nvidia mainboard swap

  • Thread starter Thread starter JAD
  • Start date Start date
I have have to replace a nvidia chipset mainboard a gigabyte ga7n400, with
another mainboard but really dont want to have to do a reinstall of XP.
Ideally Id replace with the same model but its a very tight budget (and a
very long story!) so I was looking at using another Gigabyte nforce chipset
board either the ga7n400L or a new model ga7nf-rz which I can find no info
on beyond it uses mcp and spp.

I know the sound will be different(the pro uses the nvidia soundstorm chip)
but hopefully this wont be a terminal
problem, its differences in the different flavors of the nforce chipset I'm
most concerned about. I was hoping that the core logic for ide drives etc
would be close enough not to cause a problem but if the past history of this
job has any bearing then I'm screwed!

any thoughts on these issues much appreciated

cheers

Maurice
 
Unless you replace the motherboard with the EXACT SAME MOTHERBOARD,
including version, etc., you'll be hosed if you don not reformat the
harddrive and do a CLEAN install of the OS.
 
DaveW said:
Unless you replace the motherboard with the EXACT SAME MOTHERBOARD,
including version, etc., you'll be hosed if you don not reformat the
harddrive and do a CLEAN install of the OS.
Click to expand...

I do upgrade/repair swaps of comPLETEly different motherboards all the time
with no problems whatsoever.
 
maurice said:
Ok, two very different opinions here,

JAD "1. after the install of the MB boot with XP CD and do a repair
install
from the console"

DaveW "2. Unless you replace the motherboard with the EXACT SAME
MOTHERBOARD,
including version, etc., you'll be hosed if you don not reformat the
harddrive and do a CLEAN install of the OS"

Dave, have you had first hand experience with swapping identical chipset
boards and having to reformat. Do you have reason to believe the repair
console wont work?

I normally would reformat but the client has had some custom software
installed which will need to be reconfigured by the vendor if I have to
reinstall the OS.

Anybody else had good or bad luck with either of these scenarios?
Click to expand...

I had to do much the same recently when an Asus A7N8X stopped working on a
Saturday evening - I had an Abit NF7 available, so swapped the components
over and rebooted, started Windows (XP Home) in Safe Mode, went to Device
Manager, removed everything it would allow, ignoring the requests to reboot
until I'd finished, then rebooted properly and allowed Windows to re-detect
all it needed. I don't recall it asking for the installation disk, it just
sorted itself out and has been fine since (about 3/4 weeks). I did have to
re-activate Windows due to the hardware changes but that wasn't a problem.

HTH
Martin
 
Ok, two very different opinions here,

JAD "1. after the install of the MB boot with XP CD and do a repair
install
from the console"

DaveW "2. Unless you replace the motherboard with the EXACT SAME
MOTHERBOARD,
including version, etc., you'll be hosed if you don not reformat the
harddrive and do a CLEAN install of the OS"

Dave, have you had first hand experience with swapping identical chipset
boards and having to reformat. Do you have reason to believe the repair
console wont work?

I normally would reformat but the client has had some custom software
installed which will need to be reconfigured by the vendor if I have to
reinstall the OS.

Anybody else had good or bad luck with either of these scenarios?

thanks
 
maurice said:
Ok, two very different opinions here,

JAD "1. after the install of the MB boot with XP CD and do a repair
install
from the console"
Click to expand...

You dont want to go into the console. Just put the hardware together,
and boot from the XP cdrom. Keep going through the stages as if you were
going to do a new install. Eventually you'll be asked if you want to
reinstall or repair (not the same as console), and this is what you
want. If you miss it, do NOT format anything :-)
DaveW "2. Unless you replace the motherboard with the EXACT SAME
MOTHERBOARD,
including version, etc., you'll be hosed if you don not reformat the
harddrive and do a CLEAN install of the OS"
Click to expand...

Dave is talking out of his arse, this is not the only way.
Dave, have you had first hand experience with swapping identical chipset
boards and having to reformat. Do you have reason to believe the repair
console wont work?

I normally would reformat but the client has had some custom software
installed which will need to be reconfigured by the vendor if I have to
reinstall the OS.

Anybody else had good or bad luck with either of these scenarios?
Click to expand...

I've done both, both work.
 
the 'proper' way is to use the console.......not to say that what you
do doesn't work. Question: after doing the install your way, have you
looked over the boot log? is it without 'failed to load' lines,
curious is all.
 
the 'proper' way is to use the console.......not to say that what you
do doesn't work. Question: after doing the install your way, have you
looked over the boot log? is it without 'failed to load' lines,
curious is all.
Click to expand...


Read here Jad,
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/repair_xp.htm
The console sucks.



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Unless you replace the motherboard with the EXACT SAME MOTHERBOARD,
including version, etc., you'll be hosed if you don not reformat the
harddrive and do a CLEAN install of the OS.
Click to expand...

Wrong. Please stop spreading misinformation.

As another poster said, the OP should just do the repair re-install.
Actually the chipsets may be close enough so that not even that may be
necessary.

Before doing that, a backup should be done, esp. of data and settings. Use
erunt for a registry backup too. On rare occasions a re-install can go awry
so that a new install is demanded by XP. But just restore the registry,
tweak what needs tweaking (like turning off onboard sound in the BIOS you
forgot to do), and try again.
 
evening shep,

I read where is it that it sucks.....From Kelly Theriot. This is a
must read?
I have always used it,,,procedures outlined in MCSE manual, show the
console as the correct way, not that they are always the best or
fastest way.
 
You dont want to go into the console. Just put the hardware
together,
Click to expand...

If one is interested in reading a post/thread for the sake of
information one usually reads the whole thread. Whats your reason?
 
JAD said:
evening shep,

I read where is it that it sucks.....From Kelly Theriot. This is a
must read?
I have always used it,,,procedures outlined in MCSE manual, show the
console as the correct way, not that they are always the best or
fastest way.
Click to expand...

How many home users have that lying around?
 
isn't that why they come here..............cause they don't have the
manual....AAMOF they come here often cause they don't read the manuals
they have.
 
well I'll tell ya what....OEM versions are EVERYWHERE... and the main
reason I use it is because of the dual boot systems that I deal with
everyday. Have you used your way on dual boot systems also? Is there
an option to chose which partition you want to repair?
 
JAD said:
isn't that why they come here..............cause they don't have the
manual....AAMOF they come here often cause they don't read the manuals
they have.
Click to expand...

Then perhaps you'd care to type out, step by step, the procedure for
using the repair console to accomplish this task.
 
Then perhaps you'd care to type out, step by step, the procedure for
using the repair console to accomplish this task.
Click to expand...


well, that would be redundant as the link that was given, covers all
the different ways,,,,,,,,,,,,\'
 
JAD said:
well I'll tell ya what....OEM versions are EVERYWHERE... and the main
reason I use it is because of the dual boot systems that I deal with
everyday. Have you used your way on dual boot systems also? Is there
an option to chose which partition you want to repair?
Click to expand...

Try it out.
 
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