On Thu, 22 Aug 2019 19:19:29 -0500, pheasant16
wrote:

No fun. It's like working on two faulty cars without one up and
running to get around for parts or just to get by on. So, your
replacement desktop, you didn't assemble, in addition to the XP box,
you -did- assemble -- both done gone kaputzy and just quit?

Stay away from your hard drives (and any data on them you value) until
you establish the MB/Memory/PS are not in fault conditions. Sure,
that is -not- to say you do not need a HD to do that, but a "boot HD"
can come a contingency of both a USB or DVD/CD boot;- Besides, a new
128G SSD is easily found under $20.

Building a computer over the course of a repair requires both
substitute parts, convenient enough to say when one spare parts works
over another that does not. Start with the MB and PS;- memory has a
tentatively better chance of being OK. At a fundamental software
layer that needn't be so complex as Microsoft, but to simply see a DOS
boot for a command prompt can establish a minimal hardware working
platform condition does in fact exist.

Next comes the selection of hardware you purchased. You want good
hardware and you want the included drivers it supports. That can run
from motherboard providers to XP, minimally XP3, W7, to W10, and,
optionally, more or less broadly, UNIX variants. As soon as you buy
Joe Blow's PC desktop assembly, whether from a fleamarket or BestBuy's
Geek Squad warranty fine-print specifications, there then becomes a
potential of an added layer of associative bull****;- Direct MB
support: that's good, A-OK when regarded over an established platform
of users for a type of support arguably that has apparent advantages.

It's where mechanical skills are at a minimum, getting around on parts
without inconsiderably breaking them. It's also where rational
skills, the knowledge and sense of what is to be expected or imposed
upon software, to subsequently benefit from a hardware selection
choice, is no less demanding if not moreso, these days, where
handhelds and W10 is being actively promoted for theoretical
industrial-grade dick-sheaths, where one size proactively is marketed
to fit over all, from their pointy little head down to tight fists
clenched impotently at their sides.

Puts the desktop picture up, but loads no icons and won't connect to
network. Boots into safe mode just fine.

Still have the original retail XP disk when I built the box.

Took it to a computer store, they didn't ask about the disk, but their
advice was too old get a new box. They tried a couple ways to get it
loaded, but no luck.

Broke down and got a new Win 10 desktop and am satisfied with it as a
replacement, but would still like to salvage the old one if possible.

A week ago it told me I had 3 days to activate it or it would shut off,
so let it register online, and the nag screen went away. 3 days later
it quit.

Hard drive failing or bad software? No hardware changes made for many
years.

Didn't do a system restore as read that if done in safe mode any
previous dates may be lost.

Would it be possible to boot from the CD and overlay the program files
without formatting and starting from scratch. Everything I've ever read
about repair installs makes a fresh install seem like the easiest way to go.

Guess I could throw a new hard drive in and do a fresh install, but then
I've lost the data I'm hoping to just be able to access if needed. (safe
mode does that now, but need a winter project)

Also Cardfile isn't in Win10. Found a program that will work in place
of it, dragged the .crd files from the old box to a USB drive, put it in
the new machine, and flash drive looks empty on the Win10 box. Dug out
an old Win 7, and drive showed empty there also. Put it back in the XP
box and shows up just fine. FAT 32 is how it was formatted before use.

Thanks for any ideas you can share. This should be good for a couple
days when the snow flies.