Dell problems please help if possible!!

cryptrawcryptraw Mississippi
edited May 2009 in Hardware
i currently have a Dell 2350 intel celeron 1.7g proc 2gigs of ram nothing special well i just got a dell 4600 intel pentium 4 2.8g proc with 1 gig of ram i want to swap my harddrive from the 2350 to the 4600 but i keep getting a blue screen of death telling me to check harddrive for viruses corruption and make sure its terminatd right i think i have found the problem as its 2 different bios set-ups A02 for the 2350 and A08 for the 4600 Q : How can i complete the swap and get it going without losing my data?

Comments

  • JokkeJokke Bergen, Norway Icrontian
    edited May 2009
    Some other members must correct me if I'm wrong, but it's impossible to just simply swap drives from one computer to another, especially with so different specifications.

    You must at least perform a repair install on the new computer using an XP/Vista cd, am I correct?
  • primesuspectprimesuspect Beepin n' Boopin Detroit, MI Icrontian
    edited May 2009
    You have to, as Jokke stated, do a repair install.
  • cryptrawcryptraw Mississippi
    edited May 2009
    im currently using win XP hom SP2 but do not have the XP home disk i do however have an XP Pro disk and i tried the repair and it asked me for the admin password which the only password i know of on this system is mine what to do what to do wo is me sigh =/
  • cryptrawcryptraw Mississippi
    edited May 2009
    my XP Pro disk has SP3 on it my XP Home has SP2 can i just upgrade to pro with a full install and not lose any of my data like music pics games (WoW & Guild Wars patches)
    really want to get that other system up and running badly
  • JokkeJokke Bergen, Norway Icrontian
    edited May 2009
    In order to upgrade from Home to Pro you'll need to format your HD, and thus, lose all data. You can't install Pro over Home. They are two separate OS.

    I think you could install Pro on another partition, and still have access to the Home partition, but that'll have to be confirmed by someone else in here.

    Do you have the possibility to borrow a XP Home cd from someone?

    If you have access to another computer, you could buy a HD-enclosure, pull out your old harddrive, backup any files you'd like to keep, like music, photos and savegames, and then format and install Pro on your harddrive.
  • cryptrawcryptraw Mississippi
    edited May 2009
    no i dont have acess to a home cd sadly everyone where i live is computer illiterate and thus dont own any and i tkae it i cant do a repair from the pro CD since its as you said a different OS if i put that HD in the other comp and just do a full install of XP Pro there will it then work in that comp??
  • JokkeJokke Bergen, Norway Icrontian
    edited May 2009
    cryptraw wrote:
    if i put that HD in the other comp and just do a full install of XP Pro there will it then work in that comp??

    You must install Pro on the computer it's supposed to be used on. That is, you can't remove the harddrive, put it in another computer, install Pro, and then put it back. If you intend to use Pro on the 4600, you must install it on a harddrive that is in the 4600.

    I suggest you get an enclosure (example) copy all the files you wish to keep, then format the drive, and install Pro.
  • cryptrawcryptraw Mississippi
    edited May 2009
    ok the 4600 i have did not have a harddrive in it when i got it. i just want to put the hard drive im using now in this comp in there and get it running using this harddrive so the only swap would be from the 2350 to the 4600 and im asking if i put the drive in the 4600 and install Pro there will it work there?
  • JokkeJokke Bergen, Norway Icrontian
    edited May 2009
    Ah, yes, sorry, I'd forgotten about that.

    To answer your question: No, you can't take your drive as it is now, and put it into the 4600 because it has different hardware. Or, that is to say, you could, but you'd have to format it. Or, as mentioned, do a repair install using a Home CD.
  • cryptrawcryptraw Mississippi
    edited May 2009
    so if i put it in the 4600 and just sad to hades with the data and did a full install of XP Pro from my CD it will then work in the 4600? I Would just have to reinstall games and all the patches again right
  • JokkeJokke Bergen, Norway Icrontian
    edited May 2009
    Yes, quite correct.

    If you wish to keep data there are online server backup options, or you could invest in an external harddrive. They are great for backing up data, something everyone should do regularly.
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