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Dave G
in an earlier thread it was discussed that in order to upgrade the
motherboard it could be as simple as following these 6 steps...
1 Remove old / install new motherboard
2 Start machine, enter BIOS, ensure boot device is CD
3 Make sure XP CD is in place
4 Boot > choose Install > XP detects current installation
5 Choose repair install
6 Follow the prompts, installing drivers where necessary
As I mentioned at the end of that previous post I said I'd post an
account of my experiences... well... here it is
Okay...
It was relatively straightforward but not without event.
Removing the old motherboard was a doddle... just unplug everything and
take it out
Fitting the new board wasn't a problem either... I just made sure I
fitted the cpu (a 266 Athlon 1400... wasted on this board!!), heatsink
and fan before I screwed in the board as the cpu socket is very close to
the psu making fan attachment tricky.
I also cleared the CMOS and connected the front panel switch connectors
etc before I screwed the board in place as they were easier to get to
than with the board screwed in
The whole process took about an hour including some nifty recabling with
zipties to make it look nice
Starting up for the first time... I set system clock and change boot
device to CD and drop in my slipstreamed Windows + SP1 CD
On starting I choose install, XP copies some files then detects the
existing installation of XP and gives me the option to repair.
This I choose and 25 minutes later I restart... this is where it gets a
bit tricky...
Windows begins to load but a few seconds into the logo screen I get blue
screened saying windows has stopped everything to prevent possible
damage to my computer... check system diagnostics, memory and display
adapter ... oh dear I think.
So I restart in safe mode with network support and it lets me in... I
discover in system props that there are a number of unidentified objects
(yellow ?'s) which I presume need drivers... I drop in the Asus Support
CD (which won't autorun 'cos I'm in safe mode) and install the drivers
one by one. So in goes the Raid Controller, SM Bus Controllers,
Ethernet, Giga Lan, Multimedia Audio etc etc
I restart again after this and... ooooops... blue screen again shortly
after windows starts to load... so off then back into safe mode (with
networking) and run the full windows update... this takes a few minutes
and we restart...
Shit... blue screen same time same place... create boot diskette with
memtest86 and run this for ages with no problems... looks like the
memory is okay (slow but okay). To double check I install some 333DDR
from another machine... still blue screens.
Final suggestion on the blue screen of doom is to try changing the vga
adapter so I boot into safe mode, uninstall the GeForce3 graphics card
and power off...
Hmmmm... this looks interesting... it lets me in normal style this time
so it looks like the card is the culprit... Anyway... XP detects the
card and installs the appropriate drivers... these I then update using
Windows Update to the most recent ones... job done... a full motherboard
swap without a complete reinstall and everything still works tickety-
boo...
Three and a half hours in total and we're up and running.
Still needs a bit of fine tuning but easier than a format and full
install
Hurrah...
Regards
Dave G
motherboard it could be as simple as following these 6 steps...
1 Remove old / install new motherboard
2 Start machine, enter BIOS, ensure boot device is CD
3 Make sure XP CD is in place
4 Boot > choose Install > XP detects current installation
5 Choose repair install
6 Follow the prompts, installing drivers where necessary
As I mentioned at the end of that previous post I said I'd post an
account of my experiences... well... here it is
Okay...
It was relatively straightforward but not without event.
Removing the old motherboard was a doddle... just unplug everything and
take it out
Fitting the new board wasn't a problem either... I just made sure I
fitted the cpu (a 266 Athlon 1400... wasted on this board!!), heatsink
and fan before I screwed in the board as the cpu socket is very close to
the psu making fan attachment tricky.
I also cleared the CMOS and connected the front panel switch connectors
etc before I screwed the board in place as they were easier to get to
than with the board screwed in
The whole process took about an hour including some nifty recabling with
zipties to make it look nice
Starting up for the first time... I set system clock and change boot
device to CD and drop in my slipstreamed Windows + SP1 CD
On starting I choose install, XP copies some files then detects the
existing installation of XP and gives me the option to repair.
This I choose and 25 minutes later I restart... this is where it gets a
bit tricky...
Windows begins to load but a few seconds into the logo screen I get blue
screened saying windows has stopped everything to prevent possible
damage to my computer... check system diagnostics, memory and display
adapter ... oh dear I think.
So I restart in safe mode with network support and it lets me in... I
discover in system props that there are a number of unidentified objects
(yellow ?'s) which I presume need drivers... I drop in the Asus Support
CD (which won't autorun 'cos I'm in safe mode) and install the drivers
one by one. So in goes the Raid Controller, SM Bus Controllers,
Ethernet, Giga Lan, Multimedia Audio etc etc
I restart again after this and... ooooops... blue screen again shortly
after windows starts to load... so off then back into safe mode (with
networking) and run the full windows update... this takes a few minutes
and we restart...
Shit... blue screen same time same place... create boot diskette with
memtest86 and run this for ages with no problems... looks like the
memory is okay (slow but okay). To double check I install some 333DDR
from another machine... still blue screens.
Final suggestion on the blue screen of doom is to try changing the vga
adapter so I boot into safe mode, uninstall the GeForce3 graphics card
and power off...
Hmmmm... this looks interesting... it lets me in normal style this time
so it looks like the card is the culprit... Anyway... XP detects the
card and installs the appropriate drivers... these I then update using
Windows Update to the most recent ones... job done... a full motherboard
swap without a complete reinstall and everything still works tickety-
boo...
Three and a half hours in total and we're up and running.
Still needs a bit of fine tuning but easier than a format and full
install
Hurrah...
Regards
Dave G