Is this possible?

[Dufrane]

Is it possible to place a new motherboard without reformating my hard drive???

 

[nick1985]

if its the same one i know you dont have too

 

[Siddhartha]

Originally posted by: Dufrane
Is it possible to place a new motherboard without reformating my hard drive???

Normally I would say no. But I just upgraded both my motherboard and cpu without a reformat and reinstall of the OS. So far, everything has been running without any issues.

 

[Wiseguy69]

There's no reason you shouldn't be able to. Windows will just reinstall the correct drivers for the mobo. Then the problem becomes this, will Windows get screwed up because it has the old drivers in the registry? Try it, you may have no problem.

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: Dufrane
Is it possible to place a new motherboard without reformating my hard drive???

Definitely format.

You will start to run into problems, its best to do a clean install anyhow..

 

[SKORPI0]

It depends on what OS you're using. Swapped one of my systems w/ a Gigabyte GA-7DXR (AMD 761 chipset) mobo to a GA-7VRXP (VIA KT333 chipset) mobo. Windows XP just installed the needed drivers. Never encountered any problem so far for the last 3 months.

If you're running Win 98 SE or Win 2000, you may have to do a clean install. Linux Redhat and Mandrake also detected the change of MB, had to reinstall some drivers w/ the CD. I have a drive w/ Windows XP installed & swap it out to run Linux.

 

[MarkHark]

If both boards have the same exact chipset, and the same exact IDE controllers, you should have no big deal keeping your previously installed OS. A few adjustments in device manager migth or might not be necessary.

If you are upgrading to a newer chipset type, you should try the following:
1) BEFORE removing your old mobo, boot into safe mode, then remove ALL disk controllers in device manager.

2) If you have any devices integrated in your old motherboard (video, sound, RAID etc.), you'd better remove them all. This is not a necessary step, but valuable if you don't wanna risk Windows using the old drivers for the new hardware.

3) If you are also changing other pieces of hardware, this is a good time for removing the old ones too.

4) Turn off the power and swap the motherboards, etc...

5) Boot Windows in full mode, have all drivers disks at hand. Better yet, copy them all to your hard drive BEFORE changing mobos.

If you follow this through, you could *probably* avoid reinstalling windows and all your software. No guarantee, do it at your own risk. There is nothing as too much caution, and backup, as always, is recommended.

That said, chances are, you'll be happy.