Replaced motherboard...

[ToffeeC]

My old motherboard stopped working, so while it's getting repaired, I decided to swap it with another one (different model). The problem is, Windows 7 won't boot anymore. I get a blue screen of death and the system keeps rebooting. Now I know replacing a motherboard with an old install is not a good idea, but I really need the files and programs I have on my hard drive. I don't want to do a fresh install either because I'll be putting back my old board once it's repaired. I tried a "automatic repair", but with no success. Am I out of options? The old board is an ASUS M4A78-PLUS and the new one is an ASUS M2N68-AM.

Any suggestion?

 

[chuckr]

My old motherboard stopped working, so while it's getting repaired, I decided to swap it with another one (different model). The problem is, Windows 7 won't boot anymore. I get a blue screen of death and the system keeps rebooting. Now I know replacing a motherboard with an old install is not a good idea, but I really need the files and programs I have on my hard drive. I don't want to do a fresh install either because I'll be putting back my old board once it's repaired. I tried a "automatic repair", but with no success. Am I out of options? The old board is an ASUS M4A78-PLUS and the new one is an ASUS M2N68-AM.

Any suggestion?

Are the BIOS settings on the new MB "in agreement" with the old MB BIOS?

If you ever get to a Win7 Boot Manager screen, run the Memory Diagnostics.

 

[Antman]

You failed the first test - the OS did not boot. Further experimentation jeopardizes the integrity of the OS and could make it unbootable when the original mobo is available.

Your safe method is to install a "new" drive on the temp mobo, with the "important" drive installed or attached as a secondary drive, then retrieve your files.

Is this an option?

 

[Al Fairclough]

If you are familiar with Linux, I could help you out in a jiffy. Otherwise, what Antman said.

 

[Brink]

Hello ToffeeC, and welcome to Seven Forums.

In addition to the above, you could also do a repair install to be able to boot to Windows 7 again without losing anything. Of course, you will most likely need to do another repair install when you place the original motherboard back.

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[ToffeeC]

Al: I know Linux: I run Fedora on my 2 laptops . I was thinking of installing Linux temporarily on my desktop, but I know for fact that I'll run into driver issues. If I'm out of option, this is probably what I'll do, at least I'll be able to access my files.

Brink: I can't boot into Windows 7 at all, which the instructions at the link seem to require. Is there a way to do a repair install otherwise?

 

[SIW2]

You should be able to boot the Paragon Drive Backup cd and make an image of the drive.

You may then be able to use Adaptive Restore to get the image back onto the HD and bootable.

( If not - there is no loss as you will have the image saved ).

If you don't have the Paragon apps. use the free Drive Backup Express boot cd to make the image:

Drive Backup Free Edition - disk backup software


Adaptive Restore is on the Rescue Kit Express cd - also free: ( it includes a handy File Transfer Wizard as well )

FREE Rescue Kit 9.0 Express - Don't wait for disaster, get instant data recovery software kit!


Paragon Adaptive Restore:

1. Create backup image of your system using either Drive Backup or Hard Disk Manager. ( Use the Drive Backup Express boot cd to create the image )

2. Create Recovery CD via Recovery Media Builder ( Rescue Kit Express).

3. Boot from Rescue Kit Express CD your new hardware based machine and run into "Normal Mode".

4. Select "Simple Restore Wizard" and browse for backup image. Select hard drive to restore image to.

5. Then check the "Restore to different hardware configuration" box. This will make necessary changes during restore. Hit apply and wait till restore completes. Restart to Windows and install necessary drivers as requested by Windows.

 

[ToffeeC]

Could work, but I have over 200 GB's of data, and no Blu-ray Drive. It would take me about 20 to 25 DL DVD's to backup my HDD!

 

[chuckr]

I'm with Antman regarding the "new" drive, if you just have-to-have the files, right now.

Otherwise, it might be smart to power-down and wait for the old MB to come home.

I fear that the "automatic repair" attempt has already perturbed the current OS installation on the HDD.
Installing Linux 'to the desktop' will perturb it even more, as it writes into the \desktop\ folders, etc...

Naturally, there is no backup of the MBR, or booting sectors, or (I'd bet) BCD-store,
or any of that funny stuff, that one would manually use to get back on the air.

What/how did the old MB 'die'? It may even have touched the HDD before it went, causing the current problems...

 

[SIW2]

If you have tons of data, and no other HD's it won't be easy.

I would reccommend getting another HD for backups as a matter of urgency. What are you going to do when your current HD dies?

You could just get the Rescue kit Express and use the "File Transfer Wizard" to copy off anything really vital to dvd, or your laptop drives for now.

Then, if you have the time and inclination, you could make another partition on your existing HD -using a free bootable partition manager e.g. Gparted.

Download GParted from SourceForge.net

GParted -- Live CD/USB/PXE/HD

Make an image and save it on that new partition ( It will need to be big - there is very little compression of the image with the free Paragon Drive Backup Express) . Restore it using Adaptive Restore to the first partition.

Or just wait till your mobo. comes back.