Motherboard Upgrade without Vista Re-Installation

  • Thread starter Thread starter Derek G
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Derek G

I am considering upgrading my motherboard to one that has a higher
specification than PCI 2.2 to get over a problem with the new 802.11n
Wireless NICs. Can I avoid reinstalling all the system and applications by
keeping the existing system partition? Re-activating Windows should be
legally possible (even by telephone) because my Vista version is a full
retail one. I don't expect it to be that simple, but maybe someone has some
advice about using the Vista Recovery Environment to re-build the HAL, or
erasing certain registry keys in Safe Mode to force Vista to reinstall the
correct system devices. At present, I can not get past booting under Safe
Mode, so there has to be more to the process - if one is achievable. Thanks
for any advice.
 
Derek G said:
I am considering upgrading my motherboard to one that has a higher
specification than PCI 2.2 to get over a problem with the new 802.11n
Wireless NICs. Can I avoid reinstalling all the system and applications by
keeping the existing system partition? Re-activating Windows should be
legally possible (even by telephone) because my Vista version is a full
retail one. I don't expect it to be that simple, but maybe someone has some
advice about using the Vista Recovery Environment to re-build the HAL, or
erasing certain registry keys in Safe Mode to force Vista to reinstall the
correct system devices. At present, I can not get past booting under Safe
Mode, so there has to be more to the process - if one is achievable. Thanks
for any advice.
Click to expand...


Vista is very unlikley to work with a different H/W configuration...
so I recommend backing up all your data...then confirming the backed up data
are uncorrupted.

Once that is assured...
after the mobo is replaced, perform a fresh install of Vista etc.

It will of course need to be re-activated...but unless you have an OEM
version tied to your previous H/W...
you are legally entitled to do so.
 
it is possible to do an inplace upgrade which basically refreshes vista on the hard drive, similar to repair in XP.

replacing the mobo, this would be necessary as a minimum step.



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I am considering upgrading my motherboard to one that has a higher
specification than PCI 2.2 to get over a problem with the new 802.11n
Wireless NICs. Can I avoid reinstalling all the system and applications by
keeping the existing system partition? Re-activating Windows should be
legally possible (even by telephone) because my Vista version is a full
retail one. I don't expect it to be that simple, but maybe someone has some
advice about using the Vista Recovery Environment to re-build the HAL, or
erasing certain registry keys in Safe Mode to force Vista to reinstall the
correct system devices. At present, I can not get past booting under Safe
Mode, so there has to be more to the process - if one is achievable. Thanks
for any advice.
 
it is possible to do an inplace upgrade which basically refreshes vista on
the hard drive, similar to repair in XP.

replacing the mobo, this would be necessary as a minimum step.






Good idea..

Think I'd give that a try before doing something as radical as the fresh
install I had previously suggested
 
it is possible to do an inplace upgrade which basically refreshes vista on
the hard drive, similar to repair in XP.

replacing the mobo, this would be necessary as a minimum step.






Good idea..

Think I'd give that a try before doing something as radical as the fresh
install I had previously suggested
Click to expand...
We used to do this in XP by choosing the 2ND R as you boot from the
installation cd. The 1st R askks to do a repair and ask for passwords
etc, the 2nd R just does it without all that password stuff. I have
personally done when going from an AMD setup to an Intel setup, and
vice-versa too. It did NOT work in every instance though!
 
The old XP way of doing an inplace repair(hit R) is not in vista.

It was handy if you changed a motherboard.

They always get rid of the good things!
 
AFAIK if you boot the installation DVD in Vista and select Repair you do
still get the option to recreate the boot sector like you did in XP which
may resolve the problem without rebuilding the Vista OS.
 
f/fgeorge said:
We used to do this in XP by choosing the 2ND R as you boot from the
installation cd. The 1st R askks to do a repair and ask for passwords
etc, the 2nd R just does it without all that password stuff. I have
personally done when going from an AMD setup to an Intel setup, and
vice-versa too. It did NOT work in every instance though!
Click to expand...


The repair install in XP and Win2k was a real nice option.
If a HD was transplanted into drastically different H/W configuration...even
the repair install could fail...
but it usually worked.

I just got rid of an Intel mobo and moved the drive over to an AMD-based
machine
and the repair install got it going without a single hitch (other than
having to re-install my virsu checker)
 
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