Vista and Motherboard changing

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markharris2000

Need some advise on the process needed to swap motherboards.

I have a Windows Vista Ultimate machine on a AMD X2 3800+ motherboard.
It only has AGP, so I want to get to a PCIe mobo. The installation
was a clean Vista BUSINESS edition back in February. Then, I decided
to splurge and I used the Windows ANYTIME UPGRADE to upgrade to a
ULTIMATE edition.

So now I want to swap the whole motherboard to an Intel e6420 mobo,
and I don't don't where to start, and ultimately how happy Windows
will be when it detects the massive hardware swap.

I am guessing I shut the system down, boot from the ANYTIME UPGRADE
CD, and then tell it to do some kind of repair thing. Will it ask
license? How can I use the license for Ultimate that I paid for?

Suggestions?
 
Hi Mark--

I don't think you have to spend much time worrying about the activation
aspects of this MOBO swap. Just make sure that you get your new mobo in
carefully and get set to enjoy it. You may well get an activation speed
bump but not to worry, because if you do either call the number that is in
the wizard, or if one is not provided to you, then call MSFT and have them
transfer you to "Activation" and if your PK won't work, they can generate a
new valid PK for you.

If you need to call them and a wizard doesn't give you a number, for
US/Canada, use

(800) 936-5700

In another country use the contact number at the bottom of the page at
http://support.microsoft.com or

https://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?ln=en-us&prid=10299&gprid=436975

Good luck,

CH
 
Need some advise on the process needed to swap motherboards.

I have a Windows Vista Ultimate machine on a AMD X2 3800+ motherboard.
It only has AGP, so I want to get to a PCIe mobo. The installation
was a clean Vista BUSINESS edition back in February. Then, I decided
to splurge and I used the Windows ANYTIME UPGRADE to upgrade to a
ULTIMATE edition.

So now I want to swap the whole motherboard to an Intel e6420 mobo,
and I don't don't where to start, and ultimately how happy Windows
will be when it detects the massive hardware swap.

I am guessing I shut the system down, boot from the ANYTIME UPGRADE
CD, and then tell it to do some kind of repair thing. Will it ask
license? How can I use the license for Ultimate that I paid for?

Suggestions?
Click to expand...

I did the same thing about six weeks ago. Put the new board
in, connected the hardware, and then booted it up. Vista
chugged around for about three minutes until it sorted
itself out. Had to phone in to re-activate it and everything
has been fine since. I figured it was worth a try instead of
screwing around with re-installing or running Vista repair,
and in the end was pleasantly surprised.
 
Activation issue seems like it will be fine, but I still want to be
sure how I boot this thing after the hardware swap. I am going from a
old AMD mobo with Nvidia chipset to an Intel Mobo with intel chipset.
I am pretty sure I'll need to boot from a CDROM since the hardware
support files are significantly different. Will the ANYTIME UPGRADE
universal CDROM boot and then offer me the choice to 'Upgrade" so that
my system files now work on the INTEL mobo? Also, will I loose my
ULTIMATE ANYTIME upgrade?

(Should I somehow find the license code for Ultimate before I swap the
hardware? I purchased it online at microsoft.com so I don't actually
have a written Ultimate license. It is in my Digital Locker at
Microsoft, whatever that is...)
 
I did this and now have a non booting computer that cannot even get
into safe mode. WARNING: regardless of what is claimed on this
newsgroup Vista has no method of reinstalling the OS via an in place
upgrade without a working OS like XP does. You will have to reinstall
from scratch in this case as I will have to. I guess you have a 50/50
chance of it working anyway.
 
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