Getting XP to boot off old hard drive

WDB · 12-30-2007, 08:43 PM

My old computer's MB went out. By the time I would have payed someone to check and replace the board it was just as cheap to buy another box. Unfortunately it has Vista. Can't stand it!!!!!!!!!! Installed the old HD in new machine but cannot get it to boot. System tries but reverts back to Vista. What do I have to do to get this thing to boot off the second drive(XP). Any help is much appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

paratwa · 12-31-2007, 12:35 AM

You would have to reformat and reinstall XP before it will work. Using a Hard drive from a different system never works. It has to do with drivers for the old motherboard chipsets, the old OS is looking for the chipsets from the old motherboard and can't find them, you need to reinstall windows for it to find the new drivers.

Just installing the new chipset drivers never works either. Unless you want to spend a few hours tracking down and removing all references to the old chipset drivers in your Registry file it just won't work. At least not so that the OS would ever be completly stable.

PC eye · 12-31-2007, 01:20 AM

Besides a good clean installl like paratwa outlined there the boot order is set in the bios itself. When going to perform a clean install of XP on the old drive be sure to unplug the current Vista drive or expect to see the XP installer copy boot information and files there as well as hamper the current Vista installation.

Once XP is up and running on the old drive you can replug the Vista drive back in and then proceed to the bios setup program. When highlighting the hard drive item you press the enter key to bring up the list of drives installed on the system. You then move the XP model listed to the top of the list to see that become the default boot device.

On exit insure hard drive is set as the first in the boot order and the other options are disabled to set the bios search go right to that drive. XP will then be the default OS seen. When the first board on the new build here quit in 3 days time Windows still had to see a full reinstall in order to perform a fresh detection of the identical replacement.

12-30-2007, 08:43 PM	#1 (permalink)
WDB New Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 1	Getting XP to boot off old hard drive My old computer's MB went out. By the time I would have payed someone to check and replace the board it was just as cheap to buy another box. Unfortunately it has Vista. Can't stand it!!!!!!!!!! Installed the old HD in new machine but cannot get it to boot. System tries but reverts back to Vista. What do I have to do to get this thing to boot off the second drive(XP). Any help is much appreciated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

12-31-2007, 01:20 AM	#3 (permalink)
PC eye Diamond Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Inside a pc Posts: 19,005	Besides a good clean installl like paratwa outlined there the boot order is set in the bios itself. When going to perform a clean install of XP on the old drive be sure to unplug the current Vista drive or expect to see the XP installer copy boot information and files there as well as hamper the current Vista installation. Once XP is up and running on the old drive you can replug the Vista drive back in and then proceed to the bios setup program. When highlighting the hard drive item you press the enter key to bring up the list of drives installed on the system. You then move the XP model listed to the top of the list to see that become the default boot device. On exit insure hard drive is set as the first in the boot order and the other options are disabled to set the bios search go right to that drive. XP will then be the default OS seen. When the first board on the new build here quit in 3 days time Windows still had to see a full reinstall in order to perform a fresh detection of the identical replacement. __________________ Youtube falls short of Google's expectations http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Ahe...ory?id=5336532 Congress studies how people track your online use http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Ahe...ory?id=5337932

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12-31-2007, 12:35 AM	#2 (permalink)
paratwa Diamond Member Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Arizona Posts: 1,969	You would have to reformat and reinstall XP before it will work. Using a Hard drive from a different system never works. It has to do with drivers for the old motherboard chipsets, the old OS is looking for the chipsets from the old motherboard and can't find them, you need to reinstall windows for it to find the new drivers. Just installing the new chipset drivers never works either. Unless you want to spend a few hours tracking down and removing all references to the old chipset drivers in your Registry file it just won't work. At least not so that the OS would ever be completly stable.