Update on Windows XP Install over Windows Server 2003
I wrote about most of the issues I encountered with installing Windows XP on a machine that previously had Windows Server 2003 on it (as part of Windows Small Business Server) in the previous post. But there was one more wrinkle I thought I would call out since others may run into this.
The XP install ran fine and at some point near the end, it rebooted - I think at this point most of the setup was done and it was "starting Windows for the first time..." as it says. But on reboot, I got a blank screen. I waited for 5, 10, 15 minutes - and it became clear that that screen was going to be black forever. So I did what the clinically insane do - tried again. Redid Windows XP setup (I was watching a football game during this, so it's not like I was sitting there the whole time and it only takes about thirty minutes...) And of course, the same thing happened - black screen after reboot.
At this point - you'd think I'd learn to do this earlier, wouldn't you? - I stopped to think about what might be happening and I remembered that this machine had both a built-in video controller (on board - Intel Graphics blah blah blah) and a separate video card that I'd installed. Unplugged video cable from the onboard video to the separate card - et voila, as they say. Windows had on its own decided to use the other video card, even though it used the onboard video during setup. Go figure. Thought I'd write this up in case this happens to you - if you have multiple video out ports, make sure Windows isn't talking to one you didn't think it was before giving up and pulling out your hair.
