New motherboard & Windows 7 - HELP!

[tres]

Hi all,

My motherboard went a bit dodgy, so purchased a new one, and installed it today. Also put in a 8800GT to replace 3650


However, Windows 7 is now refusing to boot - gets to the "Starting Windows" thing with the swirly icon, then reboots. No error at all.

I've also, apart from new drivers at installation, thought Windows XP/Vista/7 could handle a new MB?

Any ideas what to do? Reinstallation of Windows is a no go as I have all my files on the HD. And the image of Windows 7 (legal one!) I downloaded on launch day.

Safe mode doesn't do anything different.

Any help would be amazing

 

[Rainmaker]

Any help would be amazing

Obvious suggestion is obvious, but have you tried a repair from the install DVD? If all fails, you can always boot from a Linux live CD (I recommend Mint 8) and copy your files over to a spare hdd before doing a full reinstall of Win7. It shouldn't come to that though.

 

[swinnie]

I'd hazzard a guess that where you've changed the motherboard as well as the Graphics card it's getting a missmatch with drivers. Sticking your old graphics card onto the board may get you into windows.

Personally, I'd grab a Linux Live CD, boot from it and copy all of your data, and your Windows disc image. Burn that and reinstall.

(Best to do a reinstall with a new motherboard anyway)

 

[theheyes]

As above really, although a slightly more risky version would be to just reinstall Windows 7 onto the same partition which will dump all of your old files into a windows.old folder.

You should have really taken a backup beforehand for precisely this reason but at least you know for next time.