Mark Anderson

I just did that but I have having problems getting it to boot. Both machines are Pentium 4 but there seems to be a glitch.

BC

If the new Machine will also not boot than the related object is of course the HD. If the HD is fricked back enough it will indeed make a bad day and a no-start computer.

You may need to fuss with the bios on the new host machine as it may be looking for something slightly different than what you are plugging in.

dr bob

Mark--

Call me in the morning if you don't have a solution by then. I'm locked in TofR meetings all evening tonight. I have a drive case that we can use to suck the old data out if we need to. Worst case is buy a new box and 'restore' the old data to your new box.

You have my cell number I think. eight one eight four seven two eight eight six eight. Or e-mail tonight, and I can be there when your doors open.

I rescued an old pentium box a week ago for my insurance guy. Had no backups... Gotta wonder how they plan "insurance". Same symptoms. win2000 box, an easy recovery. XP is usually even easier. Fry's is right down the road from your place on Orangethorpe, right?

icsmike

Are they just Pentim 4's? or are they completely same insides? If they are identical PC's then this will work. If there is too much hardware difference (especially chipsets) it wont work.

Mark Anderson

thanks everyone for all the suggestions and offers to help. We finally got it up and operational.
It was to late to help today so drove the packages to the post office but they are on the way.
Thanks again,
Thiis crowd continues to amaze me.

icsmike

What was the problem?

Sab

remove drive and mount in external enclosure.
run a full backup from the disk, then remount drive in PC and boot on a Windows XP CD, select repair to get to recovery console, run a disk chek (chkdsk /p /r), then try to boot.
If that fails reinstall Windows in the same directory without formatting the partition.
Then reinstall the programs.
Even if you get it to run buy a new HP business class PC $500.00 (with 3 year free onsite warranty) migrate all data and programs and keep daily backups...
Keep the PC's clean with McAfee enterprise viruse scan and Spybot.
good luck.

icsmike

Oh, and ont forget to read the entire thread first.

icsmike

...salesman.

OrionKhan

That's service right there. The man's systems are going haywire and he still manages to get the parts out for shipment. Its not like any of us wouldn't have understood a delay of a day or so given the circumstances. If it wasn't for vendors like 928 International, I would have sold my shark long ago. Props to you, Mark!

bernard farquart

x 2

TheoJ

ok, since the problem is solved, I'm too late now with an answer... but a few tips...

* Get yourself a Win PE CD or DVD. Windows Pre-installation Environment. If your PC fails to boot but does seem to reach the loader after a proper BIOS sequence, boot it from CD. It will run from CD, not using the harddrive. If possible it mounts the harddrive allowing you to make repairs or salvage data.

* Install the Windows XP "lite" version on a USB harddisk or memorystick and boot from USB. That only works on newer systems that support USB as boot device.

* check your PC for clogged heatsink finns and not running fans. Also make sure the heatsink is properly attached to the CPU core. Sudden heat increase will make the system stop initialising and shut down prior to booting.

* putting your harddisk into another system (even a similar one) will probably not provide you with a working solution. As already mentioned, it will likely fail to recognise the new hardware and get stuck in the boot process. Adding at a secondary drive (in a working system as "slave" drive) is likely to give you access to the data.

* it does make sense to have backups, Acronis True Image is actually very good

Mark Anderson

It appears that the origianal computer had a mother board issue. After moving the hard drive to the back up computer we had some issues but my wife was able to resolve them. I'm not sure what all she did to make it opperational.

marton

seems logical - that your wife fixed the mother board issue; all girls together...

well done

Marton

pl

not trying to be a smart ***, but it's not a good idea to keep your most importent data locally.
check out places like web.com, they have hosting-plan like 16/month, besides getting a website, you will get 2.5 GB space. i would put my business data that way.
hard-drives do fail, it's just a matter of time.
try to change your work pc every year, this way you know what it takes if you lost your current PC.
good luck!