New Motherboard and hard-drive

Ok - probably a dumb question.

I have recently replaced my motherboard and processor and also fitted a new hard-drive in addition to the existing ones. Windows 7 will not boot up properly. Should I / Do I have to do a full new install of Windows 7? If so would it be ok to re-install on the drive where it presently exists or should I format and partition the new SATA drive and load it there? If that is the case would it be better to temporarily disconnect the old drives?

If the latter would it then be sensible to remove the old Windows 7 installation?

Help - as always fully appreciated. Thanks in advance.

First of all remove the new hard drive and try booting up just with your old hard drive(s) with the new mobo and CPU.. Ensure the BIOS boot order for the HDDs is correct. See what happens.

Also try a safe mode boot.

Win7 should be able to cope with the mobo and processor change most of the time.

Edited by Pipexer (Sat 16-Jul-11 14:44:38)

If that fails, try a Repair Install rather than a reinstall. Also make sure that the SATA controller is set to the same mode (ATA or AHCI) that it was previously. ATA is probably the best choice.

Edited by deleted (Sat 16-Jul-11 15:48:03)

IMO it's better to be running in ahci mode vs ata mode...

Even if the original install was in ATA mode? My understanding is that, in that case, the computer won't boot if set to AHCI mode.

Edited by deleted (Sat 16-Jul-11 15:48:32)

In reply to a post by AEP:

Even if the original install was in ATA mode? My understanding is that, in that case, the computer won't boot if set to AHCI mode.

In Windows XP this is true but I believe Vista and 7 can handle this as it natively supports AHCI.

I've never tried it but according to this link you need to make some registry changes. So we have something of a Catch 22 - how is the OP going to make these changes if he can't boot his Windows 7 in the first place?

I'm not convinced that AHCI is that much of an advantage anyway on a normal desktop.

I tried booting without the new drive but the result is the same. I have run startup repair but it cannot repair automatically. It states a patch is preventing the system from starting. It also reports an error code 0x490.

Last night it reported that the following file is missing or corrupt "Windows root>\system32\ntoskrnl.exe but it hasn't reported that fault at all today. I have run disk repairs and it made some corrections on the main system disk and all is now reported OK but it will still not start Windows properly. I think I am going to have to concede and install Windows 7 afresh on the new drive whilst having the old ones disconnected unless anyone shouts that it will cause more problems rather than less. Oh the joys of Windows

In reply to a post by AEP:

I've never tried it but according to this link you need to make some registry changes. So we have something of a Catch 22 - how is the OP going to make these changes if he can't boot his Windows 7 in the first place?

I'm not convinced that AHCI is that much of an advantage anyway on a normal desktop.

I will go and check whether AHCI is enabled in the BIOS before I do anything else. Though as you say how I can edit the registry when I cannot get it to fully load is one of life's mysteries. At least it is raining so I am not in trouble with SWMBO for not painting the exterior

If the SATA is set to AHCI but the original install was to an ATA drive, changing the BIOS setting would allow it to boot. You could then edit the Registry if you wished to.

0x490 basically means "can't see hard disk", which is why I suppose this could be the problem.