[Barney Rubble]

I am transferring my boss's Primary (boot) HD to another computer, because the other computer is newer, has more RAM and a faster CPU.

The HD in question is a Western Digital WD400 and has been running perfectly in an AMD Duron 850 Mhz, 256 Mbytes RAM and with Win2000 SP4 installed.

It is being transferred TO an AMD Pro3000+ machine with 512 Mbytes RAM.
The problem is the Pro3000+ machine just hates the WD400. I get a BSOD "Error Stop" message that describes the possible cause of the problem as Virus, new Hard Drive or New HD Controller. The computer the WD400 came FROM has an updated AVG definitions file, Ad-Aware, a firewall and the last scan ran on the drive was about 3 hours ago.

As far as the Hard Drive/HD Controller goes, the Pro3000+ machine has been running a Seagate ST340014A with Win 2000 SP4 installed on it also, with no problems for over a year.

Both of these two drives are recognized in BIOS, but the Pro3000 hates only the WD400, and results in the BSOD while @3/4 of the way through the boot process. And yet the WD400 boots-up and runs in the Duron machine just fine.

I've always thought that IDE HD's were "interchangeable" and that there should be no problems with compatibility. And I have re-configured the Pro3000 system every way I can think of; changing IDE Cables, using different Power Cables, unplugging all the other Peripherals, etc... I've run out of options to try.

I find it very difficult to believe that the Hard Drive is bad, but only with certain CPUs & M/Bs.

Does anyone have any advice on what to try next ?

Thanks in advance.

 

[kodi]

Welcome to the forum.
You can't take a HDD from one computer and put it into another and expect it to boot.
It is looking for all the settings and hardware from the old computer'
You will have to reinstall the Operating System.

 

[Guest]

I would make a clone of that Hard drive if it is still working :sayno: then with the clone i would boot from the windows cd and do repair installation. After the installation you still will have the files programs etc and the documents. There might be some problems popping up. i hope you wouldnt experience any. If you do post your question. If doesnt work at least it was a clone and you are not risking anything. You will need some softwares and an extra HD to follow these tho.

*kodi the guy in your sig seems to know everything but he cant tell the right browser

Good Luck

 

[Tumbleweed36]

Hi,

Everyone has different options and of course, all of them are correct. Kodi hit it on the head about not switching drives without a clean format and install.

If it were mine (another option), I would purchase a new hard drive and do a clean format and install for this new system as Kodi suggested.

Then, as Purp suggested, you want to save your data, so if it were mine, I would put this drive on the new computer as a slave and get your info off that way.

O.K., now you have several different ways to go. See, we are just trying to confuse you with all these options......only kidding.

 

[Barney Rubble]

More Information

Well I've done a bit since the first post. First, I installed the WD400 (the hated one) in the new machine and tried to do a Repair Install of Windows. The machine started to boot from the CD, and then froze.

Then I re-installed the original (Seagate) drive and tried to do a Repair Install also, just to see if it would. And it did.

Then, to prove the point, I then tried the WD400 a second time, and it froze during the Boot from CD.

So I put the WD400 back in it's original machine, and it works just fine. (It's running this machine right now...)

You can't take a HDD from one computer and put it into another and expect it to boot.

I've migrated (boot) Hard Drives from one computer to another many times, and have never had a problem. Although most of those have been WinXP, and this O/S is Win2000 Pro, if that makes a difference.

It is looking for all the settings and hardware from the old computer'

I understand this point, put this is all Plug & Play. Can't understand why it's not able to simply "re-find" all the hardware and boot.

You will have to reinstall the Operating System.

Normally I would agree with this, but as I saw just now trying to boot from the CD, there is something preventing a succesful boot, even from a CD. Even if I were prepared to "give up" and do a re-install, Win2000 won't let me with this drive installed. However, other drives work just fine on this machine, and the WD400 works just fine on another machine. If a re-install is the only option, exactly how am I supposed to do it when the presence of this drive causes the CD to fail to boot ?

Which seems highly unusual to me, and the "it's looking for the original hardware" explanation doesn't explain why it also prevents the machine from booting from the CD.

I have a 3rd Hard Drive, and can "clone" the WD400 if necessary. But I don't really understand the meaning of the word "clone". I've used a RAID before, and understand what a "mirror" is, but wouldn't know exactly how to go about making one. In any case, wouldn't a "cloned" drive cause the same problem of "searching for hardware that isn't there anymore" ?

Also, this WD400 drive is HEALTHY. It's been "chkdsk /f"'-d, defragged, and "sfc /scannow"-ed regularly, plus a daily scan by AVG and Ad-Aware. I've used it every day for almost 9 months, and have never had a bit of problem with it. It just won't work in the Pro3000 machine, for some reason.

My next step is to install the WD400 as slave to another boot HD, and see if it prevents THAT drive from booting, like it prevented the boot from CD.

Also, the exact text of the BSOD message:

*** STOP: 0x00000078
(0xEB81B84C, 0xC00000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000) INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE

Even if the problem is the "configuration" change, this error message sounds like a hardware fault, rather than software. How can a misconfigured O/S cause a "Boot Device" to become "Inaccessible" ?

The error message also listed some possible causes for the problem, and one of them was virus. As remote as it may be, I am concerned about either a Boot Sector Virus, or perhaps a corrupted Master Boot Record. The purpose of the Win2000 boot was to see if Win2000 has a "FIXMBR" command, like WinXP does.

Thanks for the help and the suggestions, they are very much appreciated. Please help if you can, as this is becoming much larger of a project than I anticipated. Thanks in advance.

 

[Tumbleweed36]

Hi,

I wanted to clarify one issue you talked about. It is not a hardware issue with what the computer is looking for. The actual issue (hardware related), it is looking for the Chipset drivers (software related) from the old motherboard. Know also, that in about 10% of the time (you got lucky a few times if they worked), it will work and most likely when the chipset types are similar.

The less likely scenario for it to work is when the new chipset drivers ares very new or a different kind. The hard drive just can't find the motherboard chipset drivers for the new motherboard and thus, won't boot so you can get them added. That is why it is not a case of simply finding the new hardware and loading it. Just wanted to clear that up.

A note: Don't forget that if you have a Western Digital drive and put it on a ribbon cable by itself, then you must remove all jumpers and place it on the end of the ribbon cable. If it shares a cable, make sure the Master drive on that cable has the jumpers set to master and is placed on the end of the ribbon cable.....the slave must be set to slave with the jumpers and placed on the middle of the ribbon cable. Then, don't forget to enter the BIOS setup menu and change the boot order to reflect what drive you want to be the boot drive.

Hope that helps to explain what you are dealing with. Please post back if you have further problems.

 

[Barney Rubble]

Tumbleweed

Thanks for the help. Getting the HD properly set-up on the IDE cable has been an issue.

The actual issue (hardware related), it is looking for the Chipset drivers (software related) from the old motherboard.

Tumbleweed, do you think if I installed (or otherwise made available) the chipset drivers for the Pro3000 on the HD before I installed it, would the HD boot the machine ?

IF I can't do a "fast & dirty" change-over, how do I get the data from one machine to the other. This is business data, and is critical. Is there some kind of Win2000 data-transfer program ?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Tumbleweed36]

Hi,

First of all, glad to hear that you got it set up correctly and it is working. That is graat news.

There are some possible ways to save data. Unfortunately, I have not had to do that recently, so not all things that I offer have been tried by me personally.

Here is a link that uses Microsoft references that you might want to use as the first line of defense in making the change to save the data:

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=772307
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Here is one I copied someplace (some forum) when that happened to someone else and I wish I could give credit to whomever wrote it, but somehow the name of the origintor was not copied. This needs to be done in preparation for changing or with the old machine:

Be sure to remove the old drivers and remove them before you do the swap.

Since you are swapping mb also, there are some other things to do as well. This will ensure xp or win2k will boot with the new board installed. During this process, DO NOT REBOOT; select reboot later.

1 Uninstall any software that is dependent on the old board such as onboard sound, video, nic, monitoring software etc.

2 Disable [not uninstall] any Antivirus software.

3 Most important; go to device manager and change to a "standard ide controller" While in device manager, remove all hardware that is dependent on the old board such as floppy controller, usb controller, etc. If you miss one here, no big deal. Changing to standard ide controller is the important one.


Now shutdown and do the swap. Put your xp or win2k cd in the drive and boot with the cd. From the first menu choose install. The next menu will show all previous installs and offer to repair for you. Let it repair.

This method has even worked swapping from a SiS chipset to an Intel chipset. It does not get much different than that.

After the repair, you will need to reapply any updates, sp2 or sp4 if win2k, any patches or hot fixes. All data and installed apps should be intact. You will need to reactivate your xp.

Hope this helps to get the job done and saves your data.
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I am told that sometimes a repair install will do the job for you in this instance, just boot from the CD master OS disk and do a repair install. Have not tried this one either, but told by a friend that it can work at times.
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You can also as mentioned earlier in my post, just set this drive up as a slave to the new one and copy away from the old WD to the new one. This is the mothod that I regularly use if I have that problem.
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Here is another version that was on TSF and I want to give Linderman credit on this one. This one is easy to understand and works a good deal of the time:

You cant change a motherboard without some "preparation" first / or the OS will fall flat on its face the first time you go to boot up.

If you have all ready made to boo-boo then you must try to enter the win xp repair console by booting the computer with the win xp cd disk in the cd-rom drive (make sure your bios is set for the cd-rom booting before the hard drive) when you boot up and get the option to run set-up or repair / choose repair / then choose "complete system file restore or repair"
most of the time this will work ??!! if not / you will need to reformat and do a clean install / hope at that point you have a "Full" RETAIL win xp version and not just a recovery CD from a manufacturer ?????
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Hope one of these works for you. If I can be of further help, please let me know, and do write back with your results. That way, we can better help someone who has your same problem. Good Luck!