Seeking upgrade advise for motherboard change with oem windows xp

[Guest]

Hi,

Having tinkered with upgrading pci cards, various accessories and wireless
internet for my aging pc i wanted to upgrade my current motherboard to allow
a faster processor etc. Having read the Knowledgebase forums i am now quite
unsure about it all as its given me more q's than answers !!

My computer is 5 yrs old and as i'm studying for a computer maintenance
course i wanted to use my pc as some practical practice for me, without
breaking it !

The operating system is an OEM version of windows xp home saved on a hard
disc partition i believe, and i have a reload/backup cd for it. The original
motherboard became faulty 2/3 yrs ago and was replaced under warrantly by the
seller TIME Computers (who have since gone bust) , the product key for
windows on the case is different to the findings of the belarc program- i
asume it's because of the motherboard change ? The belarc program has given
me the "current" windows product id and windows product key.

My current processor is an athlon 1400, slow and struggles a lot, very slow
by todays standards and is the reason for the motherboard upgrade as the
current board can only be upgraded to 1800 , so hardly seems worth it.

I wanted to stay with an MSI "a" socket motherboard like my current one,
and i have bought one in readyness but am now worried that i am not in a
position to do an upgrade due to microsoft rules over oem xp, or that i may
have difficulties with product keys etc although the computer does seem to be
restarting itself quite often recently, the same problem as the old
motherboard before it was replaced !

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, do i go for the change in
motherboard or am i creating BIG problems if i do ?

Many thanks

Paul

 

[db]

i recommend an intel motherboard
with an intel cpu.

and since you are going to a faster
mobo, you'll need a ram upgrade
too.

go to tigerdirect or newegg and
look for motherboard bundles.

in my opinion, your oem o.s. should
work if you keep that hd in place.

If I am not mistaken any piece of hardware that
is microsoft approved can qualify as
an oem. So something as tiny as a
microsoft approved modem is all that
is needed to qualify a whole pc for an oem.
So i don't think upgrading the mobo will
disqualify your oem license or disrupt your
current o.s. - other than downloading the
necessary updates for the new hardware.

if you decide to buy a mobo and processor
that is 64 bit or dual or quad core, your o.s. will have
issues. Besides single core top of the line
are relatively inexpensive these days.

On the other hand for a hundred bucks
more or so than a mobo bundle, you can probably
get an entire system, eg fast mobo, fast cpu,
fast ram, fast cd, fast dvd, fast hd, fast video,
fast i/o.

- db
Hi,

Having tinkered with upgrading pci cards, various accessories and wireless
internet for my aging pc i wanted to upgrade my current motherboard to allow
a faster processor etc. Having read the Knowledgebase forums i am now quite
unsure about it all as its given me more q's than answers !!

My computer is 5 yrs old and as i'm studying for a computer maintenance
course i wanted to use my pc as some practical practice for me, without
breaking it !

The operating system is an OEM version of windows xp home saved on a hard
disc partition i believe, and i have a reload/backup cd for it. The original
motherboard became faulty 2/3 yrs ago and was replaced under warrantly by the
seller TIME Computers (who have since gone bust) , the product key for
windows on the case is different to the findings of the belarc program- i
asume it's because of the motherboard change ? The belarc program has given
me the "current" windows product id and windows product key.

My current processor is an athlon 1400, slow and struggles a lot, very slow
by todays standards and is the reason for the motherboard upgrade as the
current board can only be upgraded to 1800 , so hardly seems worth it.

I wanted to stay with an MSI "a" socket motherboard like my current one,
and i have bought one in readyness but am now worried that i am not in a
position to do an upgrade due to microsoft rules over oem xp, or that i may
have difficulties with product keys etc although the computer does seem to be
restarting itself quite often recently, the same problem as the old
motherboard before it was replaced !

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, do i go for the change in
motherboard or am i creating BIG problems if i do ?

Many thanks

Paul

 

[Pop]

Hi,

Having tinkered with upgrading pci cards, various accessories and wireless
internet for my aging pc i wanted to upgrade my current motherboard to allow
a faster processor etc. Having read the Knowledgebase forums i am now quite
unsure about it all as its given me more q's than answers !!

My computer is 5 yrs old and as i'm studying for a computer maintenance
course i wanted to use my pc as some practical practice for me, without
breaking it !

The operating system is an OEM version of windows xp home saved on a hard
disc partition i believe, and i have a reload/backup cd for it. The original
motherboard became faulty 2/3 yrs ago and was replaced under warrantly by the
seller TIME Computers (who have since gone bust) , the product key for
windows on the case is different to the findings of the belarc program- i
asume it's because of the motherboard change ? The belarc program has given
me the "current" windows product id and windows product key.

My current processor is an athlon 1400, slow and struggles a lot, very slow
by todays standards and is the reason for the motherboard upgrade as the
current board can only be upgraded to 1800 , so hardly seems worth it.

I wanted to stay with an MSI "a" socket motherboard like my current one,
and i have bought one in readyness but am now worried that i am not in a
position to do an upgrade due to microsoft rules over oem xp, or that i may
have difficulties with product keys etc although the computer does seem to be
restarting itself quite often recently, the same problem as the old
motherboard before it was replaced !

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, do i go for the change in
motherboard or am i creating BIG problems if i do ?

Many thanks

Paul

Fits, I would think if you think an Athalon 1400 is slow, I would wonder why. What are you doing? 3-D games and
playing DVD movies maybe?

If not those things, I would make sure you have plenty of RAM. It's the most cost effective performance enhancement you
can do.

With that said,
Be sure you understand the Activation issues. You are heading into a high risk area regarding licensing issues. I
found this page extremely enlightening.

http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm

Here is another outstanding reference.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/moving_xp.html

Having walked the road and went from an Athalon 1600+ to a Pentium Celeron-D 3.3, Good luck and say your prayers. (I
don't see much difference in actual throughput).

Pop

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

The operating system is an OEM version of windows xp home saved on a
hard disc partition i believe, and i have a reload/backup cd for it.

I wanted to stay with an MSI "a" socket motherboard like my current
one, and i have bought one in readyness but am now worried that i am
not in a position to do an upgrade due to microsoft rules over oem
xp, or that i may have difficulties with product keys etc

The issue of OEM licenses and what constitutes the same computer is a can of
worms. The EULA doesn't specify what constitutes the same computer, and the
EULA is what you agree to. If I had my druthers, all licenses would be the
same, with the retail rules, and there wouldn't be such a thing as an OEM
license.

There are people here (and elsewhere) who claim that if you change the
motherboard, it's a different computer. Although that certainly sounds
logical, the OEM EULA does *not* say that. Some of these people will point
to a Microsoft site for System Builders (one that can't even be accessed by
the general public) that states that changing the motherboard makes it a
different computer. Again, the EULA, which is what you agree to, does *not*
state that, so as far as I'm concerned, what this site states is irrelevant.

My guess is that if it ever came before a court (which is highly unlikely)
and Microsoft ever pointed to that web site, they'd be laughed out of court.

The real issue in my mind is what happens if you change the motherboard and
have to reactivate an OEM version over the phone. If you talk to a Microsoft
representative and he defends the "motherboard defines the computer" point
of view and won't activate you, you're out of luck unless you want to take
Microsoft to court (which is probably highly unlikely).

My own view is that you might be able to successfully argue in court that,
silly as it may sound, the computer is defined by the case, since that's
where Microsoft requires that the product key sticker be affixed. You could
therefore change everything inside the case, and it would still be the same
computer.

However, don't rely on that last paragraph unless you're willing to go to
court over it. I wouldn't be.

So what should you do? It's hard to advise you. You may be able to change
the motherboard and reactivate or you may not.

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Hi,

Having tinkered with upgrading pci cards, various accessories and wireless
internet for my aging pc i wanted to upgrade my current motherboard to allow
a faster processor etc. Having read the Knowledgebase forums i am now quite
unsure about it all as its given me more q's than answers !!

My computer is 5 yrs old and as i'm studying for a computer maintenance
course i wanted to use my pc as some practical practice for me, without
breaking it !

The operating system is an OEM version of windows xp home saved on a hard
disc partition i believe, and i have a reload/backup cd for it. The original
motherboard became faulty 2/3 yrs ago and was replaced under warrantly by the
seller TIME Computers (who have since gone bust) , the product key for
windows on the case is different to the findings of the belarc program- i
asume it's because of the motherboard change ? The belarc program has given
me the "current" windows product id and windows product key.

With a motherboard change, you'll need to have a full installation CD
(*NOT* a recovery CD) with which to perform a repair installation.

My current processor is an athlon 1400, slow and struggles a lot, very slow
by todays standards and is the reason for the motherboard upgrade as the
current board can only be upgraded to 1800 , so hardly seems worth it.

I wanted to stay with an MSI "a" socket motherboard like my current one,
and i have bought one in readyness but am now worried that i am not in a
position to do an upgrade due to microsoft rules over oem xp, or that i may
have difficulties with product keys etc although the computer does seem to be
restarting itself quite often recently, the same problem as the old
motherboard before it was replaced !

Microsoft's "rules over OEM" are irrelevant, at this point. You'll
need to be able to perform a repair installation, so you have to have a
real OEM installation CD, not a recovery CD.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, do i go for the change in
motherboard or am i creating BIG problems if i do ?

Many thanks

Paul

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

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[Bruce Chambers]

i recommend an intel motherboard
with an intel cpu.

Why?

and since you are going to a faster
mobo, you'll need a ram upgrade
too.

go to tigerdirect or newegg and
look for motherboard bundles.

in my opinion, your oem o.s. should
work if you keep that hd in place.

It almost certainly won't work. A repair installation will be
required, at a minimum.

If I am not mistaken any piece of hardware that
is microsoft approved can qualify as
an oem.

Thwe actual requirement is for the OEM license to be purchased with a
non-peripheral component, if not an entire computer.

So something as tiny as a
microsoft approved modem is all that
is needed to qualify a whole pc for an oem.
So i don't think upgrading the mobo will
disqualify your oem license or disrupt your
current o.s. - other than downloading the
necessary updates for the new hardware.

It's true that replacing the motherboard won't void the OEM license;
that's not going to be the OP's problem. The motherboard change will
mandate a repair installation, and the OP has already said that he
doesn't have the right sort of CD with which to perform one.

if you decide to buy a mobo and processor
that is 64 bit or dual or quad core, your o.s. will have
issues.

No, it won't. If the OP had a true installation CD, he'd have no
problems here.




--

Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:



They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell

 

[Guest]

Hi,

Having tinkered with upgrading pci cards, various accessories and wireless
internet for my aging pc i wanted to upgrade my current motherboard to allow
a faster processor etc. Having read the Knowledgebase forums i am now quite
unsure about it all as its given me more q's than answers !!

My computer is 5 yrs old and as i'm studying for a computer maintenance
course i wanted to use my pc as some practical practice for me, without
breaking it !

The operating system is an OEM version of windows xp home saved on a hard
disc partition i believe, and i have a reload/backup cd for it. The original
motherboard became faulty 2/3 yrs ago and was replaced under warrantly by the
seller TIME Computers (who have since gone bust) , the product key for
windows on the case is different to the findings of the belarc program- i
asume it's because of the motherboard change ? The belarc program has given
me the "current" windows product id and windows product key.

My current processor is an athlon 1400, slow and struggles a lot, very slow
by todays standards and is the reason for the motherboard upgrade as the
current board can only be upgraded to 1800 , so hardly seems worth it.

I wanted to stay with an MSI "a" socket motherboard like my current one,
and i have bought one in readyness but am now worried that i am not in a
position to do an upgrade due to microsoft rules over oem xp, or that i may
have difficulties with product keys etc although the computer does seem to be
restarting itself quite often recently, the same problem as the old
motherboard before it was replaced !

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, do i go for the change in
motherboard or am i creating BIG problems if i do ?

Many thanks

Paul
Thanks for your replies everyone !! You were busy overnight (in the UK)

DB- you got the wrong end of the stick a little, i only want the practise of
upgrading, i don't need an all singing all dancing pc, but thank you for your
time anyway
POP- You are right the ram is letting me down, it takes 10min or so for pc
to start up and for me to get acces to internet after all programs/internet
security have loaded up etc but the ram i've bought is for the motherboard i
want to put in as i seem to have been unlucky in that my motherboards
specifications are quite dated and don't allow me much scope in upgrading to
faster ram or processor.Will look into the links, cheers..
Paul

 

[Guest]

Hi,

Having tinkered with upgrading pci cards, various accessories and wireless
internet for my aging pc i wanted to upgrade my current motherboard to allow
a faster processor etc. Having read the Knowledgebase forums i am now quite
unsure about it all as its given me more q's than answers !!

My computer is 5 yrs old and as i'm studying for a computer maintenance
course i wanted to use my pc as some practical practice for me, without
breaking it !

The operating system is an OEM version of windows xp home saved on a hard
disc partition i believe, and i have a reload/backup cd for it. The original
motherboard became faulty 2/3 yrs ago and was replaced under warrantly by the
seller TIME Computers (who have since gone bust) , the product key for
windows on the case is different to the findings of the belarc program- i
asume it's because of the motherboard change ? The belarc program has given
me the "current" windows product id and windows product key.

My current processor is an athlon 1400, slow and struggles a lot, very slow
by todays standards and is the reason for the motherboard upgrade as the
current board can only be upgraded to 1800 , so hardly seems worth it.

I wanted to stay with an MSI "a" socket motherboard like my current one,
and i have bought one in readyness but am now worried that i am not in a
position to do an upgrade due to microsoft rules over oem xp, or that i may
have difficulties with product keys etc although the computer does seem to be
restarting itself quite often recently, the same problem as the old
motherboard before it was replaced !

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, do i go for the change in
motherboard or am i creating BIG problems if i do ?

Many thanks

Paul

KEN- thanks for your frankness, it really shows what a grey area this is,
the microsoft knowledgebase site were insistant that mobo and o/s were tied,
if it was an oem version of xp and the mobo was replaced then a new version
of xp would be needed - hence the advantage of owning a full retail version
in case of needing to upgrade. The mobo however if it was faulty, could be
changed with oem xp, as has happened to me 2 yrs after i bought it, and
strangely enough the pc seems to be showing similar tendancies to restart
itself like it did back then ! The pc was sent away to the now bankrupt
manufacturer and came back with mobo replaced and a different windows id and
product code!

 

[Guest]

Hi,

Having tinkered with upgrading pci cards, various accessories and wireless
internet for my aging pc i wanted to upgrade my current motherboard to allow
a faster processor etc. Having read the Knowledgebase forums i am now quite
unsure about it all as its given me more q's than answers !!

My computer is 5 yrs old and as i'm studying for a computer maintenance
course i wanted to use my pc as some practical practice for me, without
breaking it !

The operating system is an OEM version of windows xp home saved on a hard
disc partition i believe, and i have a reload/backup cd for it. The original
motherboard became faulty 2/3 yrs ago and was replaced under warrantly by the
seller TIME Computers (who have since gone bust) , the product key for
windows on the case is different to the findings of the belarc program- i
asume it's because of the motherboard change ? The belarc program has given
me the "current" windows product id and windows product key.

My current processor is an athlon 1400, slow and struggles a lot, very slow
by todays standards and is the reason for the motherboard upgrade as the
current board can only be upgraded to 1800 , so hardly seems worth it.

I wanted to stay with an MSI "a" socket motherboard like my current one,
and i have bought one in readyness but am now worried that i am not in a
position to do an upgrade due to microsoft rules over oem xp, or that i may
have difficulties with product keys etc although the computer does seem to be
restarting itself quite often recently, the same problem as the old
motherboard before it was replaced !

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated, do i go for the change in
motherboard or am i creating BIG problems if i do ?

Many thanks

Paul
Bruce, you seem to really hit the nail on the head, the problem i really seem to have is that i dont have a disc to "repair" xp. I understand that with the disc i would have a "controlled" upgrade, without one would i be leaving myself open to the will of the gods ? / microsoft or are they the same ??? The chipsets are differenton the mobos, currently ms6382 based on via vt8366 and viavt8233 replacement board ms7061 is based on via km400 and via vt8237 so different bios/drivers etc needed. Will look into your links but if you have any further thoughts

 

[Guest]

DB- you got the wrong end of the stick a little, i only want the practice of
upgrading hence me replacing with a ageing socket a, i don't need an all
singing all dancing pc, but thank you for your time anyway

 

[Guest]

Bruce, you seem to really hit the nail on the head, the problem i really seem
to have is that i dont have a disc to "repair" xp. I understand that with the
disc i would have a "controlled" upgrade, without one would i be leaving
myself open to the will of the gods ? / microsoft or are they the same ???
The chipsets are different on the mobos, currently ms6382 based on via vt8366
and viavt8233 replacement board ms7061 is based on via km400 and via vt8237
so different bios/drivers etc needed. Will look into your links but if you
have any further thoughts

 

[Guest]

POP- You are right the ram is letting me down i currently have 512mb of 2100
speed ddr sdram i think, it takes 10min or so for pc
to start up and for me to get acces to internet after all programs/internet
security have loaded up etc but the 1 GB 2700 ram i've bought is for the
motherboard i want to put in as i seem to have been unlucky in that my
motherboards specifications are quite dated and don't allow me much scope in
upgrading to faster ram or processor.Will look into the links, cheers..
Paul

 

[Guest]

KEN- thanks for your frankness, it really shows what a grey area this is,
the microsoft knowledgebase site were insistant that mobo and o/s were tied,
if it was an oem version of xp and the mobo was replaced then a new version
of xp would be needed - hence the advantage of owning a full retail version
in case of needing to upgrade. The mobo however if it was faulty, could be
changed with oem xp, as has happened to me 2 yrs after i bought it, and
strangely enough the pc seems to be showing similar tendancies to restart
itself like it did back then ! The pc was sent away to the now bankrupt
manufacturer and came back with mobo replaced and a different windows id and
product code! It looks like i am stumped though without a repair disc that
you get with the retail version unless its possible to leave windows to
detect the changes on startup and sort them all out but it seems unlikeley

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

POP- You are right the ram is letting me down

I doubt it. Unless you are running particularly memory-hungry applications
(e. g. editing large graphic imnages or videos), 512MB is sufficiemnt for
most people.

i currently have 512mb
of 2100 speed ddr sdram i think, it takes 10min or so for pc
to start up

My personal view is that the attention many people pay to how long it takes
to boot is unwarranted. Assuming that the computer's speed is otherwise
satisfactory, it may not be worth worrying about. Most people start their
computers once a day or even less frequently. In the overall scheme of
things, even a few minutes to start up isn't very important. Personally I
power on my computer when I get up in the morning, then go get my coffee.
When I come back, it's done booting. I don't know how long it took to boot
and I don't care.

However ten minutes is a very long time. If you do want to address it, it
may be because of what programs start automatically, and you may want to
stop some of them from starting that way. On each program you don't want to
start automatically, check its Options to see if it has the choice not to
start (make sure you actually choose the option not to run it, not just a
"don't show icon" option). Many can easily and best be stopped that way. If
that doesn't work, run MSCONFIG from the Start | Run line, and on the
Startup tab, uncheck the programs you don't want to start automatically.

However, if I were you, I wouldn't do this just for the purpose of running
the minimum number of programs. Despite what many people tell you, you
should be concerned, not with how *many* of these programs you run, but
*which*. Some of them can hurt performance severely, but others have no
effect on performance.

Don't just stop programs from running willy-nilly. What you should do is
determine what each program is, what its value is to you, and what the cost
in performance is of its running all the time. You can get more information
about these at http://castlecops.com/StartupList.html. If you can't find it
there, try google searches and ask about specifics here.

Once you have that information, you can make an intelligent informed
decision about what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

KEN- thanks for your frankness,

You're welcome. Glad to help.

it really shows what a grey area this
is, the microsoft knowledgebase site were insistant that mobo and o/s
were tied, if it was an oem version of xp and the mobo was replaced
then a new version of xp would be needed - hence the advantage of
owning a full retail version in case of needing to upgrade.

My personal recommendation is the Retail Upgrade version, not the Full one.
Both the Full and Upgrade versions can do either a clean installation or an
upgrade. The only difference between the two is that to do a clean
intsallation with the Upgrade version requires that you insert a CD of a
previous qualifying version as proof of ownership, when prompted to do so.
Most people have a CD of Windows 98 around, but if you don't, you can buy
one inexpensively on eBay.

So the combination of an XP Upgrade CD and a Windows 98 CD is the equivalent
of a Full XP CD, but costs much less

 

[Guest]

Will look into it ken, the slowness sees to have become prominent since the
installation of this years norton internet security package whick auto loads
then seeks updrades for the anti virus etc so the computer is really
unresponsive till this has finished, thought more memory might speed it up a
bit

 

[Guest]

So seeing i have oem xp, are you saying i would only need a retail upgrade of
xp in order to complete my motherboard upgrade ? i dont have any windows
installation discs, not even 98

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Will look into it ken, the slowness sees to have become prominent
since the installation of this years norton internet security package
whick auto loads then seeks updrades for the anti virus etc so the
computer is really unresponsive till this has finished, thought more
memory might speed it up a bit

Then the solution to your problem is to dump Norton. In my view it's not
only a performance hog, it's the worst security software on the market.

There are several better alternatives that are freeware.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

So seeing i have oem xp, are you saying i would only need a retail
upgrade of xp in order to complete my motherboard upgrade ?

I can't remember your original question. Do you want to do a clean
installation of Windows after the motherboard change, or are you trying to
stick with the existing installation and do a repair installation (which you
may or may not be able to do)?

If you are willing to reinstall Windows cleanly, yes, all you need is an XP
Upgrade CD (and a previous version's CD).

i dont
have any windows installation discs, not even 98

As I said, Windows 98 CDs are usually very cheap on eBay or other used
sources.

 

[Guest]

Lol, you read my mind , its been doing my head in since i put it on the pc,
the home page never loads up properly leading me to uninstall and reinstall
again without any difference ! I put avg anti virus from grisoft on my wifes
laptop to test it as an alternative to norton, could you recommend anything
personally ?