About a year ago an old winxp computer of mine was surged and never turned on again (still don't know what the problem is). Anyways I haven't really touched it and I was wondering if I could take the hard drive (80gb I think) and put it into my older comp (listed below). This HD has winxp on it and everything my broken comp had. Would this interfere with my old comps winxp and everything it has?
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Old Hard Drive into Old Computer
- Thread starter Corbin
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If you old computer has the same hardware as your new one, then it'll work. Otherwise you might have problems.
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In that case, both machines are OEM and the installs are tied to their respective machines. They won't boot if you switch them.
ummmmm wrong. it will boot but will sit there and try to locate all the drivers for the first time. as long as the OP has his boot priority set correctly he will boot off the drive he always booted from. the old drive will normaly show up as the next avalable drive letter.
If you want to just add it to the working computer to access the info that was on dead computer, it should work fine. You may need to go into Disk Management to import the drive to the other system, but as long as the drive was not damaged when the other system died you should be able to access the info on it fine.
If you try to boot from that drive, it will prolly trigger an activation issue. I have always used the Corp version of XP, so I don't mess with activation. I'm not sure but you would probably have to reinstall Windows with the OEM version for that computer.
Don
If you try to boot from that drive, it will prolly trigger an activation issue. I have always used the Corp version of XP, so I don't mess with activation. I'm not sure but you would probably have to reinstall Windows with the OEM version for that computer.
Don
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I've yet to have a BIOS locked OEM install of XP boot on another machine that wasn't the same brand. It bluescreens and reboots everytime. In fact (and I know this is a different OS) I just tried to move a plain jane Vista install from my white-box to my Dell and got the BSOD-reboot loop. Bot machines were Intel 3 series chipsets, multi-core processors, Nvidia 8 series graphics cards. The only difference was the ICH7 on one vs ICH9R on the other.
interesting. as the jack of all trades when it comes to switching systems in the airforce dealing with thousands of oem systems i have yet to come up on this issue which leads me to believe this is a rare accurance.
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I'm sure military systems are a bit different than retail systems as far as licensing is concenred.
you would be supprised
personaly i would not try and boot off the old OS install when switching systems. you can swap the drives into a new system and read off them.
Ok. But will oem only work with that system or that drive? because if it is the system would I be able to upgrade the Mobo,Ram,Cpu, and video card will the system boot if I use the hard drive and other essentials from my old rig?(non-broken one, I'm done talking about that one)
I ask this because it would be like a new system.
I ask this because it would be like a new system.
Dangman
Ninja Editor SuperMod
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It will boot. However, it may not let you login. Or it will bluescreen. Or it will require you to reactivate, most likely over the phone, before you can you use the system. Since you're effectively getting a new PC with a new mobo, RAM, and CPU, MS might not let you activate or reuse your OS from the non-broken rig. Depends on whether or not the tech is feeling charitable that day.
If no reactivation is required, the system might be unstable or won't perform as fast since the OS will still have some drivers or settings left over from the previous PC. The best way to make sure that doesn't happen is to do a complete reformat and reinstall. Unfortunately that option may not be available to you if the install disc checks the BIOs to make sure that it's the right BIOs.
So any number of things can happen.
If no reactivation is required, the system might be unstable or won't perform as fast since the OS will still have some drivers or settings left over from the previous PC. The best way to make sure that doesn't happen is to do a complete reformat and reinstall. Unfortunately that option may not be available to you if the install disc checks the BIOs to make sure that it's the right BIOs.
So any number of things can happen.
So in the next 4-12 months I'm planning on upgrading/ rebuilding that non-broken rig. So if I do rebuild it will the only thing I can use be the cd/dvd drive, case, and psu (just got a new one for it). Will I have the buy a new OS, HD, and aLl the essentials (Video Card, Mobo, CPU, Ram)?
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Considering the license for your OS is tied the original motherboard, then yes you technically have to buy a new OS. However, if MS feels generous they might go ahead and let you activate.
Atticus_gamer
Limp Gawd
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If you want to, this is what I would do when customers would want to swap their old os and software to something current, I would place your old hard drive into the system as master and then put your xp cd into the drive boot off the cd and go into install xp, once in there it should find an old install of xp then it will ask you to format the partition or do a repair install, do the repair install. it will go through and take out all the windows system files and drivers and it will re-install itself to fit the new system. most of the time it works fine you may run into issues with some other drivers, but it should work fine and your registry table will stay together...just my 2cents. but if the key doesn't want to register call them up and say you swaped mobo and they should give you a new key or take that one.. good luck
There is no xp CD. This was a system with a built in xp back in 2003 and if there was a cd i have no idea where it is. So I've basically come to the conclusion that I have to buy a retail (or OEM) version of windows xp or just go to vista. Thx for all the help.
If you want to go by a strict reading of the MS license, your copy of Windows was only for the particular set of hardware it was originally sold with from the OEM. Change too many components, and you will need to either reactivate it with MS or possibly replace it if you changed key components like the MOBO.
If you had purchased a retail copy, you would have to call MS and have them cancel the original install and you would then be able to activate a new install.
Most OEM's will sell you a replacement CD for your OS if you lost or did not make a backup off of the system. My wifes Acer laptop came with Vista which would not run some programs that she had. I installed XP, but wiped out the service partition in the process. If I want to reinstall Vista on her system, I will need to buy that disk from them for 15 bux or so.
Telling you how to get around this issue is not allowed in these forums.
Don
If you had purchased a retail copy, you would have to call MS and have them cancel the original install and you would then be able to activate a new install.
Most OEM's will sell you a replacement CD for your OS if you lost or did not make a backup off of the system. My wifes Acer laptop came with Vista which would not run some programs that she had. I installed XP, but wiped out the service partition in the process. If I want to reinstall Vista on her system, I will need to buy that disk from them for 15 bux or so.
Telling you how to get around this issue is not allowed in these forums.
Don