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i am looking for some help from the computer experts out there.my pc at the min has xp pro sp2 on it. i am looking to buy a new motherboard and processor and want to know if my existing harddrive with xp on and loads of programs can just be left. i dont fancy wiping the harddrive and putting a free xp and finding all the programs again.
so is it possible to just put in the new motherboard and processer and just switch back on and can windows recognise the changes
thanks in advance
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Posted: 2005-01-31 22:49:57
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It is, it can be a little messy depending on motherboard drivers..
Driver installs are usually found in add/remove programs.
If you're going from an nforce board to a newer nforce board, uninstall the nForce drivers for the mobo. Once the hardware is in, put in the newest nforce drivers.
If going from a via to an Nforce .. congrats!
Should be able to just install the nforce drivers over the top of the existing mobo drivers.. VIA 4 in 1's are a little suss though so you might have to play a little.
If you're going from an nForce board to a VIA, uninstall the nForce motherboard drivers and then when the new board is installed put on the 4 n 1 drivers.
I presume intel would have a driver set as well, if so then like the above uninstall them before the mobo swap out then put on the latest mobo drivers once installed.
If things go pear shaped and windows now has alot of drivers and existing ones that aren't supposed to be there, as long as you have a proper XP cd (ie not a recovery cd) then you'll also be able to pop that in anddo a repair on the installation. This'll refresh all the sstem files but keep your registry entries and installed programs. (Thoguh you usually have to do a little clean up and reinstall of miner things afterwards)
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Posted: 2005-02-01 02:19:49
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thanks that will help. i will be staying with a via chipset so maybe it might be a bit smoother.
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Posted: 2005-02-01 16:43:30
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It's often not as simple as just uninstalling motherboard drivers. Windows installs masses of hardware automatically during installation of the O/S. If you change your motherboard without reinstalling your OS, you may find that lots of System Devices under 'Device Manager' are no longer recognised properly by the O/S.
In theory, this problem can be solved by disabling these devices, asking the O/S to scan for hardware changes, and reinstalling them manually from your XP CD. However, most techies highly recommend a full reinstallation of your OS after a change of mobo.
The following is a good start to look for more details:
http://forums.pcper.com/
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Posted: 2005-02-01 16:51:33
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There is one moor little 'tip' you can try alongside all of the other good suggestions...
Sometimes, it's a long shot but sometimes, an XP repair reinstall can sort out the driver issues when transplanting a HDD to a new mobo. Put the XP install disk in and proceed as if you're going to do a fresh install, i.e. do not use the 'repair console', rather wait until the part where it detects XP already installed. It'll then give you the option to repair the current installation or install a fresh copy. Choosing the repair option basically replaces all of the system and most of the registry files but, more importantly, tries to autodetect the system hardware as well.
As I said, it's a long shot but it has worked for me a couple of times. You should use it only as a last resort as despite what Microsoft claim, you can loose data during a repair reinstall!
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Posted: 2005-02-01 17:30:00
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thanks for the tips all, that website was good as well found a full section on it and plenty of people who had got it working with just a bit of work prioir to swapping motherboards.
it talked about uninstalling the via drives and setting up windows generic drivers in advance then swapping the board and doing a s cycovision suggested.
gonna give this a whirl and if all else fails i can always do a fresh install, but if i can save myself a days work then i will be most pleased
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Posted: 2005-02-01 18:58:49
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