XP Won't Boot After Removing HD

00sentraxe · September 20th, 2006, 11:06 PM

Okay, it started yesterday. I got an old(er) computer from a buddy of mine, well, my case is trashed and the computer has cooling problems, so I figured hey, swap out the hard drives and I'll be fine (didn't want to lose my music and all my programs). Well, I put it in the other computer (it had Windows 2000 on the stock HD), and it wouldn't boot. Well, I set my drive as a slave and hooked it up, worked fine. I didn't like it like that, so I switched back. I plugged the HD drive in exactly the way I took it out, and I get

A problem has been dected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check for viruses on the computer. Remove any newly installed hard drives or hard drive controllers. Check your hard drive to make sure it is properly configured and terminated. Run CHKDSK /F to check for hard drive corruption, and then restart your computer.

Technical information:

*** STOP: 0x0000007B (0xF993F640, 0xC0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

__

Well, I've ran CHKDSk, it's fine. I can't scan for viruses because the computer won't boot past the XP screen, it gets there and then gives me the error. I've tried to use the XP disk to repair, doesn't work. Any ideas?

It's an HP Pavilion 521n, 60gig HD, 256 ram, Windows XP Home, that's all I know.

The 2nd computer was a Dell Inspiron with Pentium III processor, 12gig HD, Windows 2000

00sentraxe · September 21st, 2006, 12:46 AM

bump..

Anyone?

Jarhed7276 · September 21st, 2006, 01:19 AM

Hi 00sentraxe. Welcome to TechIMO.

Because the motherboards are different and have (probably) different chipsets you can't just install a hard drive from one pc to another. I have heard of deleting the hardware in Device Manager then doing a repair install. I've never tried it myself but some folks have reported success doing it this way. Others say it is not a good idea to do it this way.

Your best bet would be to backup your data and do a clean install. If you do this make a 10 gig partition to put your OS on and another partition (or two) for your programs and data. This way if you ever need to reinstall your OS again you can do it without losing your data although it would still be a good idea to backup your data just in case of unforseen circumstances.

Blitzkreig75 · September 21st, 2006, 06:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jarhed7276

I've never tried it myself but some folks have reported success doing it this way. Others say it is not a good idea to do it this way.....

A repair installation is no problem at all, if done correctly, and yes, this 'repair' will be the most likely way to get all your data working on the HDD in the new unit.

However, doing a repair installation will require re-activation.

Here's how to do it:
1) Boot from CDROM with the XP CD in the drive and the XP HDD installed only.
2) At the first blue screen, select 'Install Windows XP'. Do NOT select a repair installation at this time.
3) Wimdows will then search for versions of MS stuff on the HDD and find an intstalled XP.
4) After Windows finds said installation, you'll be prompted to either install over the existing installation or repair it. You want to select the 'repair' option now.
5) Wait. XP will then delette a bunch of stuff and re-install itself, loading device drivers for the currently present hardware.

I've done numberous XP Repair installs, and never once lost ANY data. Doing it like I said will work, but, (as I stated before), you must re-activate windows after doing the repair.

GL and hope this helps.

00sentraxe · September 22nd, 2006, 02:27 PM

Thanks, it worked!! But now I have another question. I can't get to my old files. I went into safe mode and did the whole change ownership of all that stuff, and I can look at it, but when I click on it, like to play music or open a document, it says I still don't have access, but on the properties it clearly says I do. Any ideas?

Blitzkreig75 · September 22nd, 2006, 04:54 PM

Hmmmm. Do you have multiple user accounts set up, or are you the only user?

00sentraxe · September 22nd, 2006, 04:58 PM

Just me. Well, I had passwords on the Admin. in safe mode and the regular account, but still it was just me.

Blitzkreig75 · September 22nd, 2006, 05:11 PM

Hmmm. I can't help you, but I'm sure someone else here can. I only set up single user accounts, (no admin. passwords or rights), on the units I've run the repair on, and have never had this occur.

EDIT: Have you tried changing all your passwords?

00sentraxe · September 26th, 2006, 08:36 PM

Ah, I got all the files, I have no idea how I did it, but I did. But now, I have another problem.

I can't get on the internet. I called my "tech support" if that's what you really want to call them, but they said it's fine on their end, for me to take it to a shop, and thanks for calling. One minute on the phone and they decide. Well, screw them, if I can find another cable server down here I'm out. Anyways, I thought it might be my network card, I've burnt one out before, so I changed it, nothing. Now, when I reinstalled XP, I had to register it, so I said do it over the net, it did, it was fine, it registered, so why can't I get on now? Nothing is on there, nothing is installed but whatever comes with the recommended XP installation.