I have an Emachine and am contimplating doing a transpant with a new motherboard, hard drives, and case. Can i install xp onto the new system from the Emachines factory cd that came with the pc?
2006-08-25 12:33:26 · 7 answers · asked by gormana99 2 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Desktops
**edit: Look at the last paragraph. That's probably your best bet. It will also keep you from losing anything off of your old computer.
**edit: Ok, someone said that the CD becomes worthless if you replace the motherboard. That's completely false. All of the drivers that you need are in two places: the CD that came with the motherboard or soundcard or whatever and the Internet. Oh and if you take his advice and use Norton Ghost, you'll still have to get the drivers anyway.
I agree with whoever said that it'll either work or not work. There's no harm in trying.
As to whether or not it'll fly with Microsoft, they say that upgrades in hardware are completely fine and they'll change the snapshot of your hardware with no questions asked. Don't try to put it on two different computers thought, because to install some software, your system will make sure that your OS is the same as the one on record.
My original answer:
Probably not. It will probably check to see if the computer is an eMachine before allowing you to install. It does this by looking at the hardware and such during bootup. Too many hardware changes will cause it to fail. Here's an option though:
Buy a Windows XP CD without a licence. This is much cheaper than buying a regular Win Xp disc, and is still legal (I think) as long as you already have a valid licence. Install from this CD, use your old product key, and when you need to activate, call Microsoft and explain that you upgraded your system. You could even use a friend's XP CD and your own product key.
Is this all legit? I'm not sure. It makes sense to me, but laws themselves don't always follow common sense. Btw, it's definately not legal to have two computers running off of the same liscence key, so you'll have to get rid of the old one somehow.
Here's another option: install the old harddrive as the primary harddrive in the new machine. Add a second (or third or fourth) harddrive if you need the space and have the room. Start it up. You'll have to download drivers for all of the new hardware. You'll be asked to re-register Windows within 30 days. Everytime you have a major hardware upgrade you have to do this. Call them (doing it over the internet won't work) and tell them that you upgraded your hardware. Which is 100% true and legal as far as I can tell.
2006-08-25 12:53:41 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, the CDs you have are system restore CDs and are designed specifically with the drivers that you currently have, including your motherboard drivers. If you replace the motherboard, the CDs become useless. However, buy a copy of Norton Ghost and when you get the computer back up and running after getting new parts, ghost your PC and create your own back up CDs.
2006-08-25 12:40:26 · answer #2 · answered by nighthawk_842003 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you can try - the recovery will contain the Win Xp on it but you may not have the correct drivers for the mobo and HDD on it - so you may run into a few provlems
BUT there are ways to get around this
But the biggest problem that you may have is when you install the windows XP it may ask you to register again and it may not allow you to do this - cause when you first registered the computer with MS it would have taken a snap shot of you system and created a HASH key that is unique to your system (very basic explanation)
But heh go for it - rebuild your own system
It makes you happy !!!!
2006-08-25 12:45:38 · answer #3 · answered by FEN 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't know from experience, but it definitely doesn't hurt to try. It may not interact well with the different hardware in place because chances are the restore disc was made with your old hardware in mind. It isn't like you can really break anything by trying to install Windows, it will either work or it won't.
2006-08-25 12:38:10 · answer #4 · answered by sndsofscnce 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Probably not. Most of the "economy" PCs only come with a Restore Disk containing a "ready-made" system.
2006-08-25 12:37:30 · answer #5 · answered by luckyaz128 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Emachine CD's check you hardware configuation to make sure it's the right software on the right machine.
2006-08-29 09:02:35 · answer #6 · answered by timespaperboy 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes the installation is possible, but the OS activation may or may not fly with Microsoft. Good Luck
2006-08-25 12:39:51 · answer #7 · answered by Devil Dog 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋