Upgrade Mobo and CPU - worried!

  • Thread starter Thread starter Neal Jones
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Neal Jones

I want to upgrade my motherboard and CPU, and memory. Ie build a new
PC apart from HDD.

I have built my last five PCs but always from scratch, never an
upgrade.

Question. can I simply plug my ATA HDD straight into my new moboard
expect xp to boot up?

thx
Neal
 
The computer should start. XP will not because of the new mobo, cpu, memory,
etc. You will have to boot from the XP CD and do a repair install.
 
Greetings --

Normally, and assuming a retail license (many OEM licenses are not
transferable to a new motherboard), unless your motherboard is
virtually identical (same chipset, same IDE controllers, same BIOS
version, etc.) to the one on which the other 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

As always when undertaking such a significant change, back up any
important data before starting.

This will also 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:




You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH
 
Zeroth: Backup all personal files off the PC, or at least on a separate
partition.

First, you must own a full-retail license of XP, not the cheaper OEM
license, to do this sort of an upgrade.

Second, the odds are about 100% that XP will die on a blue screen error of
some sort. BUT, do not worry. That is usually fixed by doing a "repair"
installation of XP, using the retail version CDROM. The OEM version of XP
will not do a repair, only a clean install.

Third, a repair instalation will remove all XP updates and service packs.
Be prepared to re-install them. If you have high-speed internet this is not
a problem. If you do not, at least get the CDROM for SP-1 (about $10 from
Microsoft). You might also want the more recent "rollup" CD of patches.

Fourth, the odds of having to re-activate are 100% with a new motherboard.
Do not worry about this. The auto-activate over the internet may work, or
at worst you will need to call the 800 number that appears on the screen, if
that fails. I had to call the 800 number once, and found the Microsoft
representative both friendly and helpful. In 5 minutes I was re-activated.
Note that they will only re-activate a full retail copy of XP (or retail
upgrade). If the copy is OEM, they will tell you to contact the PC maker
for help.
 
Greetings --

Your "First" rule applies only if the OP owns a branded,
BIOS-Locked OEM CD or has only a branded OEM Recovery CD. A generic
OEM CD (such as purchased from a small system builder) would still
work for the in-place upgrade.


Bruce Chambers

--
Help us help you:




You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. -- RAH
 
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