Booting different OS's on different drives?

[Odesseiron]

Hey all, I had a quick question for all the techies out there.

Recently Dell sent me a replacement for my XPS 710, with a 720 because the old one crapped out. I took out my old internal HD with Windows XP running on it, and put it in my new PC. New PC is running Vista, which I am liking just fine so far. however, there is some stuff I need to retrieve off the other HD (ie, POL info) and some other personal stuff. I can access the old drive from Vista, but nothing is bootable of course.

I made it so I can boot up XP if I want, by changing the bootable drive in setup. XP starts just fine, then it starts to find all the new hardware in the PC when XP boots up. New Videocard, Motherboard, etc. What isn't working however are my mouse or keyboard. Both are USB based. I wait until XP finds everything, then plug in my KB + Mouse, but XP isn't finding them, so really, I'm unable to access anything because I can't navigate.

My dad suggested I get a PS/2 mouse/kb and I should be able to use those. I have the keyboard, and he's bringing a mouse home today from work. Should this fix the problem? I'm not sure if it's that, or the computer is freezing, because my other HD has all the old drivers and BIOS of my old PC, and it's now recognizing this new stuff. I'm almost positive it's XP not recognizing the usb mouse + kb, but I just want to make sure in case it isn't.

Any thoughts or suggestions? thanks!

[Isiolia]

The easiest thing would just be to use the PS/2 keyboard and mouse.

USB input devices can be a pain like that. First, you "may" just need to wait. When you plug USB devices into different ports, Windows considers them to be "new" devices. Retarded, yes, but that's how it goes. In most cases, simply letting it sit there for a bit at the login screen will work. Eventually, Windows will install them behind the scenes and they'll start to function, just not immediately after boot. You can also try to shuffle them around in hopes of finding the ports they were plugged into before, if that's the problem.

I have, very rarely, come across machines where Windows either can't or won't install them, whether due to corrupt drivers or security (IE, password on Admin account = no installing devices without being logged in). Unfortunately for me, I ran into this on a machine that had no PS/2 ports >_>

So...yeah. Easiest thing, use the PS/2, log in, plug in USB peripherals. If they don't install at that point, it may be an issue with the USB controller (or driver for it), but usually that stuff works with generic drivers.

[Mafai]

everything is installed and working properly in device manager?

maybe the usb controller is not installed/detected correctly.

[Odesseiron]

everything is installed and working properly in device manager?

maybe the usb controller is not installed/detected correctly.

Couldn't even tell you at this point, as I can't get to the device manager.


And @ Isiolia, I don't have a password, so XP does log in automatically and it's reading everything new in the system, with the pop ups at the bottom saying so and so device is ready, but the mouse and keyboard aren't, no matter how long I wait. Like I said earlier, I have a PS/2 mouse and KB to try out later, and if the problem still persists, I'll see if there's anything else I can do. Does POL keep a record of POL ID's anywhere in any file? If it does, where is it? Cause that would save a lot of trouble. If not, I'll have to wait til I can figure out a way to get XP to boot properly and get it.

[Mafai]

you can just load the hdd as a secondary and pull the user folder (or is it USR) out of the old POL directory and into the new pol directory. it will show the IDs when u open POL, but prompt you for the passwords.

backup the current user folder in the new pol dir, incase this doesnt work for you. but when i copied ffxi from pc to pc, it kept all POL IDs, just not passwords that were stored. good luck.

[Olo401]

Check your BIOS to see if the keyboard and mouse are set to USB auto-detect.

[Odesseiron]

you can just load the hdd as a secondary and pull the user folder (or is it USR) out of the old POL directory and into the new pol directory. it will show the IDs when u open POL, but prompt you for the passwords.

backup the current user folder in the new pol dir, incase this doesnt work for you. but when i copied ffxi from pc to pc, it kept all POL IDs, just not passwords that were stored. good luck.

Thanks for this! Worked like a charm. Really appreciate it.