Re: >>>Switching motherboards with windows XP - Urgent



John Monahan wrote:
I have a system with an ASUS P4P800-E Pentium 4 motherboard. It has Windows XP on a large IDE drive. I would like to update the motherboard to an ASUS P5W DH-Deluxe board that has an Intel Core 2 Duo chip. The reason I picked this board is it has 4 IDE slots and so it will allow me to retain all my current drives etc.

My question is is what is the easiest way to "bring up the system" with the new board. For example if I just install everything and reboot will it come up in some kind of minimal mode (with errors).

I looked at the suppport chips:-
The P4P800 has a Northside controller using the Intel 82865PE 7 a Southside Intel ICH5R
while the 5WP has a Northside Intel 975X and a Southside Intel ICH7R

Does anybody know if these are "close enough" to get the system up so I can then install the proper new drivers from the supplied CD's.

How have othe people handeled swapping motherboards without changing hard drives.




Normally, and assuming a retail license (many factory-installed OEM installations are BIOS-locked to a specific chipset and therefore are *not* transferable to a new motherboard - check yours before starting), unless the new motherboard is virtually identical (same chipset, same IDE controllers, same BIOS version, etc.) to the one on which the 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

Changing a Motherboard or Moving a Hard Drive with WinXP Installed
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/moving_xp.html

The "why" is quite simple, really, and has nothing to do with licensing issues, per se; it's a purely technical matter, at this point. You've pulled the proverbial hardware rug out from under the OS. (If you don't like -- or get -- the rug analogy, think of it as picking up a Cape Cod style home and then setting it down onto a Ranch style foundation. It just isn't going to fit.) WinXP, like Win2K before it, is not nearly as "promiscuous" as Win9x when it comes to accepting any old hardware configuration you throw at it. On installation it "tailors" itself to the specific hardware found. This is one of the reasons that the entire WinNT/2K/XP OS family is so much more stable than the Win9x group.

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

This will also probably 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:
http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. -Benjamin Franklin

Many people would rather die than think; in fact, most do. -Bertrand Russell
.



Relevant Pages

  • Windows XP Pro repair install option not available!!!
    ... I have a Gigabyte GA-7VRXP motherboard that went bad on me. ... this case a repair installation is the way to go. ... the screen in the Windows XP Pro Setup where the repair option should ... or is that not possible w/dynamic drives? ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: reading specs for Asus P5LD2 motherboard?
    ... I used the Asus P5LD2 motherboard. ... PATA drives from my old pc. ... Intel ICH7R Southbridge: ...
    (alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt)
  • Re: No Sound With a New Motherboard & XP Transplant.
    ... desktop with an Intel D865GVHZL motherboard. ... installed the latest audio dirver and BIOS update from the Intel website. ... original XP installation may be the cause of my sound problem; ... The only software reinstallation CDs I have are the Emachines restore CDs ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Thunderbird & old email
    ... With that in mind I chose for the motherboard the BFG Tech NForce4 motherboard. ... It's not all it's cracked up to be--the drives stay in place pretty well, but the little tabs to secure component cards are less effective. ... As far as my purchase goes, my only disappointment was that it didn't have memory card support, or firewire, but I don't actually care much about firewire, and I am probably better off with an external card reader anyway. ... Today I spent an hour or so cleaning up the old Windows installation, deleting files, etc. Somehow I have 6 GB of .CHK files from the past few year of ChkDsk runs. ...
    (rec.games.computer.ultima.dragons)
  • >>>Switching motherboards with windows XP - Urgent
    ... I have a system with an ASUS P4P800-E Pentium 4 motherboard. ... P5W DH-Deluxe board that has an Intel Core 2 Duo chip. ... current drives etc. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)