Upgrading to 64bit

Raz

I've start to upgrade to an amd64 from an amd xp. Before I took everything apart I reset the IDE controller driver to the standard IDE controller in Win XP.
Now I'm upgrading most parts of the PC, CPU and mobo obviously as well as GFX and the PSU. What I'm wondering is will my old xp still boot on the 64bit processor or not? It'd be nice if it did but I can always get a SATA HD and reinstall.
Also I got this mobo here , will the nf4 chipset allow me to boot from a single SATA HDD or will I need to have the SATA drives in a RAID array?
If I can boot from SATA I'll definitely get myself one.

uberpixie

(a)sata hard drives are bootable. You do not need a raid array to use a sata as a bootable drive.

(b)For a fresh build ALWAYS re-install windows. It's just less trouble.

Raz

uberpixie wrote:

(b)For a fresh build ALWAYS re-install windows. It's just less trouble.

That would be ideal but it would mean setting up everything again which could take days. Personally I'd prefer 3 hours of hassel getting it to run properly rather than reinstalling everything.

vishal

you could give a shot but it probably wont work. take his advice.

DemonOfTheFall

For some things (such as a change in the HAL) there is absolutely no choice other than a reformat. Even microsoft recommend that u reformat if u change motherboards. Your pc will never be as fast and stable as it could be if u dont wipe the drive with a new mobo

Mutant_Fruit

Personally I'd prefer 3 hours of hassel getting it to run properly rather than reinstalling everything.

Three (but probably more) hours of hastle, and then months of below-par performance. Go format and reinstall everything. If you're properly organised you can get 90% of your stuff reinstalled within 3 hours easily enough. Its just a case of pop one disc out, next one in.

Raz

The HAL is part of the OS and is there so that the OS can be vague about the hardware it is running on. So when the BIOS hands over to the OS it will use the standard IDE controller driver which I specified and have an interface to the motherboard. Once that's done it will send instructions to the AMD64 which are compatible with the AthlonXPs instruction set

From http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/24659.PDF Compatible with Existing 32-Bit Code Base
– Including support for SSE, SSE2, MMX™,
3DNow!™ technology and legacy x86 instructions

So by all accounts the processor should run the instructions from the OS. And it will boot and tell me about all the new hardware detected.
I know that's probably a huge over-simplification but I think it will hold true.

And I don't see why it would underperform either. You get prompted about new hardware and you install the drivers. The OS now knows how to correctly talk to the hardware and should therefore run it as best as it can perform.
What would cause it to underperform?

kmb

Hi, i had the msi nf3 plat and the only way to boot from sata was by going through raid.I even stremlined my xp with sp2 etc and still had a problem which msi at the time didnt have a answer.Only by going through forums did i manage to get xp bootable.Bear in mind i have been building computers for 12 or so years and tried every trick in the book.

So yes it was possible but no it wasnt as straight forward as it seems or should be.Maybe things have changed by now,also my xp was home and pre sp1.

Good luck.

regards kieran

Raz

kmb wrote:

So yes it was possible but no it wasnt as straight forward as it seems or should be.Maybe things have changed by now,also my xp was home and pre sp1.

Maybe things are different with the nf4 ultra chipset, I'll have to look that up. I'm running xp pro sp 2 aswell so maybe that will help.

jozi

I can test it if you want
Using a 6600gt and athlonxp 2500+ now and have a skt939 and ati windows install to. My gfx went tits up so im waiting for a replacement while i use my old components.

EDIT: using sata to, on both installs

Raz

Yeah, I'd be interested in seeing what happened. I won't get a chance to do it myself until the end of the month.

jozi

I just tried to reboot into the install for my 64bit setup, not a chance. BSOD right after i told it to load, not even the xp loading screen.
TBH i'd backup all you software, drivers, downloaded files etc to another hd, format your existing hd and reinstall windows for several reasons.
It will clear any crap you collected over time, you might have viruses, malware etc you didnt know of.
Your fresh install will be more optimised than a transfered one (i assume so anyway, goin 32-->64bit).
Install all your stuff and ghost an image of your install to another hd so next time your pc's starting to run slow you can just ghost back to a nice fresh install.
If its email or i-net stuff your affraid to loose (if you dont use firefox and thunderbird read no further), there's a handy uttility called mozbackup that can store all your mails, settings, bookmarks etc to where ever you want (very handy program)

Jozi

EDIT: I must be tired or some thing.....
I just realised im trying to run a windows install done with a 64bit platform on a 32bit platform, which is the oposite of what your thinking of doing When i get my gfx card back ill try run this install on my 64bit mobo, cpu etc.....

JUst noticed your sig to, you defo use ff and tb

I'd still just reinstall windows

astrofool

well, u could just format the sata drive with the os, and leave the ide drive with all your stuff on it and transfer across slowly. Some progs may work without a reinstall from the other hd even, and those that don't can be installed as needed.

Mutant_Fruit

If you are installing XP on a computer with SATA drivers google for slipstreaming in SATA drivers. The drivers can be embedded into an XP install disc, doing away with the need for a floppy.

DemonOfTheFall

Yeah, use www.nliteos.com and you can auto-magically slipstream drivers,service packs, hotfixes and tweaks

Raz

Well Jozi, it's good to have the experimental proof that you can't go from 64bit to 32bit
I think I'll just do a fresh install on a SATA but I have to look up slipstreaming the drivers.

Raz

Over the weekend I was able to test booting from a hard drive, installed with XP sp2 on a sktA 3200+, on totally new 64bit hardware.
When I removed the hard drive from the 32bit machine I first set the IDE controller driver to the standard window driver. I then intalled it into my new setup which has a AMD64 skt939 3200+, MSI neo4 Platinum nf4 ultra motherboard and 6800GT PCIe graphics card.
I was surprised to see it boot with no problem at all, straight into windows and started looking for drivers for new hardware.
Also I'm running this setup on an ATX1.0 PSU which means a 20 pin PSU supplying a 24 pin socket.
I'm quite happy with how easily this worked out. I thought I'd have to do a lot of trouble shooting before I got anywhere near a proper boot.