Error Upgrading motherboard on Vista PC [closed]

Question

I know that this question has already been asked here

http://serverfault.com/questions/948/how-to-prepare-for-changing-upgrading-a-motherboard

but the author didn't have a specific problem, and I do, so I'm hoping this counts as "different enough" to be its own question.

(and this KB is not helpful: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976)

Problem: I swapped motherboards on a desktop with a dead motherboard. Boards are nearly identical (same chipset, front side bus, and pretty much everything else) but SATA controllers are different.

Vista won't boot, it gives me the error referenced in the above KB article. However, since I can't boot into windows at all, the instructions are not helpful. I have tried the bios in both AHCI and SATA modes already.

The problem is the error, "STOP 0x0000007B" which, on XP, could be easily fixed with a repair install. However, as I've found from trying to boot from a Vista DVD with SP1 slipstream, (and also, sorry to admit it, from reading a post on EE), Vista does not allow you to run an upgrade install from the CD.

So, how do I go about fixing this problem? Anybody ever done it successfully?

Answer 1

It is possible but it's a bit involved. The KB you linked to has the basics, but you've not swapped between AHCI on/off but rather to a completely different driver. You can manually instruct Vista to use the correct or a generic driver that can handle anything SATA after some work - I've done this several times with success for instance switching over to Intel Matrix Storage RAID driver without reinstalling (just imaging) a personal system - but the time spent is definitely not something you'd do in a company environment ^^ This article seems to have the steps decently laid out.

Vista just like XP has a startup repair feature when booting the optical disc - which you can run several times and it will try more and more to fix the startup problems. I've not had any luck getting it to fix a boot storage controller switch though.

The normal procedure as you know is to change the driver to the standard generic sata controller before doing the swap.

Answer 2

You have encountered the main problem with changing motherboards, the disk controller being different. This is the cause for windows bluescreening and there is not really a way round it other then re-installing windows.