Computer pros unite

[ITdrummer]

I'm at work and have run into a problem with one of our computers and i was hoping i could get some help on this issue.

One of our user's computer crashed the other day. Im 99.999% positive it is a power supply/motherboard failure. The computer is 7 years old so it is not cost efficient to repair the computer.

We have another computer sitting around the office that i would like to put the hard drive from the crashed computer into.

The problem is that when I put the hard drive from the crashed machine into the working box, i get a blue screen during windows boot. I'm pretty sure this is due to the old hard drive not having the correct drivers for the newer hardware.

I have already downloaded the correct drivers for the newer box, but have no way of installing them on the old hard drive.

Any suggestions?

[MoonPieBlue]

I'm at work and have run into a problem with one of our computers and i was hoping i could get some help on this issue.

One of our user's computer crashed the other day. Im 99.999% positive it is a power supply/motherboard failure. The computer is 7 years old so it is not cost efficient to repair the computer.

We have another computer sitting around the office that i would like to put the hard drive from the crashed computer into.

The problem is that when I put the hard drive from the crashed machine into the working box, i get a blue screen during windows boot. I'm pretty sure this is due to the old hard drive not having the correct drivers for the newer hardware.

I have already downloaded the correct drivers for the newer box, but have no way of installing them on the old hard drive.

Any suggestions?

Been a long time since I've messed with hardware, but do you have more information. For example, are the computers the same type, are the harddrives the same type (from your above discussion regarding drivers they appear not to be). Can you get to the systems setup (generally there's some key stroke you press while its booting)? Can't remember for certain whether the drive type is mentioned there.

Are you trying to put the hard drive in the working box as the primary drive or a secondary drive.

[qng001]

Is the motherboard that you're putting the hard drive in is the same as the broken mobo? If you are using the same exact model, you shouldn't have any problems. Just need to make sure all the jumper settings are the same as the old mobo.

As far as recycling an old drive with a preinstalled OS system on it, I wouldn't bother trying to get it to work with the new mobo. There's probably a lot of hardware configuration problem trying to recognize the new board.

Back up whatever content you have from the hard drive and do a fresh OS install.

[ITdrummer]

Been a long time since I've messed with hardware, but do you have more information. For example, are the computers the same type, are the harddrives the same type (from your above discussion regarding drivers they appear not to be). Can you get to the systems setup (generally there's some key stroke you press while its booting)? Can't remember for certain whether the drive type is mentioned there.

Are you trying to put the hard drive in the working box as the primary drive or a secondary drive.

The computers are both Dell, but different models and hardware configurations. I can access the BIOS setup. Both hard drives are Seagate SATA drives, but different capacities and ages.

Im trying to install the old hard drive (from crashed box) into the working box as the primary drive. Like I mentioned, I'm fairly certain that the problem is the drivers currently installed are clashing with the drivers required from the newer box.

[ITdrummer]

Is the motherboard that you're putting the hard drive in is the same as the broken mobo? If you are using the same exact model, you shouldn't have any problems. Just need to make sure all the jumper settings are the same as the old mobo.

As far as recycling an old drive with a preinstalled OS system on it, I wouldn't bother trying to get it to work with the new mobo. There's probably a lot of hardware configuration problem trying to recognize the new board.

Back up whatever content you have from the hard drive and do a fresh OS install.

Yeah, I'm aware of that option. I was hoping for that to be a last resort. The user has a bunch of settings and permissions for a bunch of shared folders that I was hoping to not have to deal with, but i guess I will have to bite the bullet and do it.

[JFord]

Safe mode? That's my only suggestion. You would be better off backing the data up and reformatting.

[ITdrummer]

Safe mode? That's my only suggestion. You would be better off backing the data up and reformatting.

Yeah, i tried safe mode, but it still blue screens. I think i will have to resort to reformatting. Thanks for the input.

[Brian96]

Yeah, i tried safe mode, but it still blue screens. I think i will have to resort to reformatting. Thanks for the input.

I agree that reformatting is the safest bet. If getting the data off first is an issue, I've had success with Linux live CDs (I like Ubuntu or LinuxMint, personally).

[ITdrummer]

Yeah, I knew there were many options for recovering data. I just was trying to see if there was anyway to just move the hard drive to another computer, add the new drivers, and go on about my business. What we decided to do was just copy all of the needed data to the c: drive of a working computer and go from there.

[DocMarvin362]

What does the BSoD say?? That's kinda important as well.

[Brian96]

What does the BSoD say?? That's kinda important as well.

It says: "WINDOWS SUCKS... WINDOWS SUCKS... WINDOWS SUCKS..."

[DocMarvin362]

It says: "WINDOWS SUCKS... WINDOWS SUCKS... WINDOWS SUCKS..."

I'm hearing really good things about Win 7.

One guy says "You put it in and it JUST WORKS. It is FINALLY what Vista should have been; it just WORKS"

[ITdrummer]

I'm hearing really good things about Win 7.

One guy says "You put it in and it JUST WORKS. It is FINALLY what Vista should have been; it just WORKS"

I love Windows 7.

[qng001]

I like Windows 7 too. I've been using it since July 09 (release candidate version) till now and no crashes.

I pretty much keep my desktop clean pinning all my most used stuff on the taskbar.

*FYI - I like Kristin Kreuk

[Brian96]

I played around with Win 7 beta in a virtual machine and liked it (although my VM didn't support the graphical effects). I actually bought it when they were running that student deal a few months ago, but haven't had time to install it.

Totally agree with the assertion that it is what Vista SHOULD have been.