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How To Change Your Motherboard


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I know this has been discussed a million times here. and I know people have this firm believe that you MUST reload the OS if you change a motherboard out.

 

this is NOT 100% true.

 

there are 4 methods I've used over the years that have worked wonders with windows NT, 2000, XP and even longhorn.

 

Method 1 is to a repair install from windows (overlay install NOT repair console)

 

Method 2 is a little more involved. so here goes:

 

With the OLD motherboard in your system go to device manager (right click My Computer, Mange, Device Manager).

 

select the IDE / ATAPI controller (this will not work if you're using a raid or SATA setup that is NOT part of the chipset... ie SIL, Promise, High Point or Adaptec).

 

update your drivers.

 

choose to select from list of compatible devices.

 

choose microsoft default.

 

shut down and replace motherboard

 

Method 3 is to choose a motherboard with the chipset (which includes the IDE controller) that is the same make as the previous board (NFII to NF3/4 or i845 to i925)

 

Method 4 is a little more involved. it requires a stand alone IDE controller card or SATA card for SATA drives (this is the same reason I use SCSI drives).

 

Install the controller card in the system.

 

Install the drivers for the card.

 

shut down system and replace motherboard.

 

move controller card to new system.

 

install chipset drivers for motherboard.

 

shut down and move drives from controller card to motherboard.

 

remove controller card

 

DONE.

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Thanks for refreshing my memory, big red.

 

I was actually going to look for an old thread where someone had mentioned method 2 and that they learned it from you..

 

anyway , i just had to change mother boards for someone this morning i just did a repair install(method 1)

 

Ill try method 2 next time

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What if u have sp2 installed and all the updates, and u overlay microsoft xp with a microsoft disc only with sp1? Would any of the methods cause problems in the long run such as a reinstall of windows xp? and which method do you think is best to use? (will cause least amount of problems)

Edited by Bboy Satch

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Ditto, but I highly doubt a customer would be willing to pay me $35 an hour to replace a motherboard and keep the OS installation using "hacks".

 

In all things said, this would probably cause a reactivation of Windows, which we as techs cannot legally do without either customer consent or without the customer present. My management would just say replace the motherboard and reinstall with customer consent.

Edited by FxXP

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half the time I do it, I just remove all the hardware from device manager - or the registry if I'm in a hurry. :D

 

majority of the time I do a repair from CD - my record so far is 5 repairs (from mobo changes) on one OS install...

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:O Sorry to interject people, but I was wondering if anybody has had any dealings with changing the mobo in a proprietry computer, or knows of any forums I may read. I am hoping to upgrade my Compaq if it is possible.

 

My main concern is obviously OS and data. FSB limit of mobo is throttling my cpu and ram and i'm all O/C'd out.

 

My first post here.

Many thanks to any respondents.

 

Overpaq'd in OZ.

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Big Red,

Very noob question....can you explaine to me in more detail on how do do a repair, or overlay....i have tried this a few times...instead of doing a fresh install (because of various errors etc..) But when i press "r" to do the repair, i get to the screen where i dont know what to do...kind of like dos commands....

then, i just say...oh crap it and do a fresh install...

so if you can give me more info on this, it would help greatly...thx in advance....

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