OS will not boot

[JmsCorwin]

I just replaced a socket 478 mobo , 2.5G Celeron (R) and 1.0 GB of memory in an emachine T2542 running Windows XP SP2 with a Biostar P4M900-M4 mobo, Pentium 4 3.0g, and 4.0GB of memory. CMOS setup and POST seem to run alright, but when the OS boots from the HDD the Windows screen which says that Windows was sutdown for some reason and asks how I want to start Windows in Normal, Previous known condition, Safe, etc. appears and when I select any of the choices the machine just reboots and the same screen reappears. When I boot with the OEM emachine recovery disk in the CDROM Drive I get the screen which asks if I want to reinstall Windows and delete all my data or if I want the Command Prompt. Each time I choose the command prompt I get an A: drive prompt and I can not change drive. It just keeps coming up invalid drive. I'm thinking that the OS may have been corrupted when the old mobo failed, but why do I just get an A: drive prompt? All the drives show up in the CMOS and the boot order is floppy, CD, HDD.

Any help is gteatly appreciated.

[Ajmukon]

try an Ubuntu live CD/DVD to see if it is a hardware problem first (all but the HD) and try to (you will need a burner) boot to it...

www.Ubuntu.com

sounds to me like HD failure or bad replacement motherboard, and i am leaning towards bad mobo.

also, is the OS "OEM" (ie, preinstalled with a factory produced computer?)
[Original Equipment Manufacturer]

You see, an OEM OS is TIED to the motherboard- replacing the motherboard may mean buying a new copy of MS Windows...

[mjc]

I just replaced a socket 478 mobo , 2.5G Celeron (R) and 1.0 GB of memory in an emachine T2542 running Windows XP SP2 with a Biostar P4M900-M4 mobo, Pentium 4 3.0g, and 4.0GB of memory.

Did you at least do a repair install?

If you just transplanted a hard drive from the old system to the new one...then yeah, most likely it won't boot.

[JmsCorwin]

Since I have emachine OEM restore disks I'd be more then happy to do a repair install if I found out how to do it and keep the data on my HD.
Is the Tracking ID found on my restore CD's cover the same as the product key?

[JmsCorwin]

Since I have emachine OEM restore disks I'd be more then happy to do a repair install if I found out how to do it and keep the data on my HD.
Is the Tracking ID found on my restore CD's cover the same as the product key?

" Governments tend not to solve problems, only rearrange them", Ronald Reagan

[Whyzman]

Someone in the know may need to advise us as to whether the restore disks you have actually contain a full version of Windows, or only a preconfigured version that applies only to the previous hardware...

If it is only a preconfigured version, it may not have the necessary files to be able to fill in the gaps to configure the new hardware.

[mjc]

Your machine is no longer an eMachine, so it is doubtful that the restore disks will work, even if they are 'full' versions and not just a disk image of the factory fresh install.