Replacing motherboard without rebuilding XP

[Mr Mike]

I just had a motherboard fail on one of my XP pro PCs. The last time
I upgraded a motherboard, I had a terrible time because I had to
rebuild XP. I could not boot with the new motherboard. The
explanation I got was I needed to change my HDD driver to a generic
driver before upgrading due to the support chips on the motherboard,
northbridge, southbridge, whatever they changed from and to...

Is there a way to replace the motherboard and without rebuilding XP
pro? Is there a way to change drivers at this point since the PC will
not boot?

All help appreciated.

 

[Doug Knox MS-MVP]

Generally, no. You need to do a repair installation.

Repair the Windows XP Installation

Configure your computer to start from the CD-ROM drive. For more information about how to do this, please refer to your computer's documentation or contact your computer manufacturer.

Remove any floppy disks and ZIP disks from their respective drives. Insert your Windows XP compact disc (CD) into your CD-ROM drive or DVD-ROM drive, and then restart your computer.

(You can also boot with a Windows 98/Me Startup disk with CD support and run WINNT.EXE in the I386 folder on the CD)

When the "Press any key to boot from CD" message is displayed on your screen, press a key to start your computer from the Windows XP CD.

When you see the following message displayed on the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER:
To setup Windows XP now, press ENTER.

At this point an option to press R to enter the Recovery Console is displayed. Do not select this option.

On the Windows XP Licensing Agreement screen, press F8 to agree to the license agreement.

Make sure that your current installation of Windows XP is selected in the box, and then press the R key to repair Windows XP.

Follow the instructions on the screen to complete Setup.

 

[Ken Blake]

I just had a motherboard fail on one of my XP pro PCs. The last time
I upgraded a motherboard, I had a terrible time because I had to
rebuild XP. I could not boot with the new motherboard. The
explanation I got was I needed to change my HDD driver to a generic
driver before upgrading due to the support chips on the motherboard,
northbridge, southbridge, whatever they changed from and to...

Is there a way to replace the motherboard and without rebuilding XP
pro?

Unless the new one is identical to the old one, at the very least, you'll
have to do a Repair Installation. See "How to Perform a Windows XP Repair
Install" at
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

That usually works, but If the hardware on the new computer is different
enough, it may not, and you will need to reinstall cleanly, losing all your
data and everything else on the drive. It's certainly prudent to be sure you
have a backup of anything you can't afford to lose before beginning.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I just had a motherboard fail on one of my XP pro PCs. The last time
I upgraded a motherboard, I had a terrible time because I had to
rebuild XP. I could not boot with the new motherboard. The
explanation I got was I needed to change my HDD driver to a generic
driver before upgrading due to the support chips on the motherboard,
northbridge, southbridge, whatever they changed from and to...

Is there a way to replace the motherboard and without rebuilding XP
pro?

The only reasonably sure way would be to replace the old motherboard
with an identical model and revision.

Is there a way to change drivers at this point since the PC will
not boot?

Not that I know of.

Normally, and assuming a retail license (many factory-installed OEM
installations are BIOS-locked to a specific chipset and therefore are
*not* transferable to a new motherboard - check yours before starting),
unless the new motherboard is virtually identical (same chipset, same
IDE controllers, same BIOS version, etc.) to the one on which the WinXP
installation was originally performed, 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

Changing a Motherboard or Moving a Hard Drive with WinXP Installed
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/moving_xp.html

The "why" is quite simple, really, and has nothing to do with
licensing issues, per se; it's a purely technical matter, at this point.
You've pulled the proverbial hardware rug out from under the OS. (If
you don't like -- or get -- the rug analogy, think of it as picking up a
Cape Cod style home and then setting it down onto a Ranch style
foundation. It just isn't going to fit.) WinXP, like Win2K before it,
is not nearly as "promiscuous" as Win9x when it comes to accepting any
old hardware configuration you throw at it. On installation it
"tailors" itself to the specific hardware found. This is one of the
reasons that the entire WinNT/2K/XP OS family is so much more stable
than the Win9x group.

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

This will also probably require re-activation, unless you have a
Volume Licensed version of WinXP Pro installed. 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

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[Plato]

Is there a way to replace the motherboard and without rebuilding XP
pro? Is there a way to change drivers at this point since the PC will
not boot?

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=315341