Planning to upgrade my motherboard

  • Thread starter Thread starter C Dot C
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C Dot C

I am planning to upgrade my motherboard
of my Vista Ultimate machine so I can
enjoy a much faster Vista experience!
Do I have to redo the entering of my
product key? I am testing out Vista Ultimate
on this 4-yr old 500Mhz Dell Optiplex.
Very SLOOOWWW. Although, most
of the features that Vista has that can
run on this machine works. I cannot
experience the Media Center because
the video card does not meet the
MC requirements.

Again, what do I need to do with the
product key once I upgrade to a new
motherboard. I intend to use the same
disk drives, or migrate my drives to
a new/faster drives.

Thanks in advance.
 
You will effectively be buying a new computer, as you will be needing a new
motherboard, new processor, new RAM and possibly a new graphics card. You
would be best off re-installing from scratch with such change in hardware.
In either scenario you will need to reactivate, but only with a complete
reinstall would you have to re-enter your product key.

JW
 
If you have Vista RTM you likely got it from Microsoft MSDN subscriptions
(or one of the other official Microsoft methods of distribution). It is not
available for sale as of yet. If MSDN you can install it up to 10 times. If
it is from another Microsoft source just call Microsoft to validate after
you install to a new motherboard.

If you got the business edition from your place of employment - talk to your
system administrator.

If you got it illegally - you're on your own.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!
 
C Dot C said:
I am planning to upgrade my motherboard
of my Vista Ultimate machine so I can
enjoy a much faster Vista experience!
Do I have to redo the entering of my
product key? I am testing out Vista Ultimate
on this 4-yr old 500Mhz Dell Optiplex.
Very SLOOOWWW. Although, most
of the features that Vista has that can
run on this machine works. I cannot
experience the Media Center because
the video card does not meet the
MC requirements.

Again, what do I need to do with the
product key once I upgrade to a new
motherboard. I intend to use the same
disk drives, or migrate my drives to
a new/faster drives.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Not sure why you are so worried about this - all that you may have to
do is activate via telephone if the over the Internet activation
fails.
Simple.
 
C Dot C,

Suggestions, locate a new MB identified as BIOS compatible with Vista. Also,
verify the BIOS is set for allowing the *BIOS* to Install Plug and Play
(commonly Default), *not* the OS. The above learned the difficult method.

When a BIOS change is made while using Vista, that sends Vista into
self-protection panic mode.

Possibly, you might get lucky a simply Change the Product Key for
re-Activating Vista. Because you will soon learn the Windows Activation
Screen reads; you have three (3) days to Activate Vista, secondary to the MB
and BIOS change.

The best suggestion:
Reformat your HDD using two partitions (one for BitLocker) for achieving the
most state-of-the-art OS simply Vista providing you with near Stealth
Security Protection, and don't forget about EFS, all Features within Vista
Ultimate. Additionally, Vista 64-bit is more Secure compared to 32-bit Vista.

Lastly, you can not conceive the difference a new MB and BIOS will create
compared to your Dell 500 Mhz. You will think that your on board a Stealth
Fighter Jet using a new Processor in the area of 2 GB or higher and at least
1 GB RAM. Been there done that !!!

Just in the event you are not aware, if you perform a new Clean Install of
Vista, be certain that all important devices are connected to your computer,
including Internet access, wishfully broadband, before *** Ever *** inserting
that DVD Vista Install, then just sit back and observe Vista self-install not
only the OS but all device drivers. Also, when *first* connected to Internet,
before attempting Clean Install, Vista will scan and wipe your HDD removing
any potential malware or other threats before properly performing a true,
Clean Trouble Free Install !!!

Just sit back and read the messages that Vista notifies you that are being
self-processed. Performing a *proper* Clean Install of Vista is of utmost
importance for achieving Ultimate Security.

Have a wonderful weekend,
 
Thank you very much. That is a great advice. I will do a fresh install
when I get my new motherboard for AMD 64, 2Gb of DDR2 memory, 500Gb SATA
drive.
 
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