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Thread: Swapping MB concerns

  1. #1
    Member Jimstep's Avatar
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    Swapping MB concerns

    Hello SYSOPT. I haven't been on the forum for awhile. It's good to see the board still active.

    I'm getting ready to upgrade my motherboard, memory and cpu. I'm going to continue using my harddrives running Windows XP SP2.

    I'll make sure that the new MB has the latest BIOS and chipset drivers.

    Is there anything special that I need to do with the operating system when I change hardware?

  2. #2
    Stark Raving MOD Midknyte's Avatar
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    you can't just swap it over. you'll have to at least do a repair install.

    http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;824125

  3. #3
    Member Jimstep's Avatar
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    That's good to know. I think I will start with a freshly formatted hard drive just to keep it as clean as possible.

    Thanks...

  4. #4
    Ultimate Member RockNRoll's Avatar
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    Thats what I did. I format to ensure max compatability.

  5. #5
    Member Jimstep's Avatar
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    All finished. I ended up adding a SATA 120Gb Maxtor to my system. Windows wouldn't boot with the old drives.

  6. #6
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    Normally boot problems occur when switching motherboards because of differing chipsets/IDE drivers. To get around this it is best to install the Standard Microsoft Dual IDE drivers before the upgrade as these will work with most motherboards - then you can boot the new board and install the correct IDE drivers. Windows will then autodetect most of the other devices quite happily

    For safety's sake I normally reinstall the standard MS SVGA drivers at 640*480, and remove the sound card drivers/software as well, before swapping boards.

    Too late for the original question - but may be useful for future reference. Of course if you have the time to do a full re-install that is preferable, but if you have a decent number of applications installed this can the time consuming.

  7. #7
    Ultimate Member ShadeZeRO's Avatar
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    I looked at the microsoft link there you posted...and well..1 thing kinda confused me

    whats the difference between upgrade and repair?

    Do you have to reactivate? or reinstall programs?...do you lose anything?

  8. #8
    Member Jimstep's Avatar
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    Thanks, Steves. That would have been nice to know up front. I don't upgrade often. It is hard to tell what needs to be changed and when Windows will be forgiving. MicroSofts instructions for changing motherboards does not work as described.

    ShadeZeRo, I had to call MicroSoft to complete the activation process. They asked me if I had that version of Windows running on another box. Then they gave me some very long number I had to key in to proceed.

    Other than that, I've had a few other glitches I'm working through.

    My most satisfying moment was getting Doom 3 running in Ultra Quality mode on a 256Mb memory card with no shuttering. Awesome benchmark with the timedemo demo1 producing 93.2 FPS.
    Last edited by Jimstep; 05-23-2005 at 12:58 PM.

  9. #9
    Stark Raving MOD Midknyte's Avatar
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    reactivation is a given. no surprises there.

    I've swapped out boards and done a repair install before, so I know that way works. there are no guarantees, though. merely adding the other IDE drivers didn't work.

  10. #10
    Member Jimstep's Avatar
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    I must have followed the wrong procedure for the repair. When I booted from the cdrom, I didn't get the option. No big deal.

    Though, now when my system sits for awhile, it doesn't wake up from the screen saver. Sort of. The monitor will come back on and I'll see the image (3d pipes), but no movement. The desktop isn't displayed. My only option is to reboot.

  11. #11
    Stark Raving MOD Midknyte's Avatar
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    from what you just said I know you DIDN'T follow the instructions. you don't get a repair option when you boot. you need to continue like a normal installation. winxp's setup will scan your hdd, then ask you if you want to repair an existing installation.

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