Swapping Motherboards

[BRH]

There seems to be some debate on procedures to follow in changing
motherbaords under Windows XP.

I've recently read that WinXP Pro (possibly Home, as well) allows you to
swap out motherboards without necessarily having to re-format the hard
drive and re-install all your apps. The basic procedure as I recall it,
is to do the physical swap, boot from WinXP CD, and do a repair
installation. (Of course, there were other precautionary "pre-swap"
steps to take, such as backing up important data, etc.) Other posts
recommend re-formating, no matter what, when changing motherboards.

I would prefer to not re-format/re-install. So how reliable is WinXP,
really, in allowing one to avoid re-formating?

Thanks!

 

[RJK]

http://www.theeldergeek.com/replace_motherboard.htm

regards, Richard

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

A repair install is sufficient. It essentially rebuilds the system files
specific to the new hardware, which is all you really need.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers aka "Nutcase" MS-MVP - Win9x
Windows isn't rocket science! That's my other hobby!

Associate Expert - WinXP - Expert Zone

 

[Vassik]

There seems to be some debate on procedures to follow in changing
motherbaords under Windows XP.

I've recently read that WinXP Pro (possibly Home, as well) allows you to
swap out motherboards without necessarily having to re-format the hard
drive and re-install all your apps. The basic procedure as I recall it,
is to do the physical swap, boot from WinXP CD, and do a repair
installation. (Of course, there were other precautionary "pre-swap"
steps to take, such as backing up important data, etc.) Other posts
recommend re-formating, no matter what, when changing motherboards.

I would prefer to not re-format/re-install. So how reliable is WinXP,
really, in allowing one to avoid re-formating?

Thanks!

I just replaced the Motherboard last week and followed the steps outlined
here ( http://michaelstevenstech.com/moving_xp.html ) it went without a
hitch. I had to reactivate windows which took less than 5 minutes.

Be prepared however to spend sometime reinstalling all the Windows patches
and recommended updates, etc.

 

[Guest]

I have swapped HDD's to a totally different system and
never had to do anything, you get all kinds of New
Hardware found notifications , but work through them one
at a time. At the worst you have to do a repair install.
remove as much hardware as you can.

 

[dmac]

I have done motherboard swaps 3 times on this xp installation. did not have
to do anything except the reactivation of windows. it is a BETTER idea to do
a clean install, but not needed.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

Normally, assuming a retail license, unless the new motherboard is
virtually identical to the old one (same chipset, same IDE
controllers, same BIOS version, etc.), you'll need to perform a repair
(a.k.a. in-place upgrade) installation, at the very least:

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=KB;EN-US;Q315341

As always when undertaking such a significant change, back up any
important data before starting.

This will probably also require re-activation. If it's been more
than 120 days since you last activated that specific Product Key,
you'll most likely be able to activate via the internet without
problem. If it's been less, you might have to make a 5 minute phone
call.


Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH

 

[BRH]

OK! Thanks to all!

Greetings --

Normally, assuming a retail license, unless the new motherboard is
virtually identical to the old one (same chipset, same IDE
controllers, same BIOS version, etc.), you'll need to perform a repair
(a.k.a. in-place upgrade) installation, at the very least:

How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/directory/article.asp?ID=KB;EN-US;Q315341

As always when undertaking such a significant change, back up any
important data before starting.

This will probably also require re-activation. If it's been more
than 120 days since you last activated that specific Product Key,
you'll most likely be able to activate via the internet without
problem. If it's been less, you might have to make a 5 minute phone
call.

Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

You're welcome.

Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH

 

[Plato]

drive and re-install all your apps. The basic procedure as I recall it,
is to do the physical swap, boot from WinXP CD, and do a repair
installation. (Of course, there were other precautionary "pre-swap"

I would prefer to not re-format/re-install. So how reliable is WinXP,
really, in allowing one to avoid re-formating?

That's why folks say do the repair install. It pretty much the does same
as if you deleted the enum branch on a win98 PC and rebooted to get win
to see all the new hardware correctly.

 

[Alex Nichol]

There seems to be some debate on procedures to follow in changing
motherbaords under Windows XP.

I've recently read that WinXP Pro (possibly Home, as well) allows you to
swap out motherboards without necessarily having to re-format the hard
drive and re-install all your apps. The basic procedure as I recall it,
is to do the physical swap, boot from WinXP CD, and do a repair
installation.

That can normally be expected to work. It rebuilds the underlying
interfaces to match the new hardware, and is certainly the first thing
to do - immediately; do not attempt to boot the system as it stands.
Set the BIOS to boot CD before Hard disk, then boot the XP CD, start
Setup (do not take 'Repair' at this stage), then after the license
agreement take 'Repair Installation'. This will retain your existing
software installations and most settings. But Updates will have to be
run again, especially SP1;
It is important to activate the basic XP Firewall before you ever
connect to the net to get the patches, so as to be protected against
things like the BLAST worm.
It will probably then need to be activated again by phoning in - but if
you have changed no other hardware you may get away with it.