New motherboard

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Robert Morrison

Soon to install a new motherboard. Will I have to reinstall Windows XP?
thanks
rtm
 
Robert said:
Soon to install a new motherboard. Will I have to reinstall Windows XP?
thanks
rtm


Normally, and assuming a retail license (many factory-installed OEM
installations are BIOS-locked to a specific motherboard 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:


http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/555375

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killed a great many philosophers.
~ Denis Diderot
 
On Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:55:16 -0700, "Robert Morrison" <no
Soon to install a new motherboard. Will I have to reinstall Windows XP?
thanks


Unless the new motherboard is identical to the old one, you will
have to do at least a repair installation of Windows. See "How to
Perform a Windows XP Repair Install" at
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

That usually works, but occasionally it's not sufficient, and a
clean reinstallation is required.

Most of the time, by far, the repair installation is sufficient. I
just wanted to alert you of the possibility of needing a clean
reinstallation, so you are prepared for it if the worst happens. So be
prepared for that possibility with up-to-date backups, software media
for reinstallation, etc. You *probably* won't need them, but better to
be prepared than sorry.
 
Thanks everybody. It's not an OEM.
rtm
Ken Blake said:
On Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:55:16 -0700, "Robert Morrison" <no



Unless the new motherboard is identical to the old one, you will
have to do at least a repair installation of Windows. See "How to
Perform a Windows XP Repair Install" at
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

That usually works, but occasionally it's not sufficient, and a
clean reinstallation is required.

Most of the time, by far, the repair installation is sufficient. I
just wanted to alert you of the possibility of needing a clean
reinstallation, so you are prepared for it if the worst happens. So be
prepared for that possibility with up-to-date backups, software media
for reinstallation, etc. You *probably* won't need them, but better to
be prepared than sorry.
 
On Sat, 19 Apr 2008 16:35:00 -0700, "Robert Morrison" <no
Thanks everybody. It's not an OEM.


It doesn't matter. What I said below is the same whether or not it's
an OEM version.


 
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