BSOD on WinXP guest with .VHD & AMD CPU

[bamim2]

Sorry for all the acronyms in the subject line...
I have a Windows 7 Pro 64-bit Host OS with 16GB of RAM & Intel i3 CPU. I created a guest system from a working (32-bit) Windows XP Pro system with an AMD processor & created a .VHD from the hard drive. I've done this exact thing before using another XP system & it worked great. I've tried every combination of settings I can think of to get this to boot up & I just keep getting the BSOD. Does anyone have any ideas what I can do to get this to boot up correctly?

[mpack]

It would be nice to know the exact BSOD error message. If you press F8 when you start the VM are you able to boot in safe mode? If yes then disable the feature which automatically resets on a BSOD.

It's often a good idea to fix the migration problems before the migration, since access can be a bit tricky afterwards. As with any XP migration the usual suspects are a change in IDE controller chipset, or a change in the CPU. From a really old (Win98 era) PC, AGP graphics can also be a problem. The former is fixed by running "MergeIDE" on the system prior to imaging it as a VHD. The CPU problem... well I'm not sure what you do if its an AMD CPU. Typically I would delete "intelppm.sys" from the Windows\System32\Drivers folder. AGP graphics are not likely to be your problem, we can discuss it again if it is.

If all else fails you can try "Repair the installation" using an XP setup cd. This would be a last resort however, as this may break some installed apps. OTOH you can try it without risk if you backup the VHD first.

[bamim2]

I'd love to know what BSOD it is too, but it goes by so fast I can hardly even tell the screen is blue. It's just a blue flash on the screen & then it's gone. I've tried, but cannot boot into Safe Mode. Is there any way to halt the system so I can see that screen? I've tried pushing the Pause/Break button, but it doesn't do anything that I can tell. I've looked at the log file, but I don't see anything useful there. Of course, I'm not experienced at deciphering the log info, so I may not know "useful" if I was looking right at it.

I'm open to suggestions. I don't really understand what I could do to fix the migration problems. If you could you break it down for me, I can try some things. I still have the system the drive came out of, so I could put it back in & try some things. Of course, then I'd risk turning that drive into a paperweight. I'm willing to try things though. Please, suggest away...

Thanks!

[mpack]

I already gave you my suggestions: First run MergeIDE on the original XP system. This has no downside: it makes XP more tolerant of IDE controller changes. 2nd, delete that intelppm.sys file. That also has no downside that I know of. Then image using Disk2VHD as I presume you did before.

As a final step I would recommend using CloneVDI (see sticky at top of "Windows Hosts") to convert the VHD to a VDI, the latter being more robust than VHD and also better supported in VBox, being the native image format. This can done before or after you fix the BSOD (it has no bearing on that matter).

[amdfan404]

You could attach the logs so people can see them and have a better idea of your problem; if you compress them, do it with 7-Zip, PPMd mode, for best compression.

I'm a PC tech for a living and I have made many of such "migrations", cloning disks or just moving HDD from one PC to another since Win95 through WinXP and at the beginning seems to work but later Windows will grow unstable to finally crash. I have searched a lot information about it in Internet and found that the only Windows versions that can go from one PC to another without problem is Vista/7 IF you make a WIM image, Win Vista/7 is actually a pre-installed Windows put in a WIM image and then burned for sale, so you can do the same, and is a proven theory: I have read on another forum that a guy (sys admin) did just what I did with the same results and he finally was happy because Vista (recently launched back then) was WIM deployable on PCs, and he could do it in parallel with a custom streamlined version suited for the company he worked in.

So I'm very surprised to read that you made it work flawlessly once, but is tricky for sure and maybe you missed a detail or two how to make it right, I wouldn't put my hopes in it and instead start a new VM, to be practical about it. Windows once installed is Registry dependant so it'll load memory maps and addresses from the registry and try to work with that without analysing much even all new hardware have been completely recognized. Well this is just my POV.

Good Luck.

[bamim2]

Here's the log. I just booted one time, got the BSOD & stopped it manually. It just goes around & around endlessly if I let it go.

Just to clarify, maybe the reason I was able to get the 'other' Windows XP hard drive to work was that it was the hard drive from the system I'm using before I installed Windows 7 Pro 64-bit on it. All I did was add more RAM & installed the 64-bit OS on the exact system. I even used an identical hard drive when I installed the new OS. That may be the only reason I've had success with it. I'm not going to say anything else & jinx it.

If you or somebody else who's knowledgeable on VB could look at the log & tell me why this thing is dying I'd appreciate it. It looks to me like it just goes to read the hard drive & stops. I don't see any reason. Again. I'm no expert.

Thanks for any help I can get on this.

[amdfan404]

VB logs are way too complicated and long to analyse fast enough to give a quick answer, I have knowledge to understand overall it but is in a format that only devs can understand or people who knows its syntax. Sorry mate, I hope someone can be an expert and help you out.

[bamim2]

Understood. Thanks.

[vbox4me2]

A p2v conversion with problems needs either a step by step controlled boot or a safe-boot where items can be disabled en mass, it is usually wise to disable just about every service / auto-run item, deleting items in device manager like chip-set, CPU's, Hal, disk controllers and anything exotic like special video drivers, before dumping the image. But also care needs to be taken as disabling too much can lead to other problems. A second golden rule is to set the VM image as immutable until every change is documented because one crash can cause other problems which can get unrecoverable after solving the first one.

[bamim2]

So noted. Is/was there a way to make the image "read only" or something then? It also appears that we're on the brink of "too much work". However, now that you mention it, I do remember there being a way to boot (I think it was) Windows NT 4.0 & step through the boot procedure. Does anyone know if that's possible in XP & if so, how?

[mpack]

I'm a PC tech for a living and I have made many of such "migrations", cloning disks or just moving HDD from one PC to another since Win95 through WinXP and at the beginning seems to work but later Windows will grow unstable to finally crash. I have searched a lot information about it in Internet and found that the only Windows versions that can go from one PC to another without problem is Vista/7

That is complete nonsense. The XP Pro PC I'm typing this on now was migrated from an earlier XP installed on a Win98 era host with AGP graphics, old P4 processor, the whole lot. XP had been running for something like 4/5 years on the old PC, and it needed all the migration fixes I mentioned above. The main PC I use at work likewise. Many of my VMs - likewise. I did most of these migrations a couple of years ago, all are still working just fine - in fact better then most new Vista/Win7 installs, because I always keep my process list lean and mean.

Any PC tech worth his fee who has direct access to the PC involved should be able to diagnose and fix any problems that occur. A PC is a deterministic machine - it does not "grow unstable" unless the guy managing it is clueless.

[bamim2]

Sorry, I totally missed your info on Merge ID & Clone VDI. Thanks for that info. I'll see what I can do.

[amdfan404]

That is complete nonsense. The XP Pro PC I'm typing this on now was migrated from an earlier XP installed on a Win98 era host with AGP graphics, old P4 processor, the whole lot. XP had been running for something like 4/5 years on the old PC, and it needed all the migration fixes I mentioned above. The main PC I use at work likewise. Many of my VMs - likewise. I did most of these migrations a couple of years ago, all are still working just fine - in fact better then most new Vista/Win7 installs, because I always keep my process list lean and mean.

Any PC tech worth his fee who has direct access to the PC involved should be able to diagnose and fix any problems that occur. A PC is a deterministic machine - it does not "grow unstable" unless the guy managing it is clueless.

If you use your brain is not nonsense, because WITHOUT all the fixes that you suggested that aren't obviously popular knowledge, since they don't get hit much in web searches, Win95+ migration is guaranteed to be a growing unstable one, not only observed by me but for others that tried as hard and saw the instability. Windows is deterministic yes, and the clueless one is you that obviously didn't try and see how WinXP deterministically grows unstable because of design, since all you can do without the fixes is just do what any tech worth his fee would do and that is try to reason with a deterministic Windows to try to make it get along with the new hardware as I try to reason with you (deterministic pretentious narrows sighted moron) to see a new situation, one of many in which Windows grows unstable by itself, which obviously you haven't seen neither but you have the balls to open your mouth. Have you heard of cumulative errors? that's how something grow unstable.

Thx for the new small bag of tricks anyway.

Something else you're clueless about is that since mid 2010 Win7 is a lot better than WinXP for any task, tested my self and confirmed by countless users.

[amdfan404]

Well, your regurgitation of received wisdom along with your reference to the popularity of an idea rather than its factual basis... I think says everything about you that I need to know.

Just FYI: I am a professional software programmer with 30 years experience on PCs and embedded. I find it amusing when an ignoramus tries to blind me with science...

You obviously and conveniently skipped the both parts where I write that I have tried and others, dumbasses like you always do that to try & fail to make the insulted people look as bad as they write they are, never admitting and error and everything they write/say is pure wisdom, lol, how small and insignificant you must feel to create such a huge superiority complex. I pity you because sucks to be you. Programmer not technician, so you don't don't see the huge amount of ways Windows fails or is abused by users/malware. And I find it amusing your obvious errors and how you pretend to be wise, you have knowledge and some intelligence but wise is something else, I'm an ignoramus? hahaha, think again.

[mpack]

Well, this is lots of fun, but no help to the OP. I'm content that the true value of your advice is now obvious.