Cloned HD will not boot into the other machine [hd] [hard drive]
Q: I cloned a hard drive and Win XP will not boot on older computers. I have an HD-win98 and it will boot any machine I have. Any suggestions?
Perry
Re:You'll need to purchase a second copy of XP , Bill needs his money…
BTW , the best solution is to install from scratch esp. w/ XP.
Regards,
Jose
Re:Originally posted by: guy
Originally posted by: guy
Close but no banana. I did what you suggested and eventually got to a c:\windows command line prompt. I even tried the drive in another P4 machine and it would not boot. I think XP may go so far as to track MB serial #'s and won't boot if it does not match the install. I know that OEM manufactures don't install software manually so how do they get around this problem.
Perry
Arrrgg…do some googling…you didn't do it right. Don't use the command line repair option.
1. At the first screen with teh repair option, click 'Install Windows' or whatever.
2. Windows will scan your drives and see the current installation. Select it.
3. Windows will say its found a curent installation, do you want repair it or blah blah.
4. THAT is where you select repair.
XP will then look like its doing the normal installation, but its really just copying over files.
However, you'll still get stuck at the activatioin screen. You'll still be stuck with a ghetto installation that will probably lock up, BSOD, and exhibit other general mayhem. Do it right…format and make a separate partition for the operating system…one for the programs. Problem solved…next time you 'upgrade' you don't lose any of your stuff.
linky (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q297185) all the preceding advice is pretty much correct tho..next time provide more info on the hardware configurations to help others to determine best course of action..:) ..p.s. chkdsk /r don't forget to hit the space after 'chkdsk' before your '/' command 
Re:eh .. that happened to me ..
i took a win98se boot disk and did a fdisk /mbr .. but that as on fat32
so use the winxp disc ..
and do the similar commandline .. it should work.
Re:What did you use to clone the HDD? If you used Norton Ghost through the Windows console it won't work at all. You have to use the Ghost option to make a bootable floppy
Re:I did the repair option and instead of installing files the command prompt comes up and it does not start copying files.
Perry
Re:Originally posted by: guy
Close but no banana. I did what you suggested and eventually got to a c:\windows command line prompt. I even tried the drive in another P4 machine and it would not boot. I think XP may go so far as to track MB serial #'s and won't boot if it does not match the install. I know that OEM manufactures don't install software manually so how do they get around this problem.
Perry
Arrrgg…do some googling…you didn't do it right. Don't use the command line repair option.
1. At the first screen with teh repair option, click 'Install Windows' or whatever.
2. Windows will scan your drives and see the current installation. Select it.
3. Windows will say its found a curent installation, do you want repair it or blah blah.
4. THAT is where you select repair.
XP will then look like its doing the normal installation, but its really just copying over files.
However, you'll still get stuck at the activatioin screen. You'll still be stuck with a ghetto installation that will probably lock up, BSOD, and exhibit other general mayhem. Do it right…format and make a separate partition for the operating system…one for the programs. Problem solved…next time you 'upgrade' you don't lose any of your stuff.
Re:Close but no banana. I did what you suggested and eventually got to a c:\windows command line prompt. I even tried the drive in another P4 machine and it would not boot. I think XP may go so far as to track MB serial #'s and won't boot if it does not match the install. I know that OEM manufactures don't install software manually so how do they get around this problem.
Perry
Re:Dont boot into XP when you attach the cloned Drive – instead boot from XP CD and run a repair install on the cloned drive. This repair install should be done from the second time XP asks if you want to run a repair – the first time it asks this questio is when it has the option to run the Recovery Console – dont choose repair at this time.
Would suggest that when you run the repair intallation remove all extra hardware – like modems, printers, and any other cards. After XP is installed than reattach these devices one at a time and install their drivers for XP.
Re:Well my intention was to keep from spending days installing software. Now I guess it is a toss up on putting in a new MB to match the hardware that I have now, a little over $100 for a cheap ASUS MD and cheap Celeron chip or spend days installing software.
Perry
Re:XP tells itself not to boot up. Its not the image, its the OS.
Re:First suggestion (http://{$MySite}/categories.cfm?catid=34&zb=5069448)
Second suggestion: Don't try putting a modern OS into an "older machine" on a cloned hard drive. Install it from scratch.
Third suggestion: Don't try to clone a hard drive with one set of hardware and install it on a different machine with a different set of hardware. Install it from scratch.
A "clone" means an exact copy. Therefor you should have the exact same hardware in both computers. That is if you expect the drive to work with no/few problems.
\Dan
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Tags: hard drive, hd