Motherboard Migration causes 2K crash

[Netherwolf]

I recently upgraded my motherboard from a VIA chipset with AGP to an nForce chipset with PCIE. Windows didn't like that.

I'm getting hit with inaccessible boot device errors. Which is really odd. And annoying. The computer will boot up nearly all the way, loading up the drivers and such. I watch them tick by as I run in safe mode, and BAM! BSOD.

One thing I've noticed is that the computer is loading up the VIA chipset drivers for the IDE controller. I don't have VIA anymore. I'm wondering if it's possible to modify the configuration with the HD, a WD 250GB (well over the 137GB limit, which also makes me wonder). Reinstalling is a night or two's worth of work, not to mention a real pain in the @$$. One thought I have is deleting the VIA drivers and making Windows go on with out them.

Any recommendations? They'd be much appreciated.

[McTavish]

I would normally suggest a repair install but if your 2K partition is over the first 137gigs of the drive, I’m not sure this will work, even with SP3 or higher on the 2K CD. Perhaps it will because your install will already have the 48bit LBA fix done. I’ve had success more than once with a repair install on 2K and it should keep most of your programs and settings. Your 2K CD will need the same service pack as is in the OS.

You can prepare Windows before you make the change to new hardware, but don’t know if you can do it now. Perhaps by remote editing the registry or if there is a way to use sysprep now? Someone else might know.

Edited December 9, 2006 by McTavish

[cluberti]

The chipset is the thing here, especially on 2K (this almost maybe might've worked on 2K3 and XP in safe mode, but it'll fail on 2K every time). Your only option is a repair install, or, go back to the old machine and uninstall the VIA drivers. Before you reboot after VIA driver uninstall, download and run sysprep to do -pnp and -mini. This should work, if you want to spend the time doing it.

[Netherwolf]

Slight problem. The VIA board now resides in my buddy's PC. (It's a long story.) The drive time to his house is the better part of an hour. I don't have any spare VIA boards lying around at the moment. I do have the hard drive hooked to my older backup PC. Is it kosher to search the drive for the VIA drivers and just delete them? And is it possible to modify the registry hive of the inactive OS?

[cluberti]

You could try it for sure - but I think a repair install or a clean install at this point is probably going to be your best option.

[McTavish]

http://www.windowsreinstall.com/install/ot...board/win2k.htm

Knew I had a link on this somewhere.

Is any of your 2K partition over the 137gig mark?

I don't know but it may be that a repair install won't be happy if it is.

If you could resize the partition down under 137gigs with Partition Magic or the like. Or clone it to a smaller hard drive.

[Netherwolf]

Amazing! What maddening misfortune! A reinstallation it is!

Oh well. Yes, my drive (partitioned for total use) is 250GB. As it turns out, I kind of figured this would happen. I installed the Emergency Recovery Console well into my install's old age. Every time I attempt to use it, it bellows inaccessible boot device. And repartitioning to something smaller is **** near the same hassle as a fresh install. Although, I'm seriously considering repartitioning it as something else. I miss my linux... hold the phone. Hee hee.... Perhaps the most prudent path is the one least considered.

What I COULD do, NOT what I SHOULD do, but what I probably WOULD do is grab a spare 40GB I have, partition it as NTFS and use it as my windows boot drive, then partition the 250GB as Ext2FS for a linux install. This filesystem is solid and mature enough that stable Windows drivers are available for it. However I'd miss the stability of Ext3FS journaling. Meh. Then, I keep all my windows programs on my Linux drive and use it like a standard NTFS. That is so wrong.

Heh. I smell a long and gloriously miserable night ahead - followed by many sweet and hard-rocking days.

Wish me luck, fellows!