I would suggest you to make a fresh re-install of OS, formatting previous one using a boot disc or a bootable USB flash drive.

useless1874 commented: read carefully, he does not want to re-install. +0

@kaimaster1045

This sounds like it might be the solution I'm looking for. How many people have tried this method and succeeded?

I recently upgraded my motherboard, CPU, and RAM on my system. I absentmindedly did the upgrade without first running sysprep or installing the new motherboard drivers. Now I can't get Win7 to boot properly. It tried the startup repair once, failed, and now it usually just gets to the splash screen and stops there.

Just want to be really sure about your method before I give it a go.

Also, I tried the Hiren's Boot CD method already, but it bluescreens on me upon trying to launch Mini XP... O_o

i have to agree with johhy-marshal on this one ,a fresh install is the best ,just backup you data ,and for the programs you'll loose ,and just reinstall the one you use the most ,you won't be dissapointed in how well you fresh install of win7 will work

dcoetzee you are the man! Ive been using Hirens for years for numerous reasons but NEVER knew it had that option. I wish i knew this years ago! 10x so much!!!

Hail to dcoetzee. I had to install a new motherboard, CPU, and memory but wanted to keep my old harddrive running Windows 7 with all of my pre-installed programs and saved data. I downloaded the Hirens Boot CD, which contains a program to burn it to CD, booted from this CD and followed dcoetzee's instructions. Removed the CD, booted from the harddrive and it loaded right into Windows 7 and installed the new drivers for the motherboard. Those it couldn't find, were on the CD that came with my new motherboard. No fuss no mess. I didn't lose anything and all my programs were installed and all data where it should be.

The only thing to note is that I did have to re-activate Windows because it was linked to the new Motherboard. I just used the phone activation and had no problems.

I have to tell you that the sales person/technician who sold me my new components told me it couldn't be done. Glad I didn't take his word for it.

Thanks for the information, Hirens will now let some hair grow back on my head after this past weekend. Simply put I had to install the hard drive in a new system due to a cascading failure and it would boot to the point of saying "Windows" and then it flashes a blue screen and reboots. This is of course Windows 7 Professional. I was close to wiping the drive and/ or copying it, but Hirens worked some definite magic. Boot to the CD that you make, go to the utilities as mentioned above and then find your Windows directory on your disc, make that your target, and then update your mass storage.... reboot and you're in business. Took less than 2-minutes to zip through all of it. No need to get too involved or dig too deep.... Hirens does it for you.

For me, the new MOBO's default SATA mode (AHCI) was not what the Windows driver on my old HDD was expecting. My system would reboot before Windows got to the login screen, even when booting in Safe Mode. I changed the SATA mode to "IDE" in the BIOS and Windows booted up in Normal Mode. After I logged in, Windows 7 went about detecting all the new hardware and installing drivers for it. There were a few drivers that Windows didn't have, one of which was the Ethernet driver, so I had no network access. After a reboot, I used the MOBO manufacturer's DVD to install the Ethernet driver, I re-authenticated Windows and then ran Windows Update. Windows Update detected and installed more of the missing drivers and even picked up a few updates for the other drivers. Another reboot. There were a couple more drivers that I still needed, but those were also on the MOBO manufacturer's DVD. Once those were installed and I rebooted once more, I had a fully functional system with no complaints in the Control Panel for any hardware! I was even able to go back into the BIOS settings and change my SATA controller back to AHCI mode and Windows booted up and detected that hardware change. After rebooting again (sigh), my system ran noticeably faster using AHCI mode. I definitely recommend doing this last step.

Cheers man saved me a ton of trouble. You are a god among men.

Regards
Michael

Sorry Guys for the previous long post, but here's the file attached....

Regards

Kai

lewat mana ni kalo mau langsung donload OS-nya, makasih sebelumnya

commented: maybe learn some english before posting in other language and when the whole post's in english? +0

do u not understand that.. he can't even boot into windows.. so no safe mode, no safe modewith command prompt whatsoever. read.

Just another failure report:
Old Motherboard (P5G31) would not detect the harddisk anymore, new PSU and other HD the same. The
new MB (Intel Db75EN with i3-3220) detects HD and offers the (multi-) boot of Win7, but hangs at the animated Win7 startup screen.
What I tried without success:
- Windows repair (after F8) - "startup repair has tried several times but still cannot determine the cause of the problem"
- Windows 7 SP1 setup-dvd > repair => see above
- BIOS SATA mode: IDE instead of AHCI => same
- Hiren's boot CD - fix (remove) HD drivers on the correct volume => Win7 boots into repair mode directly, without hanging at the logo, but => see above

So, what I did before re-installing over the old installation partition:
Fresh install of Win7 on another HD, attaching the former HD as a second drive, and
backup the user data, profiles etc. In this way any configuration stored in files can be restored to a new install of the programs, alas contents in the registry are lost.

jtchitty,

You are awesome!!!

This was exactly the fix for me. I was just about to do the Hirens thing, but all I had to do was press F2 for BIOS and change the SATA mode. Windows is now installing all the necessary drivers.

Thank you so much for sharing your fix here!

For me, the new MOBO's default SATA mode (AHCI) was not what the Windows driver on my old HDD was expecting. My system would reboot before Windows got to the login screen, even when booting in Safe Mode. I changed the SATA mode to "IDE" in the BIOS and Windows booted up in Normal Mode. After I logged in, Windows 7 went about detecting all the new hardware and installing drivers for it. There were a few drivers that Windows didn't have, one of which was the Ethernet driver, so I had no network access. After a reboot, I used the MOBO manufacturer's DVD to install the Ethernet driver, I re-authenticated Windows and then ran Windows Update. Windows Update detected and installed more of the missing drivers and even picked up a few updates for the other drivers. Another reboot. There were a couple more drivers that I still needed, but those were also on the MOBO manufacturer's DVD. Once those were installed and I rebooted once more, I had a fully functional system with no complaints in the Control Panel for any hardware! I was even able to go back into the BIOS settings and change my SATA controller back to AHCI mode and Windows booted up and detected that hardware change. After rebooting again (sigh), my system ran noticeably faster using AHCI mode. I definitely recommend doing this last step.

I Know this is an old post,
But I thought id share my experience incase anyone else is looking for a solution to this issue,
1. get a Hirens boot cd
2. boot into the mini xp Provided on Hirens
3.
In the hirens utilities, Find registry tools, and click on FIX hdd controller
It launches a dos window, where you select your target root, and choose repair.
It seems to delete the old driver out of current control set 00 from your registry, and replace it with generic version.

Worked like a charm for me!

Many thanks for it. Saved a life.

dcoetzee ... Thank you! Hirens Boot cd and you helped me out BIG TIME. My Windows 7 MB died and I needed to switch the HDD to a former XP PC. With your help I did get it to work.

Thanks dcoetzee. Your idea with Hirens Boot Cd worked perfectly!!! Motherboard crashed and installed new one with Windows 7 not booting up past the loading screen.

I'm getting ready to do a move somewhat like this. I jsut got a new Dell Inspiron with more ram and a bit faster than my 2.3Ghz. I plan to while win7 is on old sys removing all hardware from the device manager. Remove drive and place in new system. I'm hoping all it will need is net access to download new drivers for certain functions. Also going to move a win8 drive to older Inspiron only 4 yrs old 4gig ddr3 and 1 Terabyte good enough for win8 to run at 2.3Ghz. In thearoy this will work ant reason not to think so?

I would clone your old hard disk to a new disk and then install the new disk into the dell, then see if you can get win7 to re-detect the hardware.
That way, you still have your operational win7 installation on the original hdd, this allows you to try again if the new install is trashed.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.