Changing Motherboards Didn't Fix My Problem -- Please Advise

when changing MOBO's.

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1755&page=5

I really appreciate the link you posted. I spent a few hours trying to make it all work last night, but I think I've found a new problem.

My Windows XP was preinstalled by Compaq. The new motherboard was refurbished and purchased off the web from a little reseller in California (not Compaq).

Everything was going fine, but when I got to the point in the reinstall when it asked for the 25-digit Windows product key, I entered my old number, and after a minute or so of progress, the machine automatically rebooted. It did this three times before I gave up. I can't seem to get past that point in the set up.

Because I was booting from a Compaq Restore CD, and not from an actual Mictosoft Windows XP CD, I think I might have a problem. Any chance that Compaq has rigged the game so as to prevent people from purchasing motherboards from anyone but Compaq?

Any other magic links? I really do appreciate your help and thank you for the assistance you've already provided. For what it's worth, my problem was posted on multiple computer forums and was viewed by hundreds of individuals. Yours was the only useful response.

Thanks again and best regards.

If a seller (Compaq) sells you a new/refurbished computer with the operating system already installed you have what is know as an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) computer. Microsoft's licensing agreement says that if an OEM computer's motherboard is replaced by anyone other than the OEM (Compaq) it constitutes a NEW computer and the old operating system's CD will not work. It won't even activate. If the motherboard replaced is the same as the one replacing it you can call Microsoft and explain your story. Otherwise you'll have to purchase a new Windows operating system. Sorry. Let us know.

and life goes on...

Jack

I agree with jackintucson, Compaq is one that ties their restore CD'S to the computer and components it was shipped with, and one cannot do a repair install using their disk. Your only choice now is to purchase a full install OS/CD and I hope you got the MOBO drivers with the refurbished board.

Many thanks to both of you for your ongoing help.

After reading Jackintuscon's message, I called Microsoft to explain. I was expecting the worst, but they were perfectly reasonable, understood what I was trying to do, and gave me a new, valid 25-digit product key for my windows XP installation. At no charge. Unfortunately, after typing it in, I get the same failure mode as before. Windows accepts the key code as valid and continues setting up. In less than thirty seconds, though, the screen flashes that an error has been detected and that Windows is shutting down. It flashes by so quickly that I can't get any other details. Then Windows begins reinstalling again at the very beginning of the set up.

Any other ideas?

So if I get a new OS/Install CD and attempt to install it, will this affect the files & programs already on my hard drive?

Alternatively, if I back up my hard drive files, then try to reformat the hard drive and restore Windows using the Compaq reformat/restore disks, does that have a chance?

Unfortunately, I got what I paid for with the motherboard and drivers did not come in the box. Do both options above require that I have motherboard drivers as well?

Thanks again and all the best...

You really do not have many options to fix this computer and I'm not so sure that there is not something else wrong like a bad HDD or CD/ROM drive.

If you still can You should back up the data you want to save because it sounds like your restore disk's are not working. Purchase a full install OS/CD and wipe the drive clean for a fresh install, BUT you will still need the MOBO drivers and drivers for other hardware you have. Also you will lose any programs you have installed. I really don't know what other advice to give, You might consider calling it a loss and invest in a $299.00 dell. Here are instructions to install an OS.
New/Clean Install/Re-install


1=Set Bios to boot from CD/ROM as first boot device(Entering the BIOS and changing the boot order is not discussed here, you may have to refer to the computers manual for this).(For a clean or new drive the boot sequence does not matter)

2=Place the OS/CD in the CD/ROM drive and Re-Boot

3=Watch for the prompt to "Press any key to boot from CD/ROM" Press ASAP (Ignore when prompt appears on any reboot) (You will only get this prompt if there is an OS installed).

4=windows Setup (Loads Files)

5=To setup XP now press "ENTER"

6=Press F8 for license

7=To continue installing a fresh copy of windows without repairing press "ESC"(You will not get this prompt for a new or unpartitioned drive)

8=For a new or unpartitioned drive press "ENTER" (or you can press "C" if you want to create multiple partitions).

9=For a drive that has partitions, operating system or any data on it, you should press "D" to delete the partition and start out with a clean drive
.
10=Press "enter"

11=You will be prompted again, press "L"(You will do this for each partition) , Now you are ready to partition and format

12=Press "C" (Only if you want multiple partitions, Otherwise press "Enter"

13=To setup windows on the selected partition press "enter"

14=Select format NTFS with quick option, (Should be the top selection)

15=Press "enter'

16=Wait for format to complete

17=Computer will start copying files to the installation folders (this may take several minutes)

18=Computer will re-boot, do not press any key to boot from CD/ROM when prompted
.
19=follow the on-screen instructions to complete loading windows.

Hello, just a suggestion (which I have used myself in the near past), install a new HD as your primary and move the current HD to the secondary slot. Install your OS on the new drive and leave all your files on the old drive until you get your system back up and running. Then you can move what you need over to your new drive (if you want) and then consider doing a reformat on the old drive. I just left most of my files on the old drive, since the majority of the drive was fine and only a dropped bit in the system files was the culprit for me. You could us a disk diagnostic utility to check the old HD and most likely determine if there is a physical problem with the disk, and if so some utilities will lock that sector so that the "bad" sector will not interfere with the future use of the drive. Something like Norton Disk Doctor might help. Good luck.

I've had to use the second HD trick on a couple occasions. It was the only way I found to get around that error-loop. I think the loop starts when the OS detects the hardware change and it tries to start the re-activation process. If you change too many components at once, XP makes you re-activate. But it looks like there're some bugs in that process...

Also, be very careful about repairing/re-installing your OS! If you don't have a second HD to work with, then definitely back-up your files onto a CD before proceeding. If the repair option doesn't work a re-install WILL wipe out your old files.

I don't know about anyone else, but I've usually had pretty good luck finding drivers on the web for just about any motherboard I've worked on. At the very least you can use generic chipset drivers depending on the brand of mobo. For instance, if the board is based off a Via chipet, and most of the early Athlon CPU boards were, you can go to the www.viaarena.com and download the all-in-one drivers.

'Course if you can't boot to a desktop, the drivers probably won't be much help.

Good Luck with the trouble shooting.

Worse comes to worse, and you don't have teh $$ to buy another copy of XP, have you thought about Linux........

This sounds like a virus on your hard drive to me.

Since you are trying to install the operating system anew, I recommend that you 'low-level format' your hard drive first. Low-level formatting differs from standard formatting. Standard formatting only erases the partition data. Low-level formatting writes 1's and 0's on every area of the hard drive, bringing the drive to factory-new condition.

I use this method when I run into the problem you describe. When a virus invades a computer, sometimes reinstalling the software will only write over the virus codes and those codes will come back. The only way to really rid your system of a virus is to low-level format the hard drive.

I also go the extra mile to clear CMOS. This step assures me that my BIOS codes are not corrupted by a virus. Before I clear CMOS, I write down all of my BIOS settings.

this sounds like the exact same problem I had a while back and it turned out I had a bad stick of ram, after I replaced it everything was fine.

I agree, could be memory. Go into the BIOS and change the fast boot option to OFF and reboot. This should cause a more intense memory test at boot time and find a bad simm or dimm.

I have found that the original oem product key from will activate the retail version of windows. I have replaced boards for out of warranty computers before that have no operating system cd and so far the product key has always worked fine. You probably know someone that will lend you there windows xp cd to reinstall.

This occured on a PC I had put togethpr myself. I had almost the same symptoms and swapped the MOBO with no luck. After trying things for several days, I put it together OUTSIDE the case. Everything worked fine, no problems. I thought OK its fixed. Bolted the mobo down put it all together and ... problem returns.

After several iterations of this a stupid thought occured to me.. What if the reset switch is causing this.

I put it together omitting the wires to the reset switch and the computer has been running happily for a year now.

I have nevere heard of this problem before, but someone has to get the wierd stuff.

How does the operating system know that it has a different motherboard in there, its because it looks for the serial number which is stored electronically on the motherboard, if you go into the bios and change the serial number to the serial number of your system, guess what? it should be ok as far as the operating system goes. (wonder what company pcmender used to work for?)


As for your original problem, I doubt that it is a s/w problem at all, I would suspect that either you have a fulty cpu or memory but that is just a guess. I suspect that the system that that time is just running through the 'post' checks or early hardware set up checks and is most proberbally nowhere near loading the o/s therefore if I am right it is going tpo be a hardware problem of some sort.

Good luck

PCmender

Compaq sends a restore disc with your purchase, it has the OS and drivers for all the devices confiqured for your system.

Microsoft recently changed the rules for product key codes for the big tier one builders (dell, compacq, others) They hold the key code if you hose your system and need to re-install the OS.

Your have to open your pocket book to compaq in-order to solve your problem.

Yes they want to seel you a new board, but your old board wasn't the problem.

May I suggest next time you pruchase a system find a custom builder in your area, so you can get local support. You'll have to pay more, but in the long run
it's worth it.

Forgot you are running XP so checking your hard drives with the current file system is more problematic and cannot be accomplished with any checking system that depends on having a FAT32 formatted drive like a Win ME startup disk.