how to reset winxp hardware configuration?

[Dominik]

ok i made some hardware changes,also motherboard etc, but now i can't boot into my winxp. i could just reinstall it,i know,but i dont want to because i have some data and stuff in registry which i dont want to lose by reinstalling windows. i tried clearing CMOS, but it havent helped. it hungs where it should show me winxp boot screen. safe mode and any other modes dont work as well. so i think i could reset hardware configuration, i'm able to boot into recovery console. i deletet hal.inf in inf folder but still no luck. so,how to reset it (so it wont load any drivers on boot), or is there any other way? thanks

[GaZZacK]

Theres ways to get it to boot and not get a BSOD, but its difficult and not really worth it IMHO. My suggestion is to boot off a Knoppix live CD and burn a CD full of all the data you need.

[I8PP]

I believe deleting HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG, Windows will be forced to rebuild the hardware list. Its file is probably one of the extensionless files in \Windows\system32\config\

[Dominik]

well,do you know about these ways? i could just try, i know it's a mess, but anyway...

[Dominik]

I8PP - ok gonna try that,brb in 5 minutes.

[I8PP]

I wouldn't go delete any random one :s.

Edit: My hunch is HKEY_CURRENT_CONFIG is the file "system"

Edit1: nevermind... but beware though.

Edit 2: If it screws up, i'm not entirely liable lol... this information comes from memory and may not be entirely true. Guess i should have said that earlier........ ;)

Edited June 18, 2004 by I8PP

[OptiPlex]

You changed the mobo? :o

Sorry, you NEED to reinstall Windows XP if the old mobo's chipsets and the new mobo's chipsets are different.

The HAL might cause an issue starting up too. :/

[Gary_Player]

tisk tisk...should have backed things up BEFORE swapping your mobo...even if XP worked you would have had to call microsnot and re-activate it probably ;)

[Dominik]

I8PP - hmm are you sure it's a file named "system" ?

OptiPlex - both were/are VIA chipset motherboards. it has to work without reinstalling windows because i had 2 PCs,both had winxp installed, i changed the motherboards from one to the other pc, on PC1 windows has booted like a charm, but second pc can't.

Gary_Player - those are corporate PCs with corp. winxp. no activation needed.

[I8PP]

  Dominik said:

I8PP - hmm are you sure it's a file named "system" ?

Not entirely. Several google searches and from what i've found, it holds that and HKLM\System keys. And Windows won't boot without the "system" file so deleting it probably won't fix it. You could try deleting it and renaming system.sav to system and see what happens :s. Have you tried the Restore to Last Good Configuration option when you press F8 after POST? I sure hope I won't be screwing up your system.

[OptiPlex]

  Dominik said:

OptiPlex - both were/are VIA chipset motherboards. it has to work without reinstalling windows because i had 2 PCs,both had winxp installed, i changed the motherboards from one to the other pc, on PC1 windows has booted like a charm, but second pc can't.

I found something interesting ... maybe it will be of help

  Quote

for the billionth time, you dont have to reboot, first go into device manager and uninstall/remove the ide controllers (the main one and the primary/secondary ones), when it asks to reboot, select no. shut down your comp, change mobo and reboot. windows notices new hardware (ide controllers) and installs them automatically and all is working fine 

  Quote

Only thing you need to worry about is the hard drive controller, if it's different then you will need to follow the procedure outlined here;

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...2&Product=winxp

https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?show...chipset+drivers

[uniacidz]

Always back up man, always. sheesh.

Either repair installation or follow below, C/O Toasted

Instead, pop in your cd, go to the RECOVERY CONSOLE. once there, cd to system32, then to config.

once there "del system"

this deletes the part of your registry hive responsible for containing all the info about your HARDWARE.

this preserves your SOFTWARE settings.

when you reboot, Windows will run through the hardware detection wizard again.

IF IT DOES NOT --->

Go back to the recovery console, cd your way back to config

type

copy system.sav C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\system

system.sav is a generic file windows throws in there. it's like a blank template.

some computers need a system file for the wizard to show up, some don't. MOST don't. So all you have to do is delete the main system file.

there is no extension, it's just called system

[Dominik]

if it will screw up,it will,no problem.

"Restore to Last Good Configuration" aint working of course,i'm using windows xp for years,since it came out,and this has NEVER worked. guess why there's such option.

anyway your idea about system file is good,so i'm gonna backup these in recovery console and then do the procedure you're talking about. wish me luck , lol.

[Dominik]

ok guys,it aint working, i tried your guide Davey. in both cases, when it comes to boot,windows say something like this :

system file is corrupted or missing

you can repair the file with windows setup cd by pressing 'r' at the first screen

we know 'r' is recovery console....this won't help me.

any other ideas?

[I8PP]

Try replacing it with the one that's in \Windows\repair.

[Dominik]

still no luck :(

[I8PP]

I guess the only recourse is to pop in the XP cd and do a Repair installation. I've never done one before, so I don't know what, if anything, it will delete/preserve.

[RangerLG]

I have done several Repairs and it will preserve the file system. It does not delete any files, but you will need to go get any updates and I would update all the drivers again, just to be safe.

[bryonhowley]

  Gary_Player said:

tisk tisk...should have backed things up BEFORE swapping your mobo...even if XP worked you would have had to call microsnot and re-activate it probably ;)

Who is Microsnot and why would he have to call them to re-activate Microsoft Windows XP?

[Bearded Kirklander]

I would have GHOSTED to backup then done a fresh install.

That said, if you can't even get into safe mode and delete all the key hardware out of the device manager, and a repair install or install over the top does not work, you may have to bite the bullet and reformat and reinstall. You could install the old MB I suppose and try to uninstall all the drivers, delete all the hardware stuff in the device manager and then try powering down, replacing the board and powering up. Harsh setup. Sorry for your trouble.

Norton Ghost really can save your butt in situations like this.

[Menge]

hmm dunno if it's just me but my windows xp cd has a "Repair installation" feature. when it searches the hard drives for previous installs it asks if you want to run a recover on an existing install. it basically reinstalls the drivers from zero (keeping data and software installed). you will just need to reinstall some 3rd party drivers.

[Dominik]

after 6 hours of playing,trying,restarting,using recovery console,ERD commander and other recovery stuff, i was finally able to boot into windows,but windows came up with some strange error about activation. i was googling for another hour, found 10 solutions, but none of them worked since i can't reset the activation in safe mode (that's the only mode which worked). i gave up, ran ERD commander (100th time), copied whole D: (my drive with program files,documents & settings,and windows) to other HDD, and formated the partition. Made a fresh install, now recovering the data from backup HDD...

7 hours wasted, nerves f__ked up, hurted finger (by pressing RESET button 10 times/minute). When Microsoft says "it may work", it means "it certainly won't work".

i know it's always good to make a fresh install after big hardware changes (and i do that often, that's why i was lazy to do a fresh install again - 3rd time this week) , and it's needed to have all data backed up. All my data are on second partition, so there's no problem with it, i just wanted my XP to boot again because i didnt want to spend 3 hours by doing a new install,apps,settings... counting now, i wasted 8-9 hours, if i knew that, i would immediately did a fresh install and forget reparing.

oh well...

thank you all

[JaredFrost]

Something a co-worker told me about a while back, if you ever have a problem with a pc bluescreening, and you think

it's hardware related, run sysprep on the machine - it saves all your settings, but windows re-negotiates all hardware

connections...it's like reinstalling windows without re-installing windows. very little known but very cool trick. basically

just put sysprep in a folder on the root of c:\ in a folder called sysprep c:\sysprep

Then run 'sysprep -mini -reseal -quiet' from the c:\sysprep

Mind you I've never actually tried it, You've already reformated though, thought I'd tell everyone anyway

[Dominik]

i'll try that next time :)

thanks for the tip.

[Bearded Kirklander]

It's cool that you got the thing working finally. Sorry it was a huge hassle, but at least your data and programs and all were not lost. Congrats on having it back up and running. Hope it stays that way for a long time and does not cause you any problems. Best wishes! (Y)