Well did you attempt to reinstall windows xp over your original hard drive?
I don't know if my suggestion will work unless the original windows
installation is intact on the hdd.. If it isn't I can only speculate on how
to go about this. One guess might be for me to send you the SAM and system
files to put on your computer, but I'm not really sure if that will work on
the setup program since they can customize it to install certain drivers for
the original equipment.

- Mike


"Adrian" wrote in message
...
HI Mike

Thanks for the suggestion.
We're of today for a family party at the other end of the country - so I
shall not get another chance to look at the PC until Tuesday. Good thing
too - need a break ! g

I'll try what you suggested - probably best to transplant the disk into
another PC temporarily , at least I can see what sort of wreckage is left
on there !

Out of sheer stubbornness I tried two other clean formatted hard drives
with the new motherboard last night. Both of them appeared to go though an
XP install - but both eventually locked up, a reboot or two after the bit
where you input your serial number. I'm using the serial key that came
with the original PC (on the holo label on the case) - all very odd.


I'm tempted to reformat one of the hard disks and then try puttins a copy
of win98 onto it - just to 'prove' to myself that the hardware will
coexist together.... - getting desperate or what ?? g

It's all very frustrating. I think this is only the 2nd time I've had to
do an install of XP - other time was on a friend's laptop (using the
'demo' cd purchased on ebay) - and that simply installed without so much
as a hiccup - I was well impressed.

Have just powerd up the PC this morning for one last try before hitting
the road, and it's booted from the hard drive, and is currently at the
'Setup will complete in approximately 35 minutes' stage - the 'traffic
lights' say that it's done 'Collecting information', and 'dynamic update'
and 'preparing installation' and is now 'installing windows'.There was
some activity for a couple of minutes - installing devices, I think'

The pesky thing has just hit a Blue Screen and the error message
"A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent
damage to your computer. If this is the frst time you've seen this stop
error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow
these steps.
Disable or uninstall any anti-virus, disk defragmentation or backup
utilities. Check your had drive configuration and check for any updated
drivers. Run CHKDSK /F to check for hard drive corruption and then restart
your computer.

Technical info
***Stop: 0x000000024 (and some more hex groups)
**Ntfs.sys - Address F770B59D base at F76E8000, Datestamp 3d6de5c!
Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete
Contract your system administrator or technical support group for
assistance"

This was after an install on what I believed to be a clean hard disk,
which the install then formatted, with the CD from ebay which previously
installed without problems on my friend's laptop.....

Rebooting after the error message took me back to the Windows setup
process, same as before - claiming that setup will complete in 39 minutes.

It then goes through the setup again and gets as far as 26 minutes to go -
and "Performing configuration" before blue-screening again - this time
with a 8E error - suggests I should disable BIOS memory options...

Ah well - time to hit the road - I'll be back after the weekend and will
check this thread to see if there might be any 'magic' solutions !

Many thanks in advance to all

Adrian
Suffolk UK

Michael Kennedy wrote:
I've got the solution for you on the new xp!!! Don't buy a new cd yet!

You need to get to the recovery console, it looks and works much like
dos. You then need to copy
from C:\WINDOWS\repair\SAM (Note: SAM is the filename)
to C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\
and Copy
C:\WINDOWS\repair\system (Note: system is the filename)
to C:\WINDOWS\system32\config\

If I remember right these are the only 2 files you need to copy over to
change a motherboard out. I did this the last time I ugraded so I didn't
have to re-install everything on my computer. When windows booted up the
first time it just said found new hardware for all of the new devices
that my motherboard had that the old one didn't.

Hope that helps some.. If you don't understand how to use DOS then you
should probably just put the hdd in a working computer to copy the files
in windows.

- Mike

"Adrian" wrote in message
...
HI AGAIN everybody !

Michael A. Terrell wrote:
Adrian wrote:
HI Michael

Michael A. Terrell wrote:
Adrian wrote:
HI Mike
Thanks for the reply

Michael Kennedy wrote:
Have you tried basic troubleshooting like removing all the drives
and cards
and reseating the memory then powering it up? If that doesn't
work, remove
everything except the processor and power it up. It should give you
some
beep codes (memory or video) if the board and processor are
working.

- Mike

Yup - tried all that.... no change to the reported symptoms.

I've just ordered a 'drop in' motherboard bundle - let's hope that
fixes
it (after all - there's not much else to go wrong !)
I had a dead computer donated recently that had a bad momentary
switch. Gateway had used some strange type of black glue to hold it
to
the front of the cabinet, and it had softened up to the point it
would
slide back in its mount instead of letting the plunger move. A quick
cleaning and some decent glue, and it works OK.


Nice one !
Nothing quite so 'simple' in this case - unless you count motherboard
replacment as 'simple'. Guess it's simple - but not inexpensive....g

Ah well - wait for the nice parcel delivery man later today...

Regards
Adrian

Actually, with that Gateway case replacing the motherboard would
have
taken less time. I just wanted to point out the fact that there are a
lot of odd failures that can be overlooked. I repair a lot of stuff
that the local computer stores toss out just to keep my skills sharp.
I
spent years troubleshooting complex and expensive SMD PC boards on a
production line under a stereo microscope.


Been there - done that ! Fun, eh ??

Anyway - good news - got the nedw kit.
Bad news - (as I think somebody on here predicted) WinXP doesn't like
new motherboards. Have tried the 'restore' cd that came with the
original PC - and, fater lots of pretending to install windows it ends
up with a Blue Screen - a a 'stop error' - STOP 0x00000024
and NTFS.sys reported error.

So - I guess I need to buy a new copy of XP ??

My wife's already asked 'How much cheaper would it have been to buy a
complete new PC ?'
Good question g

Bl++dy XP, rotten Microsoft, bother said Pooh !

Thanks for any suggestions
Adrian
Suffolk UK