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Question

Install new IDE drive

Sep 4, 2012 6:01AM PDT

I have two separate, user-licensed systems. Windows XP. I want to pull the hard drive from a dying system and install it in a new mainframe. When I do, it will not boot. But if I boot in Safe Mode, it does boot and all my applications are present and working. I'd like it to boot normally and phase out the dying motherboard. I will provide a link to a more detailed explanation if that's not clear enough.

Discussion is locked

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Answer
This has prior discussions. Let's note them now!
Sep 4, 2012 6:07AM PDT
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Install new IDE drive
Sep 4, 2012 9:00AM PDT

The referenced postings seem to refer to changing motherboard. I'm not in that mode.

I have a computer with IDE drive. The drive is good but the motherboard is getting flakey.

I have another almost identical computer and I want to use that good IDE drive from the flakey computer, on the new computer. It installs, it runs, but will only boot to Safe Mode. My request is for help in making it boot to Normal Mode.

And thank you, Bob.

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It applies.
Sep 4, 2012 9:40AM PDT

Even moving to the same make/model motherboard can cause this issue. And if the motherboard if flaky, then you can see this happen. I can only guess your techs are not that seasoned.
Bob

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Install new IDE drive
Sep 4, 2012 10:17AM PDT

My technician is top quality kind of guy. Recognized symptoms (cap on motherboard was bulging), replaced the cap, and machine ran. He's GOOD. Yes, you recognize the issue, as do I.

The question is, getting it to boot in Normal Mode after it boots fine to Safe Mode. Norton sold me the bill of goods that their GHOST15 would do it, but after I bought the software and asked for help in installing it, they gave me a yarn that I would lose all the apps on the drive. Big help!! Just doing a simple Copy would have the same complaint.

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Good hunting.
Sep 4, 2012 10:35AM PDT

If you dismiss the prior repairs, then I can't help you. Once in a while this happens so I've unsubscribed and wish you good hunting.
Bob

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Install nw IDE drive
Sep 4, 2012 2:50PM PDT

Sorry to lose you, Bob; your help was the only interchange I could elicit.

Mentioning prior repairs was just to confirm my technician's
prowess. To pinpoint the problem a bit, you might say that I have a system which boots only to Safe Mode (but in doing so I achieve a fully function set of apps). and I seek a way to convert that system to Normal Mode.

Good luck if you're outa here; perhaps someone else will
step in.

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Just passing by.
Sep 4, 2012 2:52PM PDT

It's an area I've fixed a few times. I use the prior discussions as a guide to fix the issue. But it appears this won't work for you so I hope someone will offer more. If there are more clues, be sure to post them but the area is pretty well worn.
Bob

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What Bob is tdelling you ...
Sep 5, 2012 3:13AM PDT

is that you NEED to follow the Google search link he offered in his initial post and then you need to read the various links until you find what works in your case.

When you are doing what you have described you are effectively placing the hard drive in a computer with different components and Windows requires specific drivers be installed for the different hardware. ANY HARDWARE that is different in any way from what the computer that initially used the hard drive had will require that its drivers be installed.

Windows in Safe Mode does not load several of the various drivers and among those are the video and some of the motherboard drivers. That allows Safe Mode to function but Normal Mode loading the incorrect drivers comes to a screeching halt.

We might suggest that you boot to Safe Mode and then install the motherboard drivers and other peripheral drivers for the system it is currently installed in and that might work or it might not - that is why you will want to read those other links in Bob's search.

now, having said that, if this Hard drive contains an OEM version that was installed on the computer by the manufacturer then you are running into a licensing problem because Microsoft only licensed the OS to the swpecific computer it was initially installed on and the license is tied to the original system's motherboard. The bolded portion of the quote below defines the exception to the motherboard tie.

http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en/licensing/sblicensing/pages/licensing_faq.aspx#fbid=Hy6YWosC6Ou

" Generally, an end user can upgrade or replace all of the hardware components on a computer—except the motherboard—and still retain the license for the original Microsoft OEM operating system software. If the motherboard is upgraded or replaced for reasons other than a defect, then a new computer has been created. Microsoft OEM operating system software cannot be transferred to the new computer, and the license of new operating system software is required. If the motherboard is replaced because it is defective, you do not need to acquire a new operating system license for the PC as long as the replacement motherboard is the same make/model or the same manufacturer's replacement/equivalent, as defined by the manufacturer's warranty.

The reason for this licensing rule primarily relates to the End User Software License Terms and the support of the software covered by that End User Software License Terms. The End User Software License Terms is a set of usage rights granted to the end user by the PC manufacturer and relates only to rights for that software as installed on that particular PC. The system builder is required to support the software on the original PC. Understanding that end users, over time, upgrade their PCs with different components, Microsoft needed to have one base component "left standing" that would still define the original PC. Since the motherboard contains the CPU and is the "heart and soul" of the PC, when the motherboard is replaced (for reasons other than defect) a new PC is essentially created. The original system builder did not manufacture this new PC, and therefore cannot be expected to support it."