Quick question

[Jody Sleath]

I'm running XP Pro SP2 on the P4PE-X motherboard. Today, my new motherboard,
the P4P800 Deluxe will be here. I just formatted not too long ago and I
don't want to do it again. Does anybody know if I'll be able to swap the
boards and have to or not have to format?

 

[AnnaPaola]

Sure, you can do it but is not recomended. I think that you cannot encounter
problem if the motherboard replaced use the same chipset platform as the old
(via or intel). For example I have replaced my old a7v133 with a new a7v880
and it work fine.
Anna.

 

[Jody Sleath]

Hi Anna. Thanks They both have Intel chipsets. And it's working. I Just
swapped it. Mind you, it's installing a million things, but it's working.

 

[Paul]

I'm running XP Pro SP2 on the P4PE-X motherboard. Today, my new motherboard,
the P4P800 Deluxe will be here. I just formatted not too long ago and I
don't want to do it again. Does anybody know if I'll be able to swap the
boards and have to or not have to format?

What worked for me, on Win2K, was changing the IDE driver to the
default Microsoft one, before transitioning the disk drive to
the new computer. When I first moved my disk, I got a BSOD and
a complaint about not being able to boot from the disk. I found
a suggestion in Google, to change any proprietary IDE driver on
the old computer, to the default Microsoft one. If both computers
have a PATA IDE port on the Southbridge, then chances are you can
move it from one machine to the other.

The next level of transition, is a repair install via booting
using the WinXP CD. You then have to install any service packs
that weren't already on that CD, and any security updates.
But at least, you won't have to do any applications, or lose
your settings.

In any case, it helps a lot to have the two machine still intact,
in case you have to move the disk back and forth, until you
get the recipe right. I cloned my disk, with Partition Magic,
so there would be no chance of losing all the contents in the
transition. That reduces the risks of something happening
via the new hardware.

If you only have enough hardware to have one computer running
at a time, simply assemble the hardware on your table top.
It is a lot easier to swap out the motherboard, if the stuff
is out in the open. In case you need to do some repair work
via the old configuration.

With the Win2K I use, there are no activation issues. I don't
know if Bill Gates will want a phone call for WinXP or not.

HTH,
Paul

 

[Jody Sleath]

Great tips Paul. So far, every time, I've found your advice really good. I
managed to swap boards without an issue, running the new board now... same
windows install. But that was good advice. Thanks.

 

[DaveW]

With any Windows installation, if you change the motherboard then you MUST
reformat the harddrive and do a clean install of the OS. Otherwise you'll
have ongoing nasty Registry errors and data corruption.

 

[Wayne Fulton]

Hi Anna. Thanks They both have Intel chipsets. And it's working. I Just
swapped it. Mind you, it's installing a million things, but it's working.

I did it once too, and had no problem either. I went from a Pentium to a AMD
motherboard, essentially everything was different. The first boot just
detected and installed what it needed, and then ran fine, never any problem
at all.

 

[AnnaPaola]

With any Windows installation, if you change the motherboard then you MUST
reformat the harddrive and do a clean > install of the OS. Otherwise
you'll have ongoing nasty Registry errors and data corruption.

Must reformat? This is only your opinion, i suppose otherwise.

 

[Leythos]

Must reformat? This is only your opinion, i suppose otherwise.

That's not true, you don't have to wipe/reinstall on every motherboard
change. There are MS documented ways to change the Motherboard and have
the system repaired and working without wipe/reinstall.

I would never change a motherboard with a different one without
reinstalling, but it's quite possible to do.

 

[Alex Devlin]

That's not true, you don't have to wipe/reinstall on every motherboard
change. There are MS documented ways to change the Motherboard and
have the system repaired and working without wipe/reinstall.

I would never change a motherboard with a different one without
reinstalling, but it's quite possible to do.

What I used to do way back in the days of Windows 95 was to delete
everything from the device manager. All your hard drives, controllers,
etc. Then shut down. Replace motherboard. Boot up and let windows do it's
thing. It worked everytime I did it but I can't guarantee it will work
everytime it's done.

I have done it once with windows XP and it configured itself without any
problems.

 

[Jody Sleath]

I had no problems. Didn't have to do any windows repairs or anything. Just
gave it the drivers it wanted, reconfigured the onboard LAN and motherboard
monitor and I was good to go. Used Norton WinDoctor to clean up the registry
and it's working great.
I would have formatted had I needed to. However, I did just did it a few
weeks ago and it takes me about six hours to get everything installed and
setup again. I didn't want to do it again so soon. And I didn't have to.

 

[lakesnow]

Must reformat? This is only your opinion, i suppose otherwise.

I agree with DaveW, reinstallation will have less problems.

Furthermore, reinstallation only takes about 30 minutes to one hour,
depending on how many applications to be re-installed too.

If things screw up, how long will it take to repair ?
For me, a fresh, clean reinstallation is much simpler. Sometimes my PC
gets reformated 3 times a day, when there are problems.

 

[Jody Sleath]

6 hours with updates, setting up programs and well installing them of course
For that, I took my chances.

 

[Wayne Fulton]

6 hours with updates, setting up programs and well installing them of course
For that, I took my chances.

And that seems mighty optimistic. There's always lots of loose odds and ends,
programs we forgot, and discovering new settings (in both programs and Windows
itself) that we must reset again, etc, etc, etc. It can take a few days to
get it right again. Instead, using the same disk OS when swapping
motherboards has much to be said for it

 

[Alex Devlin]

I agree with DaveW, reinstallation will have less problems.

Furthermore, reinstallation only takes about 30 minutes to one hour,
depending on how many applications to be re-installed too.

If things screw up, how long will it take to repair ?
For me, a fresh, clean reinstallation is much simpler. Sometimes my PC
gets reformated 3 times a day, when there are problems.

What the hell do you do to your PC that means you have to format and
reinstall 3 times a day? I've ran XP and XP-Pro for over 2 years now and
I've never had to format and install again. Even friends who are beta
testers have never had to do a clean sweep. Don't you use the restore
function? Or are you having hardware problems that you think are software
problems?

I know that might read a bit harsh but I don't mean it to be. I'm just
wondering why you would need to do that so often. Back in 95 + 98
flavours yeah, been there and done that with the formatting. I had one
bad day where I did a clean install of the system and all my software and
settings, which took about 8-10 hours, only to have the thing die on me
on the last restart. Nothing would get it to run again. So I went out and
got drunk with my friends as it was the only thing that would save my day

 

[Nickeldome]

I'm running XP Pro SP2 on the P4PE-X motherboard. Today, my new motherboard,
the P4P800 Deluxe will be here. I just formatted not too long ago and I
don't want to do it again. Does anybody know if I'll be able to swap the
boards and have to or not have to format?

You could use the 'deploy' tool to remove any driver from
the registry and that's the best way to go without a clean install.

The best way to go tho, is to do a clean install.
Always better, and it will spare you a lot of unpredictable shit.

You just formated and installed not to long ago, so that makes it
even more easy to do it again, right?

Nickeldome

 

[Jody Sleath]

Deploy tool?

You could use the 'deploy' tool to remove any driver from
the registry and that's the best way to go without a clean install.

The best way to go tho, is to do a clean install.
Always better, and it will spare you a lot of unpredictable shit.

You just formated and installed not to long ago, so that makes it
even more easy to do it again, right?

Nickeldome

 

[Nickeldome]

Deploy tool?

Yes, it's in \Support\Tools\ deploy.cab and it's called sysprep.exe.

Nickeldome