New Motherboard

[steve_nfi]

I have had to install a new motherboard in my home PC but the trouble is when I boot it up it comes to the point where it asks for safe mode, last known goog config etc, plus a message saying that there has been a hardware change and windows needs repairing. I have tried all these options and they all get so far and then the PC switches off. It don't think it can be anything to do with the hardware because if I boot up from a boot disk (ERD) it will stay up forever. It just when I try the normal boot or to repair from the windows install disk it switches off.
The O/S is Vista.
Can anyone shed any light on this or should I just reformat the hard drive and try reinstalling everything.

[laserblazer]

Presumably you've tried running windows in safe mode and installing the drivers that came with the mobo?

[kmount]

Need much more info, what board was the old one, what's the new one, etc.

[MyDejaVu]

it sounds like you will need a fresh reinstall, somehow the new motherboard has different specs hence the error,, but I though Vista was going to be HAL Independent, Am I wrong??? well that is my suggestion, fresh reinstall.

[steve_nfi]

Old motherboard was a Foxconn new board a MSI (Vista compatible).
Brought PC up in safe mode but as I went to install drivers it switched off again.

[kmount]

If it completely switches off, I'd be wondering if its overheating to be honest....

[steve_nfi]

It doesn't switch off when its running from a boot disk (ERD). It stays on until I shut it down. It's only when you try to boot from the normal hard drive. It did actually get into windows on a normal start up and I thought that the problem had gone but a couple of mins later it switched off.

[kmount]

Mmm... I'm still thinking heat you know..

Open the side of the case, blast the inside with a deskfan and see if it gets further.

[Michael]

I'm not so sure Vista is HAL independent. I was under the impression that if you sysprepped a Vista image you could use it on a wider range of hardware. Plus Vista's driver database is more much comprehensive than XP's.

I think the problem is because the existing installation hasn't been sysprepped so Vista is using the existing HAL to try and load windows on new hardware.

Personally in your situation, I'd recommend you backup your data, format your drive and re-install Vista and your applications.

[SYNACK]

If you can get it into Windows for a short time you may be able to use the "sysprep /generalize" command line to push it back into the driver independent mode for the next time that it reboots.

Given the description though I would also suspect overheating, might be an idea to redo the thermal paste on your CPU as it may have been damaged. The ERD boot may not be allowing the machine to reboot as it could be ignoring the overheat warning from the CPU. I had an old linux distribution that did this, windows dropped out to protect the CPU but linux dist just kept on ticking till I smelt the melting plastic off the old p3 chip that I was messing with.

[steve_nfi]

The story so far.
I'm tending to think that this may be a overheating problem.
I put some new thermal grease on the bottom of the cpu heat sink/fan.
The PC started up in safe mode, stayed on for a couple of minutes then switched off again.
Tried what Kmount suggested with the desk fan. The PC stayed up for about 10 minutes before switching off. Actually did some driver updates.
The paste didn't seem to cover very well so I am going to get another tube and apply this.
Any other suggestions in the mean time would be greatly appreciated.

[contink]

If it's a thermal issue you need to get into your bios and check what temps the system is showing in the hardware health section.

You may have a bios that's reading erroneous values so upgrading that may be vital but make sure you have that fan on the system full bore when you do it and go from cold because if it fails during a bios upgrade you end up with a MB brick!

Then check your auto-shutdown temps, etc...

Beyond that I'm seriously wondering if you haven't got a northbridge cooling issue too... Might be worth checking that's seated properly while you're at it.

[PeterW]

What model mainboard is it? Is it an Intel socket 775? if so make sure the heatsink is fitted correctly, make sure the cli[s are not in the release position (arrows should not be pointing towards the center of the heatsink). For example if only three of the posts are locked into place it will still fell on tight but will not be sitting flush on the cpu.

EDIT: What cpu is it also?

[SYNACK]

The paste didn't seem to cover very well so I am going to get another tube and apply this.
Any other suggestions in the mean time would be greatly appreciated.

Any old thermal paste should be cleaned off both the cooler and the CPU if you have not already done so as this will cause hot spots on the CPU that are not as well cooled. I agree with the others that suggest going into the BIOS to check the reported temperature once you have a clean thermal connection between the cooler and the CPU. You should be able to monitor the temp in there and see it rise if the cooler is still not copeing.

The BIOS upgrade is also a good idea but as contink says be very careful when doing this as a mess up there will cost you another Motherboard. It may even be an idea to test it with a different compatible CPU if you can borrow one to see if that runs stably and use it for the BIOS upgrade portion.

[steve_nfi]

Hooray. It's up and running of sorts. I took the whole lot apart again and put another sachet of thermal grease on, which covered the the entire base of the heatsink this time. I brought the PC up in safe mode, did some driver updates, some couldn't be found. Brought the PC up in normal mode so that I could use the internet for updated drivers and now the keyboard and mouse don't work. Tried a different keyboard and mouse and thats the same.
Tried bring it up in safe mode again (the keyboard works at that point) but as soon as I'm in Windows it doesn't work. Tried doing a windows repair and that thinks everything is OK.
Has anyone got any suggestions to this one please.
A Big Big thankyou to Kmount, Synack and Contink for there help previously and to everyone else who replied to this post.