First time Build

[DarkCreator]

Well, if any of you looked at my other post, my GC is fried and in order to get the replacement I want I would have to get a new PS (my current one is only 300watts). So....last night I kinda went crazy and picked out a new case, mb, hd, PS, GC and CPU - I was just frustrated as hell that after a couple of hours of cooling mods/upgrades things were worse than when I started, so I'm saying fuck it and going to build myself a new one with my tax refund.

Since I've never done a full build, just about all of the parts though on separate occasions I have one question. Once I assemble my new rig, can I just put my old HD in there and have everything boot up fine or so I have to go through some other steps since it will be plugged into a new MB and booting through a new bios for the first time?

[Melkorus]

I had various results when using the same HD on different systems. Sometimes it just says disk error and hangs, sometimes it starts booting but freezes along the way, sometimes I boot into windows just fine but have driver issues, you have to install all of the drivers over the existing ones. Last time I got stable system running, but I could not have sound no matter what I tried until I did fresh windows install.

Generally things have got more compatible over the past few years, so my guess is that you'll be able to load into windows, but you'll never really make it work the way it worked before until you reinstall windows. There will always be little something there that pisses you off.

There really isn't anything that you can/need to do in bios to help (aside from making sure that your HD port is enabled) since things have gotten pretty good as far as plug and play go.

[DerangedPony]

Never tried it, but I'm going to say that it will not work because Windows will be like "WTF!!" because of the new parts and it will make you re-install.

[DarkCreator]

damn, I really hope that I can find a may to make it work, I really don't want to have to install all of my programs again.....on top of that, I'm not sure I know where my XP cd is.

I guess even if I do have to re-install I could just use the disk that came with my dell instead of having to buy a new one...hopefully.

[DerangedPony]

there is a way of finding your XP key, let me try to find it.....

[DerangedPony]

This will find it.

[IcePROject]

I prefer the old fashion way

1)Run regedit (Under start, you open run and type regedit)
2)Navigate to HKEY_LOCALMACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Cur rentVersion
3) in that folder you'll find ProductId, your CD Key is digits 6 thought 15.

[DarkCreator]

Originally Posted by Melkorus

I had various results when using the same HD on different systems. Sometimes it just says disk error and hangs, sometimes it starts booting but freezes along the way, sometimes I boot into windows just fine but have driver issues, you have to install all of the drivers over the existing ones. Last time I got stable system running, but I could not have sound no matter what I tried until I did fresh windows install.

I did some reading around and found that someone suggested doing two things before doing a clean install in this situation:
1) Doing a "reapair" install of the OS
2)wiping the MBR (master boot record)

Have you (or anyone for that matter) tried these solutions out?

[Melkorus]

no, never tried any of them

also typing slmgr -dlv in command prompt should give you your key and other info.

[Hollister]

Originally Posted by DarkCreator

I did some reading around and found that someone suggested doing two things before doing a clean install in this situation:
1) Doing a "reapair" install of the OS
2)wiping the MBR (master boot record)

Have you (or anyone for that matter) tried these solutions out?

Are you formatting the drive and doing a clean install or doing a "repair install"?
Mel and DP are right. You would be lucky if you were able to boot to Windows using your existing HDD. Even if you get that far, XP would still require you to reactivate due to the newer components. Not a big deal if you have the COA label on your rig. Microsoft will allow you to reactivate (a few times), but you would have to call them and they should get you a new product key.

If I were you and had personal files (...errr porn ) that I absolutely cannot delete, I would first try fixing your existing rig. Once you have it up and running, burn all the files and documents you want to keep so it can be easily transferred to the new rig. Just a thought before you decide to wipe your existing drive and do a new install.