norman said:
I am about to upgrade my motherboard,CPU and memory. I currently have Athlon
1.13mhz and will be upgrading to P4 3.0
I will not be changing the hard disc.
Q1 will the XP O/S start.
Almost certainly no. You will at least have to do a Repair Install as
per the instructions at
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
Q2 an option I am thinking of is to instal an additional driver and load XP
on the new drive leaving my original hard disk with all the data and other
programs.
That will result in a lot of additional work in terms of reinstalling
programs, configuring them, and either telling them where their data
files are now located (old drive) or moving the data files to the new
drive.
Q3 are there any issues with licencing or being able to get automatic
updates from MS
Possibly. It depends on your exact Windows XP version.
1. If your Windows XP is an OEM version (e.g. it came bundled with a
new computer) then that license is permanently locked to the first
computer that it was installed on and cannot be legitimately
transferred to another computer, even if the original computer is
lost, stolen, scrapped, or destroyed. By replacing the motherboard,
CPU, and RAM (and probably the power supply as well and maybe even the
case) many people would hold that you are in effect building a new
computer. Others take the "same spare tire = same car" position in
that as long as some components are from the old machine it is not a
new one.
2. If your OEM Windows XP is one of the "BIOS Locked" versions then
that license is self-activating when used on a computer with a
motherboard BIOS from that specific manufacturer and cannot be
activated on any other motherboard.
Open Control Panel - System - General and look at the 20 character
Product I.D. code shown in the "Registered to" section.
If the second segment (3 characters) of the Product I.D. is "OEM" then
the installed Windows XP is an OEM version. If the second segment is
numeric (3 digits) then it is either a Retail or Volume Licensed
version.
Next look on the Start menu under Accessories - System Tools for an
"Activate Windows" entry.
If there is no Activate Windows item and the Product I.D. is OEM then
you have a BIOS locked OEM version and it cannot be activated on a
motherboard whose BIOS is not from the original OEM.
If there is no Activate Windows item and the Product I.D. is not OEM
then you have a volume licensed version of Windows XP.
If there is an Activate Windows item and the Product I.D. is OEM then
you have generic or non-BIOS Locked version and it can be activated on
a different motherboard. Note: You may also have a BIOS locked OEM
version that was activated on a different motherboard prior to March
1, 2005 in which case you will have problems if you are ever required
to reactivate because of further hardware changes or because of a
reformat & reinstall.
If there is an Activate Windows item and the Product I.D. is not OEM
then you have a retail version of Windows XP and there is no
restriction on replacing the motherboard or on moving the license from
machine to machine.
Q4in all of the above, is it better to uninstall XP and then re-install in
the upgraded system
Once you have sorted out the licensing complexities (as above) there
is no operational reason for not doing the Repair Install of your
existing Windows. These go well in the vast majority of instances and
you will avoid the hours and hours and hours of extra work that is
usually entailed in reinstalling all your applications, getting the
updates and patches for these, configuring them to your liking, and
restoring the data files from backups.
And if your system is one of the occasional few that do have problems
after a Repair Install then you still have the capability of wiping
everything out and starting clean.
Good luck
Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca
"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."
