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Move Windows XP Hard Drive or Change Motherboard Without Getting Blue Screen of Death

Posted By Raymond In Category: Computer

Jul
9
2008
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One feature that I like in Windows 98 is I can simply take out a hard drive that has Windows 98 installed and connect it to another computer. When I boot it up, it’ll start to detect and install all device drivers again. Unlike Windows XP, when you change the motherboard or move your hard drive that has Windows XP installed to another computer, be prepared to get endless looping reboots or the famous blue screen of death (BSOD).

After nearly 7 years since the release of Windows XP, today only I learn how to move a Windows XP hard drive to another computer without getting blue screen. I found a solution on how to do this few months ago but I’ve never tried it. Yesterday night I had a little time so I decided to test on it and it works! It’s never too late to learn…


What I did was I made a full backup of my laptop’s hard drive using Macrium Reflect and then I restored it to my desktop. Since both my laptop and desktop hardware is totally different, I know for sure that my desktop will not be able to boot up properly. True enough, my desktop was not able to boot in to Windows and all I got was a endless restart. I can’t even boot in to Safe Mode.

There are two ways to do it.

a) Before moving the hard drive
1. Go to Control Panel and open System
2. Click Hardware tab and click Device Manager button.
3. Expand IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers by clicking the + sign.
4. Right click on the FIRST controller on the list and select Update Driver.
Update IDE ATA ATAPI Driver
5. Select No, not this time when asked “Can Windows connect to Windows Update to search for software?” and click Next.
6. Select Install from a list or specific location (Advanced) and click Next.
7. Select Don’t search. I will choose the driver to install and click Next.
8. Select Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller and click Next.
Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
9. Click No when ask to restart. Now shutdown the computer, remove the hard drive and install it on another computer.

b) After moving the hard drive
1. Download latest UBCD4Win and install.
2. Launch UBCD4Win from Desktop or Start Menu.
3. Insert original Windows XP CD to CD/DVD ROM and select the source. To confirm that the source is correct, click on Source from the menu bar and select Check.
4. If your computer can burn CDs, select Burn to CD/DVD and click Build button. If can’t, select Create ISO image and once it has complete creating the ISO image, copy it to a computer that can burn CDs and burn it.
5. Boot up the computer with UBCD4Win. You need to go BIOS to change the boot sequence if your computer can’t boot up the computer with CD.
6. Select Launch “The Ultimate Boot CD for Windows” from the UBCD4Win menu and wait for it to load. You can select No when asked to start network support.
7. Click Start > Programs > Registry Tools > Fix_hdc > Fix hard disk controller
Fix Hard Disk Controller
8. Hit the M key on your keyboard to select Update MassStorage drivers.
Fix Hard disk controller menu choice
9. When it’s finished, press any key to continue and restart the computer.

Good luck and hope that you are able to move Windows XP hard drive to another computer with either of the methods above.


Related posts:
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  • Microsoft Offers Free Hard Drive Virtualization for Windows
  • 3.5″ Hard Drive External Enclosures
  • A FREE Hard Disk utility to Benchmark and Test your hard drive
  • Find Out What Program is Secretly Accessing Your Hard Disk Drive
    • http://starboykb.blogspot.com Starboykb

      That was a great tips. how about the graphics and the others? did it affect any blue screen crash after successfully moved?

    • Kurbli

      What is the situation at step 3, if I have XP CD without SP and a downloaded SP3?

    • http://www.raymond.cc/ Raymond

      @Starboykb: Moving graphics card usually doesn’t cause as much problem as moving the hard drive to another computer or changing a motherboard.

      @Kurbli: Ah, then I guess you’ll need to slipstream at least SP1 to the XP CD first because UBCD4Win did mention that it requires XP CD with at least SP1.

    • Stamatis

      I have an easiest method to do that!
      Look this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314082/en-us
      You only run this file (mergeide.reg) and that’s it! Now you can move your hard disk to another system.
      But if your system isn’t booting, you can’t do this from the windows.
      In this case, you must have a Winternals ERD 2005 Boot Disc and you must attach your registry, to run the .reg file. I have tried both 2 ways and it’s works!…Sorry for my really BAD English :)

    • http://www.raymond.cc/ Raymond

      That’s a good solution Stamatis. Thanks for sharing!

    • Stamatis

      You welcome Ray! You are the best!

    • Ammar

      Thanks Raymond

    • Jan-Bert

      Another method is use often is: first clone the HDD and then reinstall windows over the existing installation.

      Boot from the XP cdrom and choose to install windows (not repair) —with F6 it is also possible to load unrecognized drivers for the storage controller—. Install will then search your HDD for a previous installation of Windows which is should find and here you press R for repair. You will need a valid Product Key which goes with the CD.

      The installation CD you use must be in the same language as the original and if it is an OEM edition is must include at least SP2.

      This works both for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003. With Vista it is even easier because if boot from the DVD you only need to use the repair option.

    • Jan-Bert

      The above method is also a good way to repair a crashed windows installation. If it is a software problem you can use this method on the same hardware. But be sure you have the right CD and Product key.

      With a hardware problem, for example some bad blocks, try to get a copy onto a new HDD and then repair using the install method.

    • In-f3st

      I changed my MBO and CPU from AMD to intel and XP automaticaly recognized them.

    • Mojo

      Thanks

    • Nelson

      Hello Folks,

      The other way is to use the botable win xp,make sure you boot from cd then select r,when the dos opens type fix boot and thy logging in just in dos.

    • tuxplorer

      Shouldn’t the HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) of both comps be the same? Otherwise it’ll still BSoD.

    • tuxplorer

      I think this does not work when changing motherboard, only work for HDDs? Did you switch to a completely different board and yet it worked?

    • http://www.trendlessrecords.com trendless

      Officially, Sysprep is the utility to accommodate moving Windows OS installations from one hardware configuration to another; however, I’m under the impression that if the ACPI and/or HAL is different from one system to the next, there won’t be anything to do but a repair installation (which is essentially the easiest supported way to move from one OS to another; no matter how you slice it, Windows will notice the hardware changes and ask for reactivation), as the system will BSoD upon attempted reboot.

    • http://www.hondaquintet.tk MRDomino

      Thanks Raymond and Stamatis !!!!

      I use method of Jan-Bert (Option Repair XP), is slow but result.

    • http://www.hondaquintet.tk MRDomino

      Question?

      There is some method that allows boot XP as the first time and recognize all the components?

    • http://www.raymond.cc/ Raymond

      tuxplorer: This does work when changing motherboards. I’ve already tested restoring my laptop’s backup image to my desktop which all of the hardwares are different.

    • Ray

      Beautiful article Ray!! BEAUTIFUL!! Thanx a million!!

    • jeff

      ei raymond thanks! this is so nice and Great!

    • ahmad maher

      this is not enough , am sorry to say it, based on my try

      you also need to make the computer a standard computer and the VGA a standard one too as to say remove the drivers, that will make it work …. at least this is what i had to do, but thanks for the UBCD tip, did not know it contain such a program

    • http://www.trendlessrecords.com trendless

      MRDomino: Sysprep will do exactly that. It tells Windows to reload the hardware configuration based on whatever components are present.

    • OAlexander

      Here is a method which I have tried and tested well over dozens of times, and it also describes how this can be done with a HD from a dead machine:

      http://www.mostlycreativeworkshop.com/article11.html

      Sometimes a drive ends up not being bootable on the new system. The fixboot / fixmbr wont help. I have not yet found an elegant method to resolve this.

      Interesting to read in the context is also:

      http://www.kmaantennas.com/Hard-Drive/Hard%20Drive.pdf

    • Ed

      Here is a challenge I like to see better solution:

      Move Windows XP hard drive to another system with RAID1.

      First I must build the empty RAID1 otherwise I cannot just put one disk and hope for rebuild as the RAID controller will not initialize. So I configure the RAID1 with empty disks. Then I did Ghost disk to disk from the old drive to the RAID.

      The problem: Stop 7B.

      The issue is that the RAID drivers are not in the standard collection of Windows XP. This is the time when you normally need to use F6 on fresh install for unrecognized mass storage device. (it is Dell Matrix onboard SATA)

      But how to do it? I wish the UBCD4Win had also a program to install any device driver in the offline Windows system. But I cannot find any such program or get another program I can run from USB drive inside UBCD4Win.

      Also, I tried to install the RAID driver on the OLD computer on the old hard drive before doing the Ghost again, but of course, there is no RAID controller there, so no luck as I do not know how to force the install without the physical controller.

      Finally what worked, doing Install and Repair with F6 and external floppy drive containing the RAID drivers. YUCK :(

      Is there a better way? Can drivers be forced to install without the actual controller? Can I install drivers on offline system?

    • mrx

      thanks for the post it worked great and saved me a butt load of time

    • crazyl999

      hey, could you just install the drivers for the new hardware before you move the harddrive over?

      Thanks

    • http://american-crossroads-mall.com John Hansen

      Hi. I have 3 legal copies of win xp pro sp2.

      I have moved them around all over and into new computers and never had to call microsoft or had any trouble booting.

      Today I just installed my winxp pro hard drive into a new computer and it booted right up.

      John Hansen

    • iLink

      Worked nicely, thanks. But now I am stuck with the “Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller” and the driver manual update cannot find ATI drivers?

      Anybody knows how to install that?

    • uhoh

      thanks to ray for this method i always wondered what the problem was with that this will save a lot of cloning and formatting i run into this problem a lot thanks to Stamatis as well for the mergeide method both will be a great help

    • keil

      great! you saved me from buying another copy of xp! everithing got well, just reinstalled drivers froms new mobo cd and vido card!.
      really thanks a lot! ;)

    • Dave M

      Thanks for that, I was hoping in my heart of hearts that the reboot cycle would end after a while. This certainly helped me out of my denial.

      my issue is somewhat adverse to the common problems I’ve seen on the net; I want to take my xp hdd out and put in a windows 98 hdd. Doing this with no prep results in the boot cycle. what am i to do (bearing in mind that i have a simple understanding of the machines at best)? i can’t see (nor can i imagine) a guide for the layman (such as myself) to work this problem.

      Any ideas, hints or points in the right direction are much appreciated!

    • mohab

      Hi, this is my first ever comment on your site. I hope I win my first ever giveaway. Thanks

    • http://www.jpweightlossblog.com I Was Able to Lose T h i r t y P o u n d s in Only a Month

      Hi, good post. I have been wondering about this topic,so thanks for posting. I will likely be coming back to your blog. Keep up the good work

    • Banksy

      Hi, can this be done with a hard drive from a dell?

    • donna

      I am trying to install a backup from an ide drive onto a SATA drive, moving the Windows Vista Business x64 installation with the Restore. I get the BSOD, and the endless reboot…I can’t find the driver for the SATA drive (or is it the controller i need to change/update?) I’m confused…any help out there? I have sooooo many programs, and then there are endless windows updates…I really don’t want to start from scratch if I can get this perfectly good backup to work.

    • Geir

      Thanks to many people here for sharing and making help available to all!

      Here is my case:
      Fujitsu Siemens with Intel processor, and WIN XP SP3 crashed dead during thunderstorm. Motherboard broke.
      Replaced motherboard with with ASUS M2N68-AM PLUS, Socket-AM2+, and AMD Athlon X2+ processor.

      When booting from HD, I got short glimpse of BSOD. Hit F8 just before the windows XP logo. Then got BSOD visible. It told ***STOP 0x0000007E (…..) .

      Searched the Internet and came over a bunch of very helpful sites, but none were actually solving my BSOD problem, including Raymond’s site here.

      At last I found Jesper’s blog at

      http://msinfluentials.com/blogs/jesper/archive/2008/05/07/does-your-amd-based-computer-boot-after-installing-xp-sp3.aspx#12981

      Blog told me there is problem with XP SP3 when switching from Intel to AMD type processor.
      Problem was simply solved by doing this command in safe mode DOS prompt :

      ‘sc config intelppm start= disabled’

      (Notice the space between ‘=’ and ‘disabled’! It must be there)

      I also renamed ‘intelppm.sys’ til ‘intelppm.sys.old’ in directory : \WINDOWS\system32\drivers , though this maybe is not necessary.

      Restarted PC, and then voila!
      Problem solved.

      Did not find out how to post a thank you to Jesper in his blog, so he gets it here : Thank you!
      I choose to post my case here at Raymond’s site since it was one of the first sites I came across.
      Thanks to Raymond for keeping this site with helpful information to all. Your help pointed me to the UBCD4Win boot CD which also has been very helpful in my troubleshooting process seeking solution for BSOD.

    • Sam

      Hi Raymond, I am a little confuse here.

      On section (B)1. You said to “Download UBCD4Win and install.”
      Did you mean to install UBCD4Win on the hard drive that just moved to the new PC?
      So after completion of section A, the hard drive is able to boot up in the new PC?

      Thanks in advance.

    • progmanos

      I attempted to follow the steps in this blog post.

      However, I am still unable to boot from the hard drive in the “new” pc.

      I am getting a message that says:

      “A disk read error occurred.
      Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart.”

    • Eric

      I get the message:

      “Builder has stopped because there are 29 build errors.”

      Most of these seem to be file not found errors. I tried two different XP Pro installation CDs, one OEM SP3 and one Retail SP2. Both have the same problem. I don’t know how to fix this.

    • Kosh

      Not sure what all this UBCD4win business is about. I’ve successfully replaced a socket 775 mobo with a 1366 and kept installs of Win 2000, XP and Win 7 with no trouble at all.

      Just boot into safe mode, goto Device Manager, uninstall everything (do NOT reboot if it asks too) then shutdown. Swap motherboards and boot into safe mode. Let the OS detect all devices, cancel any Found New Hardware wizards and reboot when it’s finished. Install chipset drivers, audio and graphics drivers. Reboot.

      Job done.

    • http://Kosh, Dads35

      Good post simplest I’ve seen yet, but did you have to backup your install (disc, thumb, etc) prior to uninstalling everything???

      Would hate to have to web-search for all of those updates again… thanks for the post

    • Nahton

      I have am having a slightly weirder problem related to my hard drive booting after a mother board replacement in my laptop.

      I have a Lenovo T61 with an UltraBay hard drive adapter. I can boot to 2 separate configurations of the XP operating systems (one on each drive) for specific functions. I use the primary drive 90% of the time in the internal hard drive slot and the secondary drive in the Ultrabay. I switched them as part of the troubleshooting process to determine there was an issue with the system board and left the secondary drive in the laptop while it was serviced.

      The problem now is that when I put my primary drive back into the internal hard drive slot I get the blue BSoD. Strangely enough it will boot while in the Ultrabay. The secondary drive boots up where ever it is placed.

      What would be the best of the solutions discussed here to enable the primary drive to boot when placed in the internal hard drive slot? I do have both the Winternals ERD 2005 Boot Disc and UBCD4Win. Is a fixboot solution the better option?

      I have access to the primary Hard Drive OS via the Ultrabay housed bootup. Can I just complete steps 1 -8 above and then actually complete the “Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller” driver update? I do have an unknown PCI Device listed under other devices.

      Any assistance you can provide would be appreciated.

    • Nahton

      I was able to resolve this to the point of being able to boot to the second drive in the main slot by running the Lenovo system update utility while booted to the drive in the Ultrabay. I still have an Intel ICH8M-E LPC Interface Controller unknown device issue I am trying to resolve.

    • geePRIest

      THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS INFO HERE….MAGA LIFE SAVER…THANKS AGAIN!!!

    • geePRIest

      i MUST say thanks again…i really appreciate the tip here…its people like u that make the internet worth while….ALL HAIL THIS GUY!!!!

    • M & M

      Awesome. Exactly what I was looking for. This was after trying five different methods that fail.

      Thanks, you saved me a lot of re-build time.

    • hard disk

      If hard drive crashed, that’s a huge losses, so we need some technical knowledge about hard disk recovry, backup, format, partition and hard drive upgrade to solve our hard drive failure problems

    • http://powertuneplus.com Josh

      Thank you so much for posting this. I never knew about the UBCD4Win and the incredible “Fix-HDC” which performs the “MergeIDE.reg” automated!! I had an untimely and sudden death of a VIA chipset motherboard and had to switch WinXP over to a nVidia nForce2 motherboard, which obviously has a completely different IDE controller etc. Resulting in the infamous STOP 0x7B BSOD.

      UBCD4Win (while not as simple as downloading an ISO and burning it) took about an hour to build & burn (by default it builds a >700MB ISO that won’t fit on a standard 650MB CD-R???).

      But in the end it did the trick and it’s thanks to this blog for pointing me towards the solution!!

    • Mingo

      Great post. I have a great deal to thank you for the timesaving fix,.. Because it was so effective with most machines i had to move hard drives, i now have a Hirens Boot CD on a usb drive. The latest version has a mini-xp boot o.s. that I use to run that registry cure. Again thanks a million

    • http://www.hanheeze.nl Han Holtslag

      Hi,

      You can do it much more simple…….

      My old environment was a MSI motherboard P41xxxx
      and went to a P43xxxx
      On windows 2008 R2

      My idea was it should be now problem because of
      almost the same motherboard, yes very WRONG.

      What i did on the old motherboard :
      in the hardware list,
      change the driver of the Hard disk and
      the some obvious ones of the motherboard,
      to the system default you have a choice.

      On the new motherboard just startup and run,
      reboot a couple of times and install the right drivers.

      You helped me a lot thanks.

      Han Holtslag
      (System Support Engineer in the Netherlands)

    • Tim

      I can’t believe I actually found an answer to this problem. A virus took out some system files, so I did a in-place upgrade of Windows with a custom made XP disk with NLite to include the SATA drivers that I’d need. Unfortunately, the in-place upgrade fails to deploy those drivers, even though it uses them to detect the HDD during Setup. I’ve been searching for two days on how to install SATA drivers on an unbootable WinXP installation, and finally found your posting. Thank you very much.

    • whatsleft

      worked for me…
      Dead motherboard…
      Replaced >booted >UBCD4win > followed directions…Had to go in safe mode a couple of boots :>found and installed other drivers automatically…running good

    • Elia

      Its important to click the “Show hidden devices” under the view tab or else you wont see the option to switch to the Standard Dual Channel IDE

    • mike

      used option “a” and it worked perfectly although the last step 9 did not prompt me to reboot. Shutdown and moved to the other computer, booted up fine with a bunch of new hardware found messages. Installed new motherboard drivers and been working fine for a week now.

      To clarify you only use one of the two options a or b.

    • Lardboy McStott

      Thank you, thank you, thank you……

      Although it’s a bit of a mess around to do it, you have no idea how much time this will save me.

      I bow down to your superior knowledge and may you get all the good Karma you deserve in one lump sum (maybe the lottery) :)

      Again, thank you :)

    • Dave

      Excellent article, saved me rebuilding a machine i have had for four years.

      Upgraded from an K7Neo to an K8N Neo 939 motherboard had the BSOD 7b boot device error, used option B here and it worked a charm!

      Thank you so much!

    • Mark

      Señor Raymondo,

      Up until now, any method I knew of involved a Windows XP CD and was also quite time consuming. I imaged my hard drive with Macrium Reflect before moving it from an HP Pavillion to a Compaq Presario. I tried Solution a): OMG – Pure Genius!!! You are a true scholar in your profession. Thank you so much!

    • TK

      Thank you. You have no idea how much time you saved me today.

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