XP Pro continuously reboots

[band1t]

A Pentium-4 computer which is about 18 months old died in the night, the motherboard is faulty.

I moved the hard disc which contained a working copy of XP Pro to a new Sempron computer, but despite all my attempts to install the correct hardware drivers for it the new computer would only boot into safe mode.  To be sure it works I created a new XP Pro installation on a blank hard drive in the new machine using the XP2 SP2 CD and it works fine.  To be sure I had the data safe I copied the entire NTFS partition containing the valuable data on the original drive to a Linux box using tar.  I'm a Linux guru but a Total Windows Noobie.

On the original XP drive I tried to prevent things loading at startup using a tool called 'autoruns' which I downloaded from Sysinternals (www.sysinternals.com/Utilities/Autoruns.html).

The machine now continuously reboots itself if the original drive is the boot drive, but I can see all the contents OK if I boot the new copy of XP on the new drive.

I'd like somehow to make the original drive boot properly again (obviously:) but I don't know how to do that.  I suspect I need to alter the registry manually.  I've tried 'regedt32' but it doesn't appear to want to edit the registry on the original hard drive when I'm booted on the new one.  Suggestions welcome.

[GX1_Man]

Unlike Linxu, Windows is tied into the machine it is installed on originaly. Some have reported success with a "repair install" with the original XP disc. I do not share that philosophy and always recommend a clean install on a hard drive after formatting.

Have a read:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/tips/doug92.mspx

Is there some reason you cannot do a fresh install with XP? Do you have a Windows CD? Unlike Linux, if that copy of XP has been linked or installed to another machine you will have to talk to Microsoft to get it fully functional anyway due to their licensing/anti piracy scheme.

http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/downloads/whyValidate.aspx

[band1t]

Thanks for the reply, GX1_Man.

I've already tried a 'repair install' as described in the article but it just kept going around in circles, either saying that it had tried once before and failed, or that it couldn't run setup in safe mode so it would restart.  Since my OP I also managed to get a Linux-based registry editor to run.  It seems to work - I tested it by resetting the AutoBoot flag and then XP just crashes on boot with the message below - but I now have no idea what I might need to edit with it to stop the crash.  I'll continue looking at registry editors as I cherish the hope that there will be one which runs under XP and like the Linux one can edit the registry on a drive other than the boot drive.  I have a boot log which seems to stop suddenly after loading a parallel port driver, but more investigation is needed.  I tried enabling debugging from the F8 menu but the result seems to be the same.

As I said in my OP I've done a fresh install on a spare hard drive from the XP CD.  It works fine, but to continue with the fresh install means reinstalling dozens of other software packages as well, not to mention transfering all the data.  I'd rather not have to do that since I don't know exactly what I'd have to do, it will certainly take a long time, and I'm not sure whether it will result in an exact replica of the original anyway.  I understand that if I do a fresh install on the original drive I'll blow away all its existing contents, is that right?

The plan to simply take the original hard drive (which has nothing wrong with it of course - the problem was a motherboard fault) and put it in another PC seemed to be very close to working except that it wouldn't boot other than in safe mode.  But my hacking around with it to try to get it to boot normally has simply made things worse.

I was not aware that there was such a tight bonding between an individual copy of XP and the machine onto which is first installed.  It's a shame that XP is tied to the machine which died, because it's, well, dead!  Looks like I might have to talk to Microsoft on Monday morning.

Thanks again - any other suggestions will still be welcome.

The crash message is [snipped Microsoft BoilerPlate]  STOP: 0x0000007E (0xC0000005, 0xF761C750, 0xF78A7430, 0xF78A712C)

[GX1_Man]

 I'd rather not have to do that since I don't know exactly what I'd have to do, it will certainly take a long time, and I'm not sure whether it will result in an exact replica of the original anyway.  I understand that if I do a fresh install on the original drive I'll blow away all its existing contents, is that right?

That is correct, but it may be faster than what you are doing. Do you have the original CD's for the programs you want installed? THat is usually the main reason people resist doing a clean install.

I was not aware that there was such a tight bonding between an individual copy of XP and the machine onto which is first installed.  It's a shame that XP is tied to the machine which died, because it's, well, dead!  

Yes it is, but that's the way Microsoft wants it. Sometimes they won't even let you transfer the license to a new machine if it is an OEM copy, because they do not support it, only the manufacturer of the computer! You may want to read their EULA for amusement. If the copy you are trying to install is already registered to another machine you will have even more problems and they definitely will tell you to buy another copy.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/oemeula.htm

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/eula.mspx

 

It's surely not as easy and inexpensive as to do this with our Linux boxes.  ;)

[band1t]

Hello again, GX1_Man.

You're right of course, it may be faster to start again.  I'll continue until tomorrow morning on this route and then bite that bullet.  I won't know if I still have all the CDs to reinstall all the software until I get back to the office - this is an office machine - but frankly I doubt it, knowing the office.

I've now removed all the unsigned drivers from WINDOWS\System32\drivers but the only change that I can see is that the STOP message now reads

STOP: 0x0000007E (0xC0000005, 0xF768C750, 0xF78A7430, 0xF78A712C)

Maybe I'll suggest a Linux solution....

Thanks again.

[GX1_Man]

Linux makes me happy!