Ermm.. Quick Question regarding upgrading motherboards.

[koondrad]

Hi,

this is kind of a n00bish question but i wanted to be sure.
If I'm upgrade my motherboard and processor, will I have to reformat Windows or will my hard drive be alright?

I'm fairly confident but I want to check.


Thanks in advance.

 

[giant384]

yes u will have to reformat your hardrive

 

[Lahire149]

no you wont have to
(at least i didn't need to)
but i did use a repair install to make it recognize my HDD

 

[giant384]

no you wont have to
(at least i didn't need to)
but i did use a repair install to make it recognize my HDD

o wait thats what i forgot to say but dont u usually need a cd for that

 

[duffers20]

you don't necessarily need to, but it does help the transplant process if you format and reinstall. Not so much when you are swapping pretty similar motherboards that may use teh same socket type, raid controller etc, but it does help if you do change one of the main aspects of the board.

 

[EVIL]

A clean format is always a good thing

 

[Qonfused]

A clean format is always a good thing

This man knows... stuff.

 

[giant384]

This man knows... stuff.

but do you know stuff

 

[Lahire149]

A clean format is always a good thing

unless u hate reinstalling like a gillion gigs of stuff and backing up for about 4 days straight....

...well, maybe it's not that bad...

 

[koondrad]

Right well I didn't build this PC so I don't have the WindowsXP disk but I do have the product key that was used when it was installed.

Any ideas?


Thanks. :cheers:

 

[Lahire149]

I don't have the WindowsXP disk but I do have the product key

well that disk is very inmportant.
You could use a pirate edition, and just use your product key when it's activtion time
(i think this work)
and this isn't "pirating" b/c u own it.

but there has to be a better way.....

ASUS! come here!

 

[koondrad]

well that disk is very inmportant.
You could use a pirate edition, and just use your product key when it's activtion time
(i think this work)
and this isn't "pirating" b/c u own it.

but there has to be a better way.....

I'll borrow my mates cd if I can be sure it'll work.

ASUS! come here!

You've got to shout a bit louder:
ASUS! come here!



Many thanks for the help.:thumbs:

 

[Asus]

well that disk is very inmportant.
You could use a pirate edition, and just use your product key when it's activtion time
(i think this work)
and this isn't "pirating" b/c u own it.

but there has to be a better way.....

ASUS! come here!

I think I've tried that once before when I lost my Windows XP CD for a bit. Didn't work for me so I had to hunt down my disc.

If you try booting up with the new board and it doesn't work right or gives you a blue screen then try going into safemode and uninstalling the drivers for all the different stuff on the board (onboard sound, onboard nic, chipset drivers etc).

 

[koondrad]

Thanks for that Asus. So you're saying that the Product Key is linked to the XP CD? Right then, I guess I'll have to hope for the best because I didn't build my current PC and so I don't have the CD, just the activation key. Anyone else got any ideas?


Thanks,
crossing my fingers.:O

 

[baron insig]

someimtes it wokrs. xp has a system where after a certainnumber of part changes it un regiters itself and gives up, mate bought a packard bell years ago got a job and upgraded it bit byu bit needless to say when he finally bought his raptor it ****ed and i had to fix it for him

 

[Asus]

Well the CDkey isn't linked to that specific CD but what I'm suggesting is rather retail CDkeys work with retail Windows XP CDs and corporate keys linked to corporate cds.

 

[Lahire149]

I've had to trick microsoft activation center before, and i'm pretty sure that the CD isn't linked because u can change the product number on the prompt

 

[koondrad]

Am I feeling lucky? I'm still trawling google for an answer.

 

[Lahire149]

Am I feeling lucky? I'm still trawling google for an answer.

ur probablly feeling lucky if it's just your mobo ur repalcing
same chipset drivers? i should think so

 

[koondrad]

same chipset drivers?

nope :rolling:


Really, the question of the day is:

Can I use a friend's WinXP CD to do a repair install if I have my own product key?


From previous comments, it would seem I can.




Thanks,

 

[Lahire149]

Can I use a friend's WinXP CD to do a repair install if I have my own product key?

so far looks good, but just make sure that you uninstall old mobo drivers before you install new mobo
and don't use the windows new hardware wizard, but i'm sure u already knew that

 

[koondrad]

so far looks good, but just make sure that you uninstall old mobo drivers before you install new mobo

yep.

and don't use the windows new hardware wizard, but i'm sure u already knew that

yep. It's messed me about many a time before.



Thanks for all the help everyone. Tomorrow is upgrade day, so hopefully all will go well. :|

 

[koondrad]

right, my mate can't find his cd.:hmph:

 

[Lahire149]

you could buy another copy, and just have a spare copy incase you build a computer sometime in the future

 

[koondrad]

you could buy another copy, and just have a spare copy incase you build a computer sometime in the future

yep, that's exactly what I've done.


Thnaks :cheers:

 

[dream431ca]

No. there is a much easier way..go to control panel, system, click on the tab hardware at the top and click on device manager. Click on action and click on scan for hardware changes...there easy.

 

[Synthos]

don't get an asus. ever. crappy crappy.

 

[duffers20]

don't get an asus. ever. crappy crappy.

an asus mobo?? why wouldn't you consider one of the best brands out there just now??