Replaceing AMD laptop motherboard with Intel - Vista O/S

[gikstar]

I have a Dell Inspiron 1526 running Vista Home Premium with a bad motherboard. There are no replacements here in the USA for the AMD motherboard. There is one in China that will probably take 3 weeks to get here.
I have a replacement Intel board that I've stuck in there and would love to not have to reinstall the Vista operating system. F8 blue screens and 'repair' can't fix anything.

Has anyone had any success in repairing the system without a complete reinstall of the O/S?

 

[NYJimbo]

It's a shame there is no BSOD code with that BSOD.

 

[compnet]

Most likely sata driver issue.. you can give fixide from foolishit a shot or fixhdc from ubcd. Both seem hit and miss on vista but worth a try.

 

[FremontPC]

The problem is you've got a bunch of drivers installed for various types of hardware on the old system, so after you find and fix the one driver, the next one could cause an issue and so on.

The easiest way to handle it would be with something like Acronis True Image with the "Plus Pack". That allows you to make a full image, whole disk backup of the existing drive, then use Acronis Universal Restore to restore the image to another drive (I'd leave the original drive untouched). That will strip out all the device-specific info from the Windows installation and will force Windows to rebuild that info with the correct drivers (if it has them). Many vendors offer this type of software, Norton, Macrium, Easus, others. That allows someone who is deploying a bunch of different types of PCs to set up Windows the way they need it (custom configuration, 3rd party apps, etc) then deploy that installation to various hardware configurations. Sysprep is able to do this as well, but I believe you need a running system to use it. Also, some 3rd party apps (Photoshop, Quickbooks, etc) will see that they're on different hardware and will require reactivation, so be ready with the license info. You may also need to call Microsoft to do a phone activation of Windows. Once you have the system working, then you can use Acronis to clone it back to the original drive.

 

[EvolutionElectronics]

The problem is you've got a bunch of drivers installed for various types of hardware on the old system, so after you find and fix the one driver, the next one could cause an issue and so on.

The easiest way to handle it would be with something like Acronis True Image with the "Plus Pack". That allows you to make a full image, whole disk backup of the existing drive, then use Acronis Universal Restore to restore the image to another drive (I'd leave the original drive untouched). That will strip out all the device-specific info from the Windows installation and will force Windows to rebuild that info with the correct drivers (if it has them). Many vendors offer this type of software, Norton, Macrium, Easus, others. That allows someone who is deploying a bunch of different types of PCs to set up Windows the way they need it (custom configuration, 3rd party apps, etc) then deploy that installation to various hardware configurations. Sysprep is able to do this as well, but I believe you need a running system to use it. Also, some 3rd party apps (Photoshop, Quickbooks, etc) will see that they're on different hardware and will require reactivation, so be ready with the license info. You may also need to call Microsoft to do a phone activation of Windows. Once you have the system working, then you can use Acronis to clone it back to the original drive.

this right here ^^^^^^^^^

 

[gikstar]

Thank you for your replies. I will clone it to another drive and try the Universal Restore scenario.

 

[FremontPC]

Universal Restore doesn't work from a clone.

At least with Acronis, you have to do a full drive backup (select Disk mode, that selects all partitions automatically) rather than partition mode. This results in a .TIB file (True Image Backup) of the entire drive. You must have the Plus Pack installed! When you restore from the .TIB file, you will have the option of Universal Restore.

 

[brandonkick]

I'm not even sure that windows will activate any more as you now have a completely different machine in the eyes of Microsoft.

 

[mikeroq]

I use Paragon Hard Disk Manager, the P2P Adjust OS wizard. You don't have to clone it or anything. Works 99% of the time.

 

[MobileTechie]

It's mostly likely the SATA driver. Windows will mostly sort out most of the others but that is the one that will stop it booting. That's what any of the apps mentioned will inject anyway.

MS will reactivate Windows for you if you use the phone system.