Old *** computer repair (All)

[jimycad]

Hey Guys,

I have been trying to repair an old computer. Its a p3 with a microATX mb. I couldn't get my win2k disk to work in that computer, so I put the HD in my up to date comp and did the formating and installation from there. Everything loads fine until I put the HD into the older computer it won't boot, it sits on the windows load screen. Could it be the format on the HD. currently I have it set to NTFS do you think that the MB can't handel it? I know there is an issue with winXP and older MBs... Should I try to format with FAT32 instead? What are your thoughts???

[BertImmenschuh]

The motherboard/BIOS doesn't have anything to do with formatting of the hard drive once the drive is properly recognized by the BIOS.

It's very possible for some of the older P3 boards to have a BIOS limitation on the hard drive size, particularly at 32GB.

<font color=blue>Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement.</font color=blue> <font color=green>Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.</font color=green>

[jimycad]

I guess thats the problem, I never got it to be reconized by the mother board. I had to load the OS on another system...

[mahendranit]

try to with win98 / me if u found the same issue then the problem is in HDD

[jdharm]

...the formating and installation from there.

Does this mean you did the entire OS setup in the newer computer and you are now trying to boot on the old one?

If so, I'd be more surprised if it had booted. Depending on what you mean by "up to date" the two mobos could be completely different on so fundamental a level that the OS simply cannot run on the old comp as installed.

If that is what you meant by doing the install in the newer computer, then I might suggest a better way would be to wipe the drive and start over as Bert outlines in <a target="_blank" href=http://www.winguides.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=genwinnt&Number=128062&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&part=1#Post128065>THIS THREAD</a>.

Josh
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.jdharm.net>www.jdharm.net</a>

[The_Dude]

If the hard drive is too larg for the bios you should be able to download a setup program (drive overlay) from the drive makers site to get it working.

Here is something you may find interesting if you still want to install from another PC. Let me know if it works it sounds cool.

Requirements for Using the "WINNT32 /SYSPART" Command
View products that this article applies to.
This article was previously published under Q241803
SUMMARY
In Windows 2000, the /syspart parameter for Winnt32.exe causes Windows 2000 Setup to copy all the necessary boot files and temporary Setup files to a drive and mark the partition as active. You can then install the drive in another computer, turn the computer on, and continue with Setup.
MORE INFORMATION
To use the winnt32 /syspart command, the following conditions must exist:
You can run the command from a Microsoft Windows NT 4.0-based, or Windows 2000-based computer.
The server or workstation must contain two hard disks; the second hard disk must be the destination disk.
The second hard disk must have a primary partition. The /syspart switch sets this partition as active..
The second hard disk must be formatted so that Setup can copy files to it.
There are no limitations as to the hardware in the target computer.
The information in this article applies to:
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server


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[jdharm]

Ooooo...that sounds like just the thing. Good to know.

Josh
<a target="_blank" href=http://www.jdharm.com>www.jdharm.com</a>