Installed new Mobo - what to do with windows?

[Legoflamb]

Ok am I right in thinking that I just whack in my xp cd and tell it to repair the vers of windows already installed or do I *have* to back everything up, reformat and then clean install?

I've never changed mobo's without changing everythigg else before, so I'm at a bit of a loss.

Thanks!

 

[SandV4]

Ok. I am definitely not a computer genius but you should in theory be able to just pop in a XP cd and repair from there. Make sure it is a bootable disc though as some XP versions like Pro and what not are upgrade discs and are not bootable. Are you running into a problem using your comp since the new install of the MoBo?

 

[Legoflamb]

no I've not tried it - I was afraid I'd break it.

 

[SandV4]

So you put in the new MoBo and have not tried starting it up to see it if works? I am a little confused here. Is there something going on with the MoBo or anything else that you are afraid to start up the comp. A little bit more info would be appreciated.

 

[Legoflamb]

No I mean in general - should I repair windows before I let it boot into windows or not?

I don't really wanna let it boot to the desktop in case it get all corrupted and then i really do have to reformat.

 

[tgreaves]

Im asuming you have XP.. You need to call microsoft and ask them for activation.. When you change the mobo in an xp system it needs to be reactivated again..

 

[Legoflamb]

yeah but do i need to reformat or can i jsut do a windows repair?

 

[mailpup]

You can try to do a Windows repair first and if it doesn't work properly, you can always do a reformat and full reinstall at that time. You don't have to worry about activation until after the repair or reinstall.

If you have important files you need from your hard drive, a repair should preserve them but a reformat/reinstall will wipe them out. However, to be on the safe side if possible, you should back these files up before even a repair. In your case you would have to remove the hard drive and hook it up to another PC to save the files.

After repair or reinstall, you will have to install the new motherboard and other drivers. The motherboard should have come with a driver CD with most of those drivers but if not, you can go to the manufacturer's website for them. Don't forget to go to Windows Update for critical updates.

 

[tgreaves]

yeah but do i need to reformat or can i jsut do a windows repair?

I personally would reformat and start from scratch.. Do you still have your old mobo and everything? If so just hook it up and boot your old system and copy all of your important data to another machine.. Then hook your new system up and format and install from scratch..

 

[monton]

Save yourself some grief

The chipset and other drivers for the old motherboard are on the hard drive along with windows, your data and programs.
In your situation I have picked up another hard drive, for about $40 you can get an 80gig. Change your existing drive to a slave and the new one as the master. Do a fresh install of windows. Install the new drivers for the mobo. Then about 2 days worth of updates, patches, and fixes etc. At this point all your data and programs are safely secure on the original drive.
You can pull all your data from the original drive and after you are happy that all is well with the new drive format the original drive. Now you have an up-to-date windows, just the programs you wanted to reinstall, your data, and a second drive for storage. Time consuming but far less time consuming than trying to fix the existing copy of windows
I hope that is helpful for you
Monton