my computer will not boot into windows, but when i use a hard drive wit linux it works just fine. what wrong?

Question

i hooked up different hard drives from around the house with windows installed on them, that work fine in other computers, but once i hook it up to my computer it just gives me the blue screen of death. but once i hook up a hard drive with linux on it, it works just fine?

Answer 1

The version of Windows you are booting, probably has incompatible drivers for your motherboard or CPU. For example, let's say the hard drive you found in your house had Windows and included installed drivers for an older ASUS motherboard. If your other (newer) computer runs using an Intel motherboard or different chipset, Windows might crash and not boot at all. Your best bet is to try to reinstall Windows using the Repair (not Recovery Console) utility included on the Windows disc.

Answer 2

Try booting windows into safe mode.

I suspect the problem is that it is trying to use the drivers in the other computers which have different hardware (many Linux distros are very good at autodetecting hardware and using the correct drivers which would explain why Linux was working).