DotNettie said:
I am replacing motherboard, CPU and memory.
I have backed up my system, have all my drivers and have decided to do a
clean WindowsXP install if the box will even boot. ;-)
I have tried to do as much reading as possible on the procedure, but I have
a couple of questions. My husband is going to do the hardware and I am not
concerned with the connection of the hardware. That's his end of the
operation. He's left the setup of the PC afterward to me.
I have read on a couple of windows sites, that advise to do yourself a favor
and install the Windows CD in the drive before powering down your PC,
before removing the motherboard. In reading the documentation from mobo
manufacturer, it recommends that you use their utility disk to load/select
drivers and the desired utilities9I don't have a clue what these might be,
'cause I've never done this before) and then load the OS after using their
disk installing the new motherboard. If I haven't set the PC to boot with
the DVD, how is the utility disk going to be able to run?
Can someone advise what would be the proper procedure? I thought that most
of the functions in the BIOS were auto-enabled when the board get installed
and POST runs for the first time. I have digital pics of the BIOS settings
now and I pretty much undertsand what they do. I would think that if POST is
successful, and I can get into the BIOS, I can get the DVD-Rom to be the
boot drive until Windows gets installed, but now am not sure which procedure
would be the best.
Thanks for helping me out..hope the questions aren't too stoopid!
You don't need to leave a CD or DVD in the drive.
-2) You and husband review the BIOS screens on the newly powered up computer.
All the peripheral chips should be enabled by default. Husband can tell
you which peripherals he is not using, and the two of you can decide which
to disable, to speed up booting or whatever. If you both review the BIOS,
you'll both know how things screwed up. Set boot order to floppy first,
CD/DVD second, hard drive third in the boot order.
-1) Husband should test memory on the computer, using memtest86+ from memtest.org
The test runs from a floppy diskette or a CD. The program is its own boot
loader, and needs no OS to work. It will test all the memory. The fact that
the test runs at all, proves your husband has done a good job. Allow two
complete passes with no errors reported. If there are memory errors, it
is your husband's job to clean up. Increasing the Vdimm voltage one or two
notches, may help if the number of reported errors is small.
0) Don't connect to the Internet yet.
1) Does the motherboard need drivers for the hard disk controller ? You
may need to copy some drivers to a floppy. During the Windows
install, you'll be given an opportunity to press F6. You insert the
floppy, and Windows looks for the driver on the floppy. On an Asus
motherboard CD, sometimes there is a MAKEDISK program, that fills
up the floppy for you. The motherboard manual will likely not tell you,
which interfaces need drivers, but if you are the patient type, you
can try installing Windows, and if it doesn't work, then you'll know
On a lot of motherboards, you can skip this step. This step is more
likely to be needed, if you are using a RAID disk array.
2) Install Windows. It'll reboot a few times. It has enough basic
drivers of its own, to allow minimal functionality. There are more
details, but they are specific to what you bought.
3) Grab the motherboard CD. Once Windows has booted from the hard drive,
install the chipset drivers, Ethernet driver, wifi package, whatever
the motherboard came with. You don't need to load any of their
lame utilities, at least until you've researched them a bit.
4) For the video card, you've got the chipset drivers installed. That
leaves the video card drivers from the video card CD. You'll also
need some version of DirectX, and if the video card CD needs it,
usually the video card CD will install DirectX as well.
5) After the next reboot, check the Device Manager. Is everything present
and accounted for ?
6) Do you have any antivirus software ? Now might be a good time to install it.
You want some form of protection, before connecting to the Internet.
Maybe someone else can recommend something, if you need hints.
7) Connect to the Internet, see if you can surf etc. Visit Windows update,
to pick up Service Packs, security patches. Don't take driver updates
from Windows, unless you like to live dangerously.
Once that is done, you can go back to testing.
The tests at this point (husband can watch now):
8) Stability test - tests processor and memory. Harder on the gear than
memtest86+ is. Two versions - Orthos is if you've got a dual core
machine. Prime95 is for a single core machine (like an AthlonXP 32 bit
processor or something older). Either one of these tests should run
for hours, without stopping or reporting errors. If errors are
reported, husband to the rescue.
http://sp2004.fre3.com/beta/beta2.htm (Orthos - Stress Prime 2004)
http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm (Prime95)
9) To test graphics card stability, there are the 3DMark programs.
Some are a bigger download than others. 3DMark2001SE is a pretty small
download and has a benchmark mode, and a demo loop mode. Passing the
benchmark is a start.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=99
The computer is ready to use, once it has passed all tests. If it is
still crashing at this point, husband to the rescue. Husband to also
check temperatures and voltages, to ensure that adequate cooling fans
have been installed, and that PSU looks OK. You can check temperatures,
while Orthos is running, as it'll heat things up. The fans on the box
should be sufficient to maintain low temps, while Orthos is running.
There may be a utility on the CD, that displays temps and voltages.
Useful info you could post, to get more help:
1) Motherboard make and model. Processor make and model.
2) Windows installer version. WinXP orig, WinXP w. SP1, WinXP w. SP2 or
whatever.
3) If you're so inclined, a list of the rest of the hardware.
Note that there are a few more things to do, but they depend on your
specifics.
I'm just a home builder, and there are articles with much more detail
than this. This is an example of an attempt at a more comprehensive
guide.
http://www.abxzone.com/forums/intel-chipsets/34558-operating-system-software-installation-guide.html
Paul
