IDE drive and install the OS on that. Then copy over all of your files to xdrive.com or back them up someway. That would save you a lot off guess work. As for the other error it is mostly caused by a faulty OS installation, so backing up your data, formating the HDD, and re-installing the OS would be your best chance at getting everything working correctly.
|
Member
|
8. September 2007 @ 03:05 |
Link to this message
|
abuzar...
Heres where I am at now, I have a new mobo (MSI K9MM-V) AMD Athlon 64 3000+ CPU, 2GB DDR ram, and my old components (SATA HDD which was my primary boot drive) my CDrom and DVDrom (I load off of my CDrom).
I pulled my valuable files from the SATA already and have it backed up on an external. So I am ready to reformat my C:Drive to reinstall windows.
HOWEVER....
Now when I go into the Windows Install, it no longer shows me all of my partitions, just a C: with something in the area of 132,000 MB space, which the disk then goes on to tell me isnt enough space to install windows. Then something about an error on the partition, and it needs to be formatted to proceed (the format which btw is FAT...how did that happen?)
Where did my other partitions go? THOSE are the ones I dont want to lose...its a 320GB drive...where is everything? If I proceed with the format, whats the chance of me wiping the ENTIRE drive?....
I didnt fully expect this to go smooth, but I thought Id at least pick up where I left off with being able to at least see my other partitions.....any thoughts?
|
AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
|
8. September 2007 @ 05:50 |
Link to this message
|
|
I think if you format you have a high chance of wiping EVERYTHING off the drive. Damn this is frustrating, thing can never go smoothly can they? I have to leave now but I'll get back to you tonight.
|
Member
|
8. September 2007 @ 17:19 |
Link to this message
|
|
hey abu...
im resigned to the fact that I lost everything on the data partitions, I mean, its nothing that cant be replaced, just gonna take A LOT of time....
but heres the thing now,
the mobo i got, the CD does not have a RAID driver "make disk" option, so im thinking it will recognize the HDD right away, which it does, but it only reads 131072 MB while its a 320GB HDD.
So when I got to install on it, it wont let me partition, I had to reformat it to NTSF (which I have no idea how it became a FAT drive, then it tells me the drive may be full, damaged, or invalid format type or something....it cant be that the HDD is bad...I just pulled the data off it, and it read everything fine...
so anyway, i reformat, and then it tells me that *I am about to install on a partition that already has an OS on it, then gives me the option to (leave system settings intact) and the other options....
Im thinking I should go all new....btu again, why only 131GB?...thats less than half the full capacity....GOD im ready to scream...hehe....
|
AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
|
8. September 2007 @ 17:51 |
Link to this message
|
|
It's probably a Windows XP SP1 disk. Only SP2 will recognize more than 132 GB.
|
Member
|
8. September 2007 @ 17:59 |
Link to this message
|
|
It is....I have to download all those updates to get to SP2....but once SP2 is on will it read the rest of the size?
Also, I seem to be stuck in a loop...I formatted, the disk installs the files, then goes to reboot, but when it does...the CD boots again and does the exact same thing..
If i take the CD out, i get a boot error.
If i change boot priority, i get nowhere...
what gives now?....if anything else can go wrong after this, it probably will....
|
AfterDawn Addict
2 product reviews
|
8. September 2007 @ 18:36 |
Link to this message
|
I assume you have another computer? If you can, install a bittorrent client on there. I will point you to a copy of Windows XP that I am sure works. If you have an original key then use that, if you don't PM me.
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
Member
|
8. September 2007 @ 19:28 |
Link to this message
|
|
abu,
im sure my copy works, its just i am stuck in this loop...
I used the recovery console to chkdsk, and it finds a "windows installation to use"...so that is progress....
Its once i exit that that im stuck back in the loop...
changing boot priorities in the BIOS just makes the loop shorter...
grrrr...
|
