If you go for the new motherboard/ updated socket, you have <b> three days
</b> after changing certain hardware to re-register the product key with
Windows Genuine Advantage before Vista "chucks a fit" lol. I'm pritty sure
the motherboard is one of those certain hardwares. If for some reason you
miss that time frame or it defaults to OEM in the product ID (I've heard of
it happening) don't waste time trying to figure it out, just call customer
support. Try not to miss that three day time frame though, because I've also
heard of people having to buy a whole new product key for the same price as
the Vista package.
If you have the 775 and install a chip, go to the device manager, right
click and scan for new plug and play. Double check to make sure it's
recognized in the processer menu. This is usually the safe point. If there
aren't any issues yet, chances look optimistic. Windows Update, and then if
you feel extra cautious, update drivers for the cpu. Update the experience
index, if it didn't already take over and do it for you at some point, and
you should be set. I don't forsee any real issues on that route, although,
I'm not a MS employee, just a user trying to share knowledge. That's what I
would do.
As far as identifying your hardware, I use a program called siw.exe or
System Information for Windows. Its a free download at <a href =
http://www.gtopala.com/> "
www.gtopala.com" </a> Hint- when you go to the
main website, the top menu bar of the site looks like the XP taskbar, and has
a "download" tab. Click that, and then click the "download now" It's a little
confusing, I had to scroll around a bit before I figured that out :b It will
tell you just about all technical information about your system. Your cpu
socket info is under hardware and then motherboard.
Another option is to start your computer in the BIOS (Basic Input Output
System I think) I don't know your level of experience so I'm assuming not
much. If I come across as talking down to you, it's unintentional. How to
start in bios? You'll have to research that because it changes per
manufacturer. It shouldn't be too hard. Enter the Make and Model and the
phrase bios key into a search engine (for example: IBM Deskmate bios key) and
9 times out of 10 its the first selection. It's usually something like "hold
delete" or "Press F7 repetedly" during bootup. Once in bios DONT CHANGE
ANYTHING! Actually, to play it safe, if possible, don't save when you exit.
Every BIOS I've seen you can't use your mouse. It's arrow keys to change
fields, space to select, sometimes tab and/or F10, and esc to exit. It will
usually tell you on the bottom how to navigate so don't worry to much about
that, just wanted to let you know to save panic when the mouse isn't
responding. If you poke around in there, just looking, you should come across
cpu socket.
