Unable to repair Windows 7 after hardware upgrade

[Dobes]

I installed a new motherboard, CPU & memory today. Prior to this, I decided not to do a clean install of windows, but just to boot up & repair if needed when the new configuration booted up. I DID do a backup of data before dismantling the old system, so I have that saved.

However, when I started the new system, the repair will not work. I can't get Windows to see the external drive where the backup data is stored.

I'm now re-installing Windows over the top of the old installation using the custom option, & my main question is this: Can I restore using the backup I made before the upgrade or will I lose all that data? When using the custom installation option, does it automatically save the old data?

 

[gregrocker]

The correct way to start Win7 when changing major hardware is to SysPrep the HD: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...lation-transfer-new-computer.html#post1161038

Your backup should work after reinstall. Enter Backup and Restore Center if you used Win built-in file backup. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/615-backup-user-system-files.html

If you have an image backup you can use it now from the booted DVD or REpair CD to reimage rather than reinstall Win7. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/675-system-image-recovery.html

 

[Dobes]

Thanks for your response. I think the biggest problem is that I didn't find this site until after I'd installed the new hardware, so I didn't know about sysprep.

I've managed to install Windows on my 2nd HD, so basically I am dual booting Windows 7. 1 is essentially a completely new install, the other one is the old one that only gives me BSOD when I try & boot into it. I can restore the backup to the new installation of Windows, but I'd much rather have the old one as it was fully up to date in terms of updates.

I also have a system repair disc that I created prior to my upgrade, but I'm assuming that's the same as the built in system repair feature in Windows. I didn't create a system image because I thought that Windows backup created one while doing the backup.

I'm almost at the stage of cutting my losses & transferring all my data to external hard drives before formatting & doing a clean install. However, for me, that is a last straw option as I do not have the time to re-install all the programs I currently have, not to mention I don't have the download limit for my internet connection.

Am I able to use sysprep while in the new installation of Windows 7 to sort out the old installation? Otherwise, could I just remove some of the driver files from the old installation's Windows directory to 'corrupt' the installation, leading to a repair that would work? And assuming I get the original installation of Windows working again, how would I go about uninstalling the new installation?

 

[SIW2]

You could point Paragon Adaptive restore at the old installation and see if that will open the driver repository for windows to correct itself.

 

[Dobes]

It looks like you need to be in/from a company to be considered to evaluate the Paragon program, so I don't qualify. Are there any other programs that do something similar, or should I just try Paragon anyway? Also, given that it's Saturday morning here, I'm not sure I'd get a reply before Monday/Tuesday & I'd like to get the problem resolved before then.

 

[SIW2]

Other makes have their own versions of Adaptive Restore, but nobody does it free except Paragon.

Did you apply for a copy on paragon site - you may get an automated email with relevant details pretty quickly . You could leave the company blank - or put your name in the field.

I expect they would like company details so they can see if they can get follow up sales of their other products.

Don't know, as I haven't tried to get it that way.

 

[Dobes]

I've applied for a copy of Paragon's Adaptive Restore, but no answer as yet. In the mean time I've tried Paragon's Rescue Kit free edition with no luck. However, it seems that neither of my HDDs are considered a system disk, they are both boot disks, so I can't fix much on them using the rescue kit.

Would I be more likely to have success if I just unplug everything except my old C: drive, the DVD drive, the mouse & the keyboard and then try booting up?

 

[SIW2]

You might be lucky - Vista/7 are quite resilient - they can sometimes adjust themselves to new hardware - depends how different it is from the original.

Adaptive restore is not on the free resue cd - so that won't help here.

It's a shame - paragon actually did a special give away of the Hard Disk Manager 2010 Special Edition - I think p2p adjust o/s was included in that.

You might find a copy floating around even now - I believe it is also on the cover disc of April 2011 PCPRO mag (UK Edititon ).

They also did Drive Backup 10 Special Edition giveaway

Very easy - just point P2P ADJUST at the non booting o/s, a couple of clicks and you're done.

 

[Dobes]

I'd love to get my hands on a copy, unfortunately I've never seen PCPRO on sale here in Australia.

The BSOD error I'm getting is the STOP 0x0000007B error & appears to be related to HDD drivers. Is there a way to update the registry for the non booting OS while in the working OS so that I can manually change this? Would Sysprep be able to do a similar thing from the working OS?

Edit: Startup Repair has failed multiple times on the old OS, the Root Cause it states is: Startup Repair has tried several times but still cannot determine the cause of the problem.

Given that I'm fairly certain the issue causing the problem is the new HD Controller drivers not being installed under the old OS, is there anything I can do to install the drivers into the old Windows 7 installation?

 

[gregrocker]

You need to SysPrep on the old hardware before moving HD or it's image to new hardware.

If you have a Win7 .vhd image you can convert it to Acronis image to use Acronis Universal Restore in versions 10 and higher.

Otherwise Paragon Adaptive Restore is the only solution I know of.

Si, could he browse into HD or mount it's image to surgically remove key drivers? Haven't tried this. I believe another key stumbling block is hardware ID which the adaptive restore also removes?

 

[SIW2]

If you can access the registry from another o/s or winpe and load the hives, there must be a way of manually replicating what p2p adjust does.

I know one or two things that are required.

Might have time to look at it tomorrow and see if I can figure out the needed changes.

 

[Dobes]

If you can find a solution that means I can avoid formatting & reinstalling everything from scratch I would be eternally grateful.

Out of curiosity, what would happen if I deleted some of the drivers in the old Windows installation? For example, if I found out the name of the HD controller drivers from my old motherboard & deleted those, would I possibly get further along in terms of booting up into Windows?

 

[SIW2]

You're vaguely warm.

Deleting them won't do it. They need to be uninstalled - or windows will look in the registry and try to find them.

Looking into it now.

 

[Dobes]

The problem as I see it is that I can't access the registry from the old OS while in the new one. Is there a way to access the old registry?

 

[SIW2]

Yes, it's easy.

Is there something unusual about the HD?

I installed a new motherboard, CPU & memory

If windows 7 installed to it fine from the dvd - then it has the necessary drivers in it's file repository.

 

[SIW2]

Are you asleep? LOL

 

[Dobes]

Sorry, wife made me go outside & play with the kids I've downloaded the file.

The drive itself is fine, but the BSOD error I get indicates there's a problem with the HD controller driver, so it's not working woth the new motherboard at the moment because it's using the drivers for the old one.

 

[SIW2]

If you have a windows system image, load the vhd.

Open Disk Management, Click Action>Attach vhd>Browse to your WindowsImageBackup folder.

Inside is a folder called Backup with a date - inside that is the vhd - select it and disk management will load it up and give it a drive letter.

Browse to the mounted vhd\windows\system32\config.

Copy the SYSTEM hive to somewhere on your HD. Rt click and zip it up - post it here.

(It just says SYSTEM - no extension)

Probably easier if I find and remove the drivers and put windows into setup state for you.

Will post the hive back up - then you just copy it to mounted vhd\windows\system32\config.

That will overwrite the existing System hive.

Then Detach the vhd.

 

[Dobes]

I don't have a system image from before I installed the new hardware - is it going to be easier to just put the old stuff back in & start the process from the very beginning?

 

[SIW2]

Everybody misunderstood that.

What do you mean by this:

Can I restore using the backup I made before the upgrade or will I lose all that data

If you have now reinstalled windows clean to the HD - and it is working - then yes, you can restore files you backed up previously.

If you have not yet reinstalled windows - then copy the SYSTEM hive from the non-booting o/s , zip it and post it up.

It will only take a few minutes.