Could I install fundamentals using a different machine , then move the drive to the packard bell?

I get the feeling it'll need some form of repair installation in order to work with the packard bell board once it's moved , maybe this could be an option?

Have you fiddled with the BIOS' plug'n'play options? Disabled as many onboard stuff as possible? Disabled some ACPI stuff to test? Sorry, I don't own such a machine to help you further.

The bios is really basic. there isn't even a plug and play option.

There just the drive section , boot sequence , and section to disable onboard devices.

Is there a way to install the os using a different machine , then transfer the drive to the packard bell and fix the installation so the packard bell will boot it?

You can just plug the HDD in another machine and try - but it will install drivers specific to that system. Try using something that resembles the hardware your Packard Bell uses (e.g. the chipset and graphics card) for higher chances of success.
Oh, and please do look for BIOS updates. Perhaps Packard Bell released something to address whatever triggers this bug.

well something tells me a bios update for an 18 year old machine to fix a bug from a 2006 version of windows isn't going to be very available. 🤣

If Windows 2000 also triggers this... there might be. Though I would not bet on it.

alexanrs wrote:

If Windows 2000 also triggers this... there might be. Though I would not bet on it.

Windows 2000 does , however I think packard bell usa was gone by then.

If there is a guide on how to transfer a windows xp drive without having to reinstall it , I'll try to find it and see if that helps.

Try these links:

https://www.raymond.cc/blog/move-windows-xp-h … creen-of-death/

https://www.gcsdstaff.org/roodhouse/?p=867

Either one should work, provided the Packard Bell doesn't have any more "hidden" surprises.

the second link doesn't work

the machine is also stopping when trying to load hirens boot cd. Again , not hard freezing , just stopping.

Maybe the cd drive isn't fast enough?

When I worked on field support I had a Windows XP Image (Norton Ghost) made in a socket 462 nForce-equipped board. Since XP wasn't aware of any of those HWIDs (thus no prebuilt driver for that chipset), it just used its default, generic ones. It was the perfect image for deploying at almost every scenario - the only problem was that you had to set the SATA disk controller to IDE/legacy mode on modern motherboards ("modern" = having SATA 😁 ).

I've read about JayCee's tip before but found out that my method was a bit more efficient (this and drp.su's driverpacks were great time savers).

emosun wrote:

the machine is also stopping when trying to load hirens boot cd. Again , not hard freezing , just stopping.

Maybe the cd drive isn't fast enough?

Try FalconFour's Ultimate Boot CD. It's a optimized Hiren's Boot CD with more tools under DOS and MiniXP.

emosun wrote:

the second link doesn't work

You're right, the server doesn't respond. It was working last night; hopefully it will come back online soon.

Snayperskaya wrote:

When I worked on field support I had a Windows XP Image (Norton Ghost) made in a socket 462 nForce-equipped board. Since XP wasn't aware of any of those HWIDs (thus no prebuilt driver for that chipset), it just used its default, generic ones. It was the perfect image for deploying at almost every scenario - the only problem was that you had to set the SATA disk controller to IDE/legacy mode on modern motherboards ("modern" = having SATA 😁 ).

I've read about JayCee's tip before but found out that my method was a bit more efficient (this and drp.su's driverpacks were great time savers).

That is a cleaner and more practical way to transfer XP from one PC to another. I imagine Intel 875P boards will do as well.

Just one question, what about the activation process? (unless you were using XP Pro Corporate ^^ ).

Snayperskaya wrote:

Try FalconFour's Ultimate Boot CD. It's a optimized Hiren's Boot CD with more tools under DOS and MiniXP.

also doesn't boot I get a "windows failed to open the ramdisk image" when trying mini xp

I also tried mini linux and get a cmov error for that.

This must be the most incompatible computer ever. 🤣

Most current versions of Linux don't have support for Pentium CPUs, only Pentium Pro and above:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/115690/this-ke … u-error-message

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php?topic=107279.0

As for the MiniXP error, could be bad system memory or a faulty CD drive.

JayCeeBee64 wrote:

You're right, the server doesn't respond. It was working last night; hopefully it will come back online soon. […]
Show full quote

emosun wrote:

the second link doesn't work

You're right, the server doesn't respond. It was working last night; hopefully it will come back online soon.

Snayperskaya wrote:

When I worked on field support I had a Windows XP Image (Norton Ghost) made in a socket 462 nForce-equipped board. Since XP wasn't aware of any of those HWIDs (thus no prebuilt driver for that chipset), it just used its default, generic ones. It was the perfect image for deploying at almost every scenario - the only problem was that you had to set the SATA disk controller to IDE/legacy mode on modern motherboards ("modern" = having SATA 😁 ).

I've read about JayCee's tip before but found out that my method was a bit more efficient (this and drp.su's driverpacks were great time savers).

That is a cleaner and more practical way to transfer XP from one PC to another. I imagine Intel 875P boards will do as well.

Just one question, what about the activation process? (unless you were using XP Pro Corporate ^^ ).

Yea, the image was made from a XP Pro Corporate (we used a Open Licence or something).

You can always try the sysprep method, although I'm not sure FLP supports it:

http://www.answersthatwork.com/Download_Area/ … XP_PC_setup.pdf