New mobo, XP startup problems...

[siebe]

Hi,

I just replaced the mobo, cpu and memory in my pc to:

- AMD Athlon 64 4000+ (San Diego core)
- Gigabyte GA-K8NSC-939
- 2 x 1GB Kingston dual channel memory

Working with an Nvidia Geforce 6600 AGP card.

Now I have 2 issues:

1. I wanted to re-install windows XP, formatting my c: drive, but during startup I get a message saying I need to place a bootable cd in the drive?? The windows XP disc is in the drive so I do not understand the problem. Does the XP cd now think it is a new pc and therefore will not install, or what?

2. I tried just continuiing without re-installing XP. I am still using my old harddisk which has 2 partitions. c: has windows XP and other programs, and d: has my files. However, somehow it simply won't startup and gives me a lengthy error message with startp options (safe-mode, safe-mode with command prompt, etc), but none of these work; the system will reboot and go through the same cycle. Is this a common problem? Can a system startup on the old harddisk after replacing the mobo and cpu?

I will get back to work on it tonight, so I might have more info tomorrow.

Any feedback is welcome.
Thanks
Siebe

[rjfvillarosa]

Do you see the harddrive and CD drive ok in your bootup BIOS screen, are they visable in the BIOS itself?

[Panama Red]

2. It won't start because of the hardware changes. The new drivers are needed AFTER you do a repair install or format and reinstall of XP.

1. As rjfvillarosa indicates, check the bios and make sure the CD drive is properly recognized in the bios and is before the hard drive in the boot order.

[siebe]

Thanks for the feedback rjfvillarosa and panamared. After some fiddling around yesterday I can now give some more details.

1. To come back to your question, yes, the cd/dvd is properly recognised in the bios and is first in the boot sequence. (floppy is 2nd, and hdd is 3rd).

2. When booting I first get "booting from cd/dvd:" (actually twice, since I have 2 drives attached). But these are both skipped. Can this have something to do with the fact that my windows xp is a copy? It worked fine before. I have no problem buying an original, as long as I am sure it will solve my problem.

3. After skipping the cd/dvd boot options it boots from the floppy. I am using an msdos floppy created in windows xp. It boots to dos, recognises my a: and c: drive, but not my d: drive or any cd drives. Most of the functions on the disk do not work and I get a message:"this function does not work in msdos", or something like that. I've been thinking to somehow get an 'old' msdos startup disk, one I've been using before with windows ME and 98. Then I can format the c: drive in dos, and with support for a cdrom I might be able to reinstall windows xp. Do you think this will work?

By the way, both partitions are fat32.

4. If I take out the floppy it will attempt to boot from the hdd. If I set the hdd access mode in the bios to either LBA or Auto, I get something like:

"We apologize for the inconvenience... Windows did not start succesfully. A recent change in HW or SW might have caused this....

If your computer stopped responding...

If a previous startup was attempt was interrupted...

Safe Mode
Safe Mode with Networking
Safe Mode with Command Prompt
Last known good configuration
Startup Windows normally."

If I use any safe mode I get a list of:
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\windows\system32\drivers\ -filenames-

If I use last known or normal startup I get a short flash blue screen and then it reboots.

I have never had to ask for help before, but I am now thoroughly stuck and need to find the right way forward.

Thanks
Siebe

[siebe]

Ok, I just downloaded the Windows ME Custom bootdisk from www.bootdisk.com and will try this tonight. Will let you know what happened tomorrow...

[Panama Red]

Unfortunately, this statement

2. When booting I first get "booting from cd/dvd:" (actually twice, since I have 2 drives attached). But these are both skipped. Can this have something to do with the fact that my windows xp is a copy? It worked fine before. I have no problem buying an original, as long as I am sure it will solve my problem

disallows us from providing furher assistance. Our forum rules do not allow support for pirated software. Yes, you need to buy a legal copy of XP. I'm closing this thread and invite you to open a new one if you require help when you get a legal copy of XP. Thanx for understanding.