Prep for New HD Installation

Good evening,

I'm in over my head and hoping someone could help by answering a few basic questions re: HD installations.

I have several computers but am working on an old desktop: Dell Dimension E310 (2005) with an MS XP OS.

Today I installed new memory which was a piece of cake. I also installed a refurbished HD taken from my newer Dell Dimension 9200a. (BTW, I ripped that little 9200a apart: installed a much faster CPU, upgraded the RAM and video card, and added a roomier HD--all for less than half the cost of a new computer, thank you very much DELL! The machine works beautifully, despite dire warnings from DELL technicians who warned me not to install a new CPU in the tiny 9200a. They said the processor was untouchable, and even told me it was soldered onto the motherboard! NOT!!!

The computer "renovation" took time and investigation--I'm only a Minor Geek--and proved that you can teach an old woman new tricks!

I'm not having as much luck tinkering with the older desktop, probably because I'm sleep-deprived and therefore sloppy... I installed my old HD from the Dimension 9200a (which has the MS VISTA OS) into the E310 without updating the BIOS or checking OS compatibility issues and now receive error messages such as "no bootable drive found."

Do I need to yank out the newer HD, reinstall the original HD in the E310, then flash a newer BIOS compatible with VISTA?

Or did I miss another step? Could some kind person who does this kind of stuff all the time help me? Do I need to tweak any of the F2 Start Menu configs, e.g., the BOOT sequence?

Thanks in advance.

My best,
KC <--- 43 really isn't that old, I guess! :confused

 

Likely it isn't booting from the drive however moving a HD from one pc to a new pc with an OS installed usually will cause windows to freak out and blue screen. You will most likely have to reinstall windows onto the new drive but you can give it a shot.

Get into the bios and change the boot device priority. When you first turn on your pc it will say Push "key here' to enter setup bios etc.

 

are you gonna install vista on the E310? if so, i would definitely check to see if there is some bios update (which can be done from a floppy, with or without a hard drive present)
and also check for vista driver support on dell's site. the same goes for xp. Check in the bios to make sure that the drive is being recognized properly, and if so, you should be good to go.

 

Thank you! I'll do as you both suggested. If I boot from the Windows CD, I can choose "Custom" install and save all the docs on my HD, correct? Thanks.

BTW, I made a mistake in saying I have a DELL 9200a; it's a 9200c, their first mini tower.

So, what do you guys think of the i-Pod? Revolutionary or all a bunch of HYPE?

My best,
KC

 

Okay firstly that is a sterling effort up to this current point.

The issue you are observing is the OS is that it is "tied" to the other system via:
- Motherboard Chipset drivers, CPU, BIOS, etc, but crucially,
- MS trying to "enforce ongoing consumption" of their OS, put it in a different system buy a new OS is their desire.

Possible workaround:
- The best way is to do an OS "Rebuild without DATA loss", this replaces the OS files, preserves current DATA (DOCS, music, etc, etc, etc), or
- Reinstall OS onto HDD again, DATA LOST!, probable issues with OEM keys!! and thus unlikely to work because of the "greed point" mentioned above!

Your system I assume:
http://reviews.cnet.com/desktops/de...ktop/1707-3118_7-31594474.html#productSummary

A method on XP "rebuild" without DATA loss
http://www.informationweek.com/news/windows/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=189400897

I believe this method used to work for Vista as well but old "greedy" MS has obviously been applying pressure to google and the like to remove such search results?!?

Give me a PM if you want because I will find the Vista "rebuild" option!