XP Home reinstall

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August 30th, 2003, 18:07 PM
olopbob

XP Home reinstall

I burned up my cpu, motherboard and floppy. Rather then replacing at high price for
parts and labor, I would just like to upgrade with a barebones system retaining all my
periphials. Will Microsoft allow me to reinstall or copy from original hard drive to new
system? I use drive image. My XP is a CD upgrade from ME.
August 30th, 2003, 18:47 PM
Thor

You'll probably have to do a reinstall and new activation. The major (mb&cpu) change in system parts will probably not let it run from an image of a different system.

Anyone?
August 30th, 2003, 19:11 PM
efc

You may get lucky. I would put the drive in the new system and try to boot. I have moved a hard drive from one computer to another. During the boot I had to install a couple drivers, but had no other problems.
August 30th, 2003, 19:13 PM
Thor

With XP?
August 30th, 2003, 19:22 PM
olopbob

Wish I was a hardware man. I have already spent more money on service than a new system costs, and mostly my own fault. Plus I'm due an upgrade and just trying to avoid rebuying XP.
August 30th, 2003, 19:30 PM
Thor

You shouldn't have to re-buy it! You're not supposed to use it in two different systems without paying for it but if you want to upgrade to a newer system then go ahead. Your upgrade disc should work but have you ME disc handy.
August 30th, 2003, 19:38 PM
olopbob

I don't have ME disk, it came installed on system. I do have product key. Will that work?
August 30th, 2003, 19:45 PM
Thor

It should. I'm not sure about XP upgrade but it did use to be that way. All Windows needs to know is that you have a full license for it (the key).

Try what efc said first.if it works then no problemo.
August 30th, 2003, 20:04 PM
efc

Quote:

Originally posted by Thor
With XP?

Now Thor, be gentle. You have to keep in mind that at my age, short term memory is sometimes questionable. I do believe that it was XP however it could have been during 98SE days.:D
August 30th, 2003, 20:14 PM
Thor

I know that XP will be somewhat forgiving in hardware changes but I haven't heard about a totally new mb+cpu.. I would imagine if they were similar then ok but..................

If it were me I would try the old hdd first too. What have you got to lose except for a little time.

SE days...........seems like forever now......;) :cool:
August 30th, 2003, 20:29 PM
olopbob

Just thought, I am up now with small replacement proccessor on old MB. Could I network new system into this XP installation and just move periphials to barebones? Then I could just move software onto new hard drive. Thnk?
August 31st, 2003, 02:20 AM
FastGame

You should be able to use your old HD & XP without re-activation as long as the mother board in the new system uses the same IDE drivers as the old one..you know like VIA/Intel/Nvidia.....

Quote:

Originally posted by efc
You may get lucky. I would put the drive in the new system and try to boot. I have moved a hard drive from one computer to another. During the boot I had to install a couple drivers, but had no other problems.

I think (agree with efc) you should try this first, I've moved a HD from a AMD system to a INTEL system and the dam XP booted up, redetected the hardware and installed the drivers... I had to re-activate the XP but it worked fine :) also tried it from VIA to Nvidia and it didn't work :( but an XP repair took care of that. :D

If you change the HD then you may need to re-activate XP but you shouldn't need to reinstall XP. If you need to reinstall then the XP OS thats already on the HD is good enough (qualifier) for you to use the XP upgrade CD so you don't need a 98/ME/2000 CD.

If you need to reinstall on a clean HD then you'll need a 98/ME/2000 CD to verify that your qualified for the upgrade. I don't think you can just use a key.
August 31st, 2003, 03:23 AM
olopbob

I have XP upgrade cd, but only have ME key code from pre-install.
August 31st, 2003, 04:32 AM
Big Booger

I normally wouldn't recommend this, but in your case, seems like you are getting the shaft from an OEM vendor who thought it prudent to give you a restore CD rather than the full install CD that you most likely paid for:

Ask around to a friend, relative or neighbor for a Windows 98, ME, or 2k CD that you can borrow just to get your XP upgrade installed. Once you have it installed you can give the CD back. It only checks the CD for authenticity and then you don't need it anymore.

That is what I would do in this situation, if possible.

If that is impossible, you could sell the XP upgrade, and purchase the full OS. Or you could go out and pick up a second hand windows 98 CD for around 30-50 dollars US.

:D