Re: Moving a hard drive w/ a Gateway-installed OEM Windows XPto a new mobo

Say thanks to the Gateway "hacked" propriatery BIOS...just a guess but
the crap version of OEM windows Gateway installs likely performs a BIOS
check to see if it's their version of the BIOS.  I found that out when I
couldn't update the BIOS on the MOBO beyond their "supported" level of
the BIOS..sucks but that's Gateway for ya... 


Thanks,
Tommy Holden


-----Original Message-----
From: pctech-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:pctech-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Dan
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 12:19 PM
To: PC Technical Discussion for iSeries Users
Subject: [PCTECH] Moving a hard drive w/ a Gateway-installed OEM Windows
XPto a new mobo

This issue involves moving a hard drive with a Gateway-installed OEM
Windows
XP to a new motherboard.

Gateway has already told me that this "won't work".  What I'm unsure of
is
whether doing so would cause a BSOD before I even see a Windows splash
screen appearing.  I would think that it should boot up into Windows,
call
me a bad boy, and then offer me a way to set things right.  Seems
logical,
no?  The BSOD mentions the problem is with the hard drives, advising me
to
run a CHKDSK /F, which to my knowledge, can only be done from the
Recovery
Console, which requires a password for the "Administrator" account,
which is
unknown.  (I tried "" [no value], "admin", and "Admin" before it forced
me
to reboot after three failed passwords.)  The owner of the PC has
backups
and isn't opposed to having to purchase a new WinXP license, but is
concerned about having to reinstall *everything*.

Other details: Original Gateway's mobo & CPU were fried when the owner
tried
to reinsert the CPU and "missed"; don't know if sparks were involved.
When
I removed the hard drives from the Gateway box, I kept the IDE cables
attached to the drives, and changed no switches on them; the BIOS on the
new
PC correctly identifies them.  I have burned a copy of the Ultimate Boot
CD,
and will (attempt to) run diags on it tonight; maybe the drives got a
bit of
frying along with the mobo and CPU?  Maybe I should try a new IDE cable
for
the drives?

Gateway's chat support directed me, with disclaimers, to
http://windowsreinstall.com/winxphome/installxpcdrepair/part3.htm.
Don't
know if that route would be better than the Ultimate Bood CD, as there
appears to be a risk of losing data.

Any advice would be appreciated.

- Dan