Old drive in NEW PC

[Bubbs64]

Hi,
Just built myself a new PC, so I decided to upgrade my kids computer by placing their HDD into my recently vacated machine. Unfortuately it sees the HDD but does not boot up.

I removed the battery and updated the appropriate values but still no good.

I recieve a message to "reboot and select correct boot drive." There is only one drive and the it is set the select floppy, HDD, then CD.

Any suggestions.

[minsonngo]

Originally Posted by Bubbs64 Hi, Just built myself a new PC, so I decided to upgrade my kids computer by placing their HDD into my recently vacated machine. Unfortuately it sees the HDD but does not boot up. I removed the battery and updated the appropriate values but still no good. I recieve a message to "reboot and select correct boot drive." There is only one drive and the it is set the select floppy, HDD, then CD. Any suggestions.

Double check and make sure the HDD is connected properly to the motherboard and the power supply. Also make sure the HDD is jumpered correctly. You should jumper the HDD as Cable Select and connect it to the Primary IDE channel on the end connector. If there are any other devices on the same cable... jumper it to CS also and put it on the middle connector.

If your HDD is a SATA one... ignore the above.

Also it may have trouble booting up on the new computer... you probably will have to do a repair of the OS. If the OS on the HDD is Windows XP here are the instructions: Repair Reinstallation of Windows XP (using XP CD)

[Cricket]

What kind of computers are you dealing with? Home built or name brand?

And what operating systems are you dealing with?

Cricket

[Bubbs64]

Hey Cricket,
Home build. I actually put the HDD back in the old PC and works fine. This not the first time I'll tried to put an used HDD (with working OS) into an upgraded system and it dosen't work. I must be missing something.

I'm using XP Pro on both machines.

I've gone to the extreme and placed them in an external case and it works BUT when I place it in the PC case there's no operating sytem. Cables are OK and set to master as it shows at start up (in the bios)

I just dunno!

[minsonngo]

Try setting the HDD to cable select instead of master. Then connect it to the primary ide channel on the motherboard and make sure the HDD is connected to the end connector on the IDE cable.


Then set the CD drive as the FIRST boot device... pop in your OS cd and boot from it to run the REPAIR feature.

Here is how: Repair Reinstallation of Windows XP (using XP CD)

[kilgoretrout]

This not the first time I'll tried to put an used HDD (with working OS) into an upgraded system and it dosen't work.

It would be a remarkable coincidence if it did work. You have a completely different hardware environment requiring different drivers for starters. In short, this never works; you have to do a repair install on NT based OSes(XP, Win2K, Vista) or an over the top install on DOS based OSes(Win95, 98, ME).

I'm using XP Pro on both machines.

With XP you also have activation issues. You can't install a copy of WinXP on more that one box. If you move the hard drive to a new box, you will have to reactivate windows. If you have an OEM copy of WinXP the license prohibits you from moving the install to a new box, i.e. it's tied to the motherboard/cpu that you originally installed on.

[daveyp225]

With the activation issue, you can call Windows' support and explain to them your situation and they'll likely help you.

[kev7555]

Yeah, a windows XP drive is not simply transferrable to another computer with different hardware. You must do a repair install of XP so that is will install according to the hardware contained in the PC. It is not like WIN 98 where the OS would simply find the new hardware and install drivers accordingly.

-Kev

[Bubbs64]

Hey,
Thanks to all for your replies. Did a fresh re-install to solve all problems. Thanks again