Motherboard replacement

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ivan
  • Start date Start date
I

Ivan

I would like to know if theres a way of replacing a
motherboard in my pc without having to reformat the hard
drive. I've been told that in windows xp its very
difficult to replace a m/board, so everybody i've talked
to had to reformat the hard drive . I currently have an
Intel motherboard which I am planning to replace and want
to know if theres a was of replacing the board without
reformatting the hard drive.

Your help is appreciatted!!!
 
Most of the time (not always) a repair installation after replacing the
motherboard will work ok.
 
A replacement mobo will likely have a different chipset and
a different CPU. Your video drivers will also be different.
In order to make XP run (boot) you will probably need to do
a repair install to get the correct drivers. It may or may
not require re-activation but if that is so it will work
on-line for most people if more than 120 days from a
previous activation. If there is a problem, an 800 number
will be given to call. That only takes a few minutes.
To do a repair install, boot your XP CD (do not take the "r"
option to repair by opening the Recovery Console) but select
"install" and then the repair installation option.
See
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q315341&ID=KB;EN-US;Q315341


message | I would like to know if theres a way of replacing a
| motherboard in my pc without having to reformat the hard
| drive. I've been told that in windows xp its very
| difficult to replace a m/board, so everybody i've talked
| to had to reformat the hard drive . I currently have an
| Intel motherboard which I am planning to replace and want
| to know if theres a was of replacing the board without
| reformatting the hard drive.
|
| Your help is appreciatted!!!
|
|
 
Greetings --

Normally, assuming a retail license, unless the new motherboard is
virtually identical to the old one (same chipset, same IDE
controllers, same BIOS version, etc.), 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

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

This will probably also require re-activation. 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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having both at once. -- RAH
 
Ivan said:
I would like to know if theres a way of replacing a
motherboard in my pc without having to reformat the hard
drive. I've been told that in windows xp its very
difficult to replace a m/board, so everybody i've talked
to had to reformat the hard drive . I currently have an
Intel motherboard which I am planning to replace and want
to know if theres a was of replacing the board without
reformatting the hard drive.
Click to expand...

I just went through this. My Pentium III motherboard died and I replaced it
with a Pentium IV board with faster RAM and whatnot. First I did a repair
installation of WinXP but the results were very unsatisfactory. So I booted
from the CD and did a complete (what I thought was "new") installation. It
did not involve a reformatting and when it was all over I discovered that
not only were my data intact but the folders under "Program Files" were
still there--though most of them were now empty.

I also now have a very peculiar folder structure under C:\Documents and
Settings:

Administrator
All Users
All Users.WINDOWS
Default User
Default User.WINDOWS
LocalService
LocalService.NT AUTHORITY
NetworkService
NetworkService.NT AUTHORITY
My Name.DiskName

I'm tempted to try and simplify this but something tells me to leave it
alone. ;-)

BTW1: My system seems much more stable now than it was before. It's also a
hell of a lot faster.

BTW2: Activation over the internet went without a hitch. EVEN THOUGH I have
an OEM version of WinXP Home.
 
-----Original Message-----
I would like to know if theres a way of replacing a
motherboard in my pc without having to reformat the hard
drive. I've been told that in windows xp its very
difficult to replace a m/board, so everybody i've talked
to had to reformat the hard drive . I currently have an
Intel motherboard which I am planning to replace and want
to know if theres a was of replacing the board without
reformatting the hard drive.

Your help is appreciatted!!!


.
Click to expand...
Hi there guys!

Just did the mobo replacement, did it thru the repair
option in the Windows XP CD setup, and it went really
smooth. Only lost my windows updates (thanx goodness I
saved SP1 on a CD). After running SP1 had to go thru 14
megs of windows update and the system is running good.
All the software, data, configurations, etc. remained
intact.

Thanx to everyone for their support.

Seasons Greetings and Best Regards...

Ivan
 
I would like to know if theres a way of replacing a
motherboard in my pc without having to reformat the hard
drive. I've been told that in windows xp its very
difficult to replace a m/board, so everybody i've talked
to had to reformat the hard drive . I currently have an
Intel motherboard which I am planning to replace and want
to know if theres a was of replacing the board without
reformatting the hard drive.

Your help is appreciatted!!!
Click to expand...
Use the Sysprep.exe utility to prepare system before upgrading
See deploy.cab file on XP CD.
You can also try the Repair Install from the XP CD.

See
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;282190&Product=winxp

Peter Hutchison
Windows FAQ
http://www.pcguru.plus.com/
 
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