motherboard upgrades?!

[A1c Diabetes Analyzers]

I have a problem at work that a few people understand while others seem
to have a lack of knowledge. My company sells medical diagnostic
equipment driven by software and believe it or not up until now they
have been using windows 3.11. Unbelievable I know, but here is the
deal.

Now that we have upgraded to XP some people in our organization believe
if we buy a XP pc from a major computer manufacturer and the
motherboard changes over the span of about one year we will have to
revalidate the entire process again. The manufacturer and some of us
know it is called an image or ghosting.

I have given up trying to explain this to those at work who want to go
with smaller company because this company says yes we can guarantee the
motherboard will not change in the next 6-12 months.

Can someone explain to me why it does or does not matter so I can use
the information at work as an unbiased and coming from experts?

 

[Ted Zieglar]

I am not aware of any major OEM that has ever issued an upgrade to an
installed motherboard or advised its customers to upgrade their
motherboards. That makes no sense practically and financially.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

The only way a motherboard would change is if
you physically replace the motherboard with a
different motherboard. I do not understand what
you are trying to say...

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

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:

| I have a problem at work that a few people understand while others seem
| to have a lack of knowledge. My company sells medical diagnostic
| equipment driven by software and believe it or not up until now they
| have been using windows 3.11. Unbelievable I know, but here is the
| deal.
|
| Now that we have upgraded to XP some people in our organization believe
| if we buy a XP pc from a major computer manufacturer and the
| motherboard changes over the span of about one year we will have to
| revalidate the entire process again. The manufacturer and some of us
| know it is called an image or ghosting.
|
| I have given up trying to explain this to those at work who want to go
| with smaller company because this company says yes we can guarantee the
| motherboard will not change in the next 6-12 months.
|
| Can someone explain to me why it does or does not matter so I can use
| the information at work as an unbiased and coming from experts?
|

 

[Kerry Brown]

I have a problem at work that a few people understand while others
seem to have a lack of knowledge. My company sells medical
diagnostic equipment driven by software and believe it or not up
until now they have been using windows 3.11. Unbelievable I know,
but here is the deal.

Now that we have upgraded to XP some people in our organization
believe if we buy a XP pc from a major computer manufacturer and the
motherboard changes over the span of about one year we will have to
revalidate the entire process again. The manufacturer and some of us
know it is called an image or ghosting.

I have given up trying to explain this to those at work who want to go
with smaller company because this company says yes we can guarantee
the motherboard will not change in the next 6-12 months.

Can someone explain to me why it does or does not matter so I can use
the information at work as an unbiased and coming from experts?

The major manufacturers do indeed change the motherboard during the course
of a model run. There is no guarantee that if you order a Dell or HP today
and then order the same model, same configuration six months from now that
you will get the same model motherboard. The only way you could guarantee
this would be to purchase all the hardware you estimate you will need now
and store it until needed. Even a smaller comapny would have a hard time
guaranteeing they could supply identical equipment long term. The
motherboard manufacturers are constantly updating motherboards. You may get
xxx board revision 1.0 today and xxx board revision 1.2 next week. If you
need to certify your product runs on a certain configuration then you should
be talking directly to the motherboard or equipment manufacturer about this.
If you are doing a small volume good luck. Your best bet would be to either
have a large stock on hand or deal with someone who does and will hold it
for you.

If you do not need to certify the equipment then the differences between
revisions shouldn't be that big of a deal. Ghosting or imaging will work
fine. You will have to take XP's activation needs, SIDs, computer names,
etc. into account.

Don't know if this is what you meant. Your post wasn't that clear.

Kerry