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I want to transfer a harddisk from one system to another. I've been told that if I'm running W98 then it should be fairly straightforward, but my question is this: How do I install the necessary drivers on the harddisk so that it recognises the (different!) motherboard? I've downloaded all the files I need from the Asus site, but at what stage exactly do I unzip and install them on the disk, in order to get the new files to override the ones for the other motherboard?
Basically, I just want to do a straight transfer without having to reinstall Windows; so theoretically all I need to do is install the drivers for all the "new" hardware - so I just need to get through this first (motherboard) stage, and I should be home and dry... Any ideas?
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Thanks, but I don't really understand how that would help...
I've got one machine with a dead harddisk, which I'm throwing away. It's a more powerful system than the other one, from which I therefore want to transfer the harddisk, to use as the main bootdisk in the system that has no harddisk in it. So, if you're advising me to copy the contents of the disk, what am I supposed to copy it TO?
(Apologies if I'm completely misunderstanding what you're saying...!)
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Try it like this (you cant make it worse trying it like this)
Rip out the hard disk and stick it into new computer on IDE1.
Access the BIOS of new computer, click "detect hard disks" or failing that, go into standard CMOS setup and set all drives to "auto"
Save settings and exit, reboot and see what happens - post back.
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PS once you are running win98 on the new computer, then you can install the drivers. (providing this quarter assed method actually works)
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If you are using w98 just pop it in.
Windows will detect new hardware and load appropiate generic windows drivers.Once it has and rebooted you can then install appropiate mobo,graphics drivers etc.
Also.......XP related but some of it can apply to 98.......
Before you swap out the current motherboard go to device manager and select the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller and select your current storage controller. Right click, select update driver and select install from a list or specific location. Click don't search I will choose the driver to install and select the standard dual channel IDE controller.This will prevent the inaccessable boot device blue screen.
Also I found that booting the first time with the new motherboard is best done in the Safe mode where XP will install the drivers it needs and at the same time you can install the new motherboard drivers from its CD.
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In Win98 to prepare the harddrive for transfer to a new system you should perform the folowing regidtry modification. It removes the old hardware configuration and prevents any conflict with old/ned drivers. Once the regedit is done shut down and move the drive across.
Open regedit, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum
Remove all entries.I used to have a signature but it disappeared and I just couldn't be bothered writing another so please feel free to ingore this.
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It would be a good idea to copy the contents of the win98 folder on the 98 installation cd onto the hard drive before you do the switch. Just create a folder named 'win98' on the HD and copy into it the files from the same named folder on the cd. (The files may already be on your hard drive, either in c:\win98 or c:\windows\options\cabs. If so you obviously don't need to copy anything.)
What happens is, as soon as 98 boots up from the new motherboard it will see all the new hardware and begin installing the appropriate drivers. At some point in that process it will ask you to insert the 98 cd in order to copy the necessary files. Unfortunately it will not see the cdrom as a drive. So although it asks you to insert the 98 cd it won't be able to find it.
When it does that, just click OK and it will respond that it can't find the files and ask where to look for them. Browse to the win98 folder on the hard drive and it will find everything there.
Windows will probably need to reboot several times before it's installed all the drivers. When you eventually get to the desktop, open device manager and check to see if there are any double entries. For example, it may show your mouse twice--one of those will be accompanied by a yellow exclaimation mark. Delete BOTH entries and reboot. When it gets back to the desktop, device manager should show only one.
There may be other single enteries with the yellow exclaimation mark. You don't need to delete those. For them you'll need to install the appropriate drivers from a separate driver disk, either from your ASUS downloads or a driver disk for other hardware, modem, NIC, etc.
It's a good idea to delete the ENUM key as Richard59 suggests but it's not absolutely necessary and won't change the way it installs the new drivers.
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Well, thanks to everyone for all that ... but I seem to be in a bit of trouble!!!
Firstly, the harddisk booted up fine to begin with. But now I only have VGA (not SVGA - so the lowest resolution, etc.) and there are loads of exclamation marks in the device manager:
Gameport Joystick
PCI Universal Serial Bus (this appears 4 times)Also, it can't "see" my CD-rom or CD-writer drives.
In anticipation of what the next advice might be: I don't have the disks with drivers etc for my various bits of hardware. I know I should, but I don't. So, I have two questions:
1) Is it posible at least to get hold of "standard" SVGA drivers somewhere, and install those? The card is a very basic one.
2) Is there any kind of utility out there that can detect hardware on my system and give me its specifications, so that I can find it on the net?
Many thanks in advance...
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1) No
2) Yes, Everest
But first, I guess you didn't copy the necessary files before transferring the drive. Boot up the computer with a 98 bootdisk and choose cdrom support. Pay attention to the last few lines that load prior to the final a:\> prompt as that will tell you the cdrom drive letter. Some bootdisks temporarily change the letter.
Then at the a:\> prompt type md c:\win98 and enter. Then with the 98 cd in the cdrom type
copy X:\win98\*.* c:\win98 and enter, where X was the cdrom drive letter indicated when you booted up. That will copy the necessary files to the hard drive.Reboot to windows normally and open device manager. Double click on the yellow exclaimation mark items and choose to install their drivers. When it asks where to look, browse the the win98 folder you just created.
OR, it may be easier to delete all the marked items in device manager and reboot and let windows set up the devices in its own order.
Once you get the drivers installed that are already available on the 98 cd then you can hunt down any missing ones.
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