win XP and new computer, bad idea

[AgEnT0140]

had win XP installed on a old computer. i got a new one and what da ya know!? it doesn't even boot to a floppy. it takes over so i can't even re-install windows. wnybody know what 2 do? thanks

kevin.

[AgEnT0140]

i switch hard drives and it boots fine in Linux.... this is really annoying. a $200 piece of software wont work when something free does.

[Yodums]

Return it, could just be a bad HDD.

[AgEnT0140]

it is not a bad hdd. i was using it for 2 years. It boots fine, it's windows XP that messes it up. could anyone with XP make a boot disk and post it so i can download it? thanks.

[Madradog]

I read something (don't quote me or anything) that win XP takes a snapshot of your system hardware, and uses certain values to make a unique number. If you change more than say 4 or 5 pieces of hardware, (or the entire computer) windows will realize the difference, and prevent the completion of the installation. I think you need to contact microsoft, and try to explaint that you upgraded alot, or wait 120 days. The article mentioned someting about it not lasting longer than that. If anyone has better specifics than this babble, then please let us know.

AthlonTBird 1.1 @1.21(11*110) for now, but it runs nice
Volcano6cu+ 39 Idle 42 load
windows XP (my other pc's are jealous :()
512mb pc133
IWILL KK266+R
Antec tower case - roomy - only 2 fans for now
and all the other bells, and whistles, + a cordless optial mouse courtesy of my girlfried :)

[AgEnT0140]

i can't wait 120 days! i tried to contact microsoft but u have 2 pay to get anywhere. i would be happy to just install win 98 se! i can't access the hdd trhough any program! the boot floppiues i make don't work.

[TeuffelHunden]

It may be simple...but have you gone into the bios to make sure that it's set up to boot from a floppy?

If you just need to make a disk that will allow you to boot into dos,
1. in XP, go to MY COMPUTER and right click on the floppy drive
2. under FORMAT OPTIONS, choose CREATE an MS-Dos Startup Disk.

Tada!! You can now boot into dos at startup and do all the great things you want to do :D

[Oni]

Originally posted by AgEnT0140
it is not a bad hdd. i was using it for 2 years. It boots fine, it's windows XP that messes it up. could anyone with XP make a boot disk and post it so i can download it? thanks.

http://www.bootdisk.com

[martyt]

Are you saying that you bought a new computer and then you decided to load Win XP on your old computer? And then the old computer wouldn't boot?

Your first post has me confused.

[jw50]

If you just moved the hard drive from an old computer to a new one the smartest thing to do is to reformat the hard drive and then do a clean install of XP. Anytime you take a hard drive with an OS installed on it from one computer and stick it in another computer you are going to have problems. If your computer will not boot from a floppy then you either do not have the boot sequence set properly or you do not have a bootable floppy. XP doesn't have anything to do with the problem that you described.

[AgEnT0140]

i had an old hp. i installed windows xp on it. I just built my first computer and tried to boot from a floppy so i could erease everything. it gave me a disk I/O error when i tried to boot from the floppy. the disk is good becasue it works in my other computers. i think i may have a bad floppy drive..... since i did get it from the garbage. i'll try a different floppy drive when i get home. at least it works in linux.

[trey_w]

i booted from My CD on win XP

[AgEnT0140]

messed with it a little when i gto home... it's installing xp right now! guess i just made a few stupid mistakes.... o well.

[Madradog]

I was rethinking some of my earlier comments. I believe the unique number came into play when registering your version of winxp. I think you just cant register and get updates, and all that junk unless you wait 120 days, or use a new copy of win xp, or explain the hardware upgrades to microsoft. Sorry if there was any confusion. And still, not 100% on this, just trying to recall an article I browsed. And who knows if the author of that knows anything.