Considering motherboard replacement...any pitfalls or tips?

[ropeyarn]

My kid has a two-and-half-year old locally built (not by me) white box
P4 machine. The local builder who put together did a good job, but it's
quite clear that one of the areas he went on to meet my price point was
the motherboard.

It's a PC Chips, and although this machine is going strong, it has a
couple of issues that I'm pretty sure are MB related (mostly its refusal
to accept any USB adaptpor for wireless networking --either through the
integrated ports or a separate 3-usb port PCI card-- and some
intermittent shutdown problems).

Memory, processor (1.7 Ghz), optical drives, hard drive, video card and
a PCI wireless adapter all decent quality and working fine.

Is it best to simply format the HD (I have enough external storage to
offload all the data) and proceed from there?

Any advice, experiences, must-dos and potential disaster areas
appreciated...

tks..

 

[Captain Ron]

The bieggest problem is the IDE controller. If the controllers are not
EXACTLY the same manufacturer or model you will most likely recieve a "no
boot device" error. If you do change the MB, first off change the IDE
controller to a generic windows controller, then shut down (do not reboot,
PNP will change the driver to the currently installed controller). Then
install the new MB and everything should be fine.

I would keep the old MB installed, do the previos advice. Then connect the
new MB (without actually installing, just plug everything into the MB making
sure you place the new MB in a non conductive material such as cardboard).
This way if it doesn't work properly it is easy to reconnect and try again.

 

[ropeyarn]

The bieggest problem is the IDE controller. If the controllers are not
EXACTLY the same manufacturer or model you will most likely recieve a "no
boot device" error. If you do change the MB, first off change the IDE
controller to a generic windows controller, then shut down (do not reboot,
PNP will change the driver to the currently installed controller). Then
install the new MB and everything should be fine.

I would keep the old MB installed, do the previos advice. Then connect the
new MB (without actually installing, just plug everything into the MB making
sure you place the new MB in a non conductive material such as cardboard).
This way if it doesn't work properly it is easy to reconnect and try again.

Capt. Ron:

Yikes! This is terrific advice and something I hadn't even considered (I
was anticipating BIOS setting/CMOS issues).

At the risk of sounding like an idiot (I've built machines from the
ground up...just never considered a MB upgrade before):

(1) are the IDE controller settings under the Windows hardware manager,
or in the BIOS?

(2) If I reformat the hard drive, does that eliminate the IDE contoller
issue (I realize the upgrade time is lenghtened considerably as the OS,
apps and data willhave to be restored?
Thanks

 

[Captain Ron]

If you format the drive then you have nothing to worry about. You can save
yourself hours of work by changing the controller to generic. If you have a
software issue causing problems you are not fixing the problem you are just
upgrading the problem. You can change the controller by going into the
device manager and looking for the "IDE ATA/IDE Controllers". In my case I
have listed "primary IDE controller, Secondary IDE controller and VIA Bus
Master IDE controller". Highlight the VIA IDE controller and hit properties
and change the driver to "Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller".
Remember after you change this do NOT reboot, just shut down. If you reboot,
the OS will see the old driver and load it all over for you.

Hope this helps

 

[ropeyarn]

If you format the drive then you have nothing to worry about. You can save
yourself hours of work by changing the controller to generic. If you have a
software issue causing problems you are not fixing the problem you are just
upgrading the problem. You can change the controller by going into the
device manager and looking for the "IDE ATA/IDE Controllers". In my case I
have listed "primary IDE controller, Secondary IDE controller and VIA Bus
Master IDE controller". Highlight the VIA IDE controller and hit properties
and change the driver to "Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller".
Remember after you change this do NOT reboot, just shut down. If you reboot,
the OS will see the old driver and load it all over for you.

Hope this helps

It more than helps. It's perfect. Especially since the S/O is now
softened up on the idea