Odd PC behaviour

[Tringa]

Following the boot problems I've had with an old PC.

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/threads/pc-bootup-problem.531901/

I decided to replace the motherboard and cpu. Everything else in the PC is unchanged. It will POST and I can get into the bios but XP will not load - it just restarts, goes through POST again.

Thought before I buy a copy of Windows 7 and join the slightly more modern world, I'd try to repair the current installation of XP. When I try to boot from the XP disc I get a message that says no hard drives can be found, but if I start up the PC as normal the screen during booting up shows the hard drive has been detected.

Is this just a result of XP being installed when the PC had a different motherboard and cpu and the change is causing a conflict? Thinking of buying a new hard drive and Windows 7 and starting afresh.

Any views welcomed.

Dave

 

[neil_g]

if youre replacing that much hardware i would always expect to reinstall the OS. sometimes you can get lucky and it'll work, however if the hardware needs a completely different set of drivers it will be a pain to unpick.

you could try safe mode and uninstall all drivers then load on the new ones.

 

[droj]

Think you have to re-install the OS so that it knows what machine it's in - it's confused! Thus it's necessary to save out all your files & settings before doing a clean install and reinstating them. Tedious!

 

[neil_g]

its more that itll be trying to load a tonne of drivers for the old devices and theyre causing problems with the new hardware

 

[Tringa]

Thanks for the replies. One last question. Should I go for 32bit or 64 bit Windows 7?


It looks like the price difference is next to nothing but the PC gets little use, I rarely have many things open at the same time and until it failed recently it has never crashed. Some of the software is old now and I don't know if 64 bit drivers would be available.

Are there good reasons to go for 64bit for a PC that gets light use?

Thanks

Dave

 

[neil_g]

might as well go for 64. if you already have 4gb memory above youll need it, if you dont then saves you having to reinstall at a later date if you upgrade it.

 

[Mikesphotaes]

It costs the same, why not go for 64bit, then if your PC use changes?

 

[Tringa]

Thanks for your suggestions/comments all.

Dave