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M/B CPU Upgrade; erase drivers OR Clean Install

R

rip

Senior member
I've read much about the pros/cons about upgrading mb/cpu and keeping the OS intact OR just fresh installing. Just thought I'd put out here to get some more insight.
Current setup is X58, i7 920, Win10 upgrade without a hitch (technet key). Upgrade is i7-4790K and X97 m/b.
OS is on C: an SSD, programs installed on D: a 1TB WD.
Would you uninstall drivers and go for it or just fresh install and go through all the re installation of ALL your programs?
 
Its a good rule of thumb to always reinstall Windows when you change MB. Especially with such a massive upgrade.

Just uninstalling drivers and booting Windows on the new hardware can lead to all sorts of strange issues.
 
Use good image software to copy your bootdrive to another drive. Put this drive in your new rig and see what happens. From Windows7 on doing this kind of switch has worked surprisingly well for me. Or you can create an image of your main bootdrive and try this with your current drives. I personally would put all my programs on the SSD because otherwise you are losing most of the benefits of having an SSD drive in the first place. I have a 256 SSD and the only thing I put on regular drives are big video files, backups and stuff like that. All my programs and all my documents fit just fine.
 
bump, 'cuz I have all the parts now and just checking for last minute thoughts on the matter.
X58 i7 920 to X97 i7 4790K.
I have Win10 on an old slow SSD for C:, Programs installed to D, a 1TB WD (games, Office, Adobe Suite).
Here's the kicker. I do audio work on another install (change it in bios) because the sound card, an emu 1212m is what I use for that work. Onboard sound disabled.
So, disable appropriate drivers and go for it or clean install and work on reinstalling all the programs for days?
Clean install recommended or go for it and hope for the best?
thanks,
Dana
 
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If it were my choice, I'd say: go for the motherboard switch without a fresh install.
Preparation: roll back the IDE/SATA controller driver to the "Standard" Microsoft IDE/SATA driver, if it's currently using the Intel driver.
After successfully re-booting with the new motherboard: clean out the several dozen "ghost devices". For that: create a "setdev.bat.txt" file, using Notepad.
Paste this into Notepad:

set DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1
devmgmt.msc
.

Save as a .txt file, then rename to "setdev.bat".
Right-click and "Run as Administrator"; View/Show hidden devices.
Then go through each device category (by clicking the + sign), and right-click "uninstall" any greyed out non-present devices.
 
I broke all the rules ever since Windows 7. My Windows 7 install jumped across at least 3 different motherboards (from my Q6600 to my AMD 955BE, to my current 2600k). All I did each time was remove all drivers (including video), shut down, swap everything over, boot up, after the initial basic driver install reboot, then install all current up-to-date drivers.

So from 2009 until 2015 I had only ever installed Windows 7 on my PC once.

Heck, my Windows 10 install is based off of an in-place upgrade from that exact Windows 7 install. I did the same thing with it - uninstalled drivers, rebooted, ran the upgrade, installed new drivers. Yes, it had some bugs still but those all ironed out over the next couple of months until the 1511 update in November that pretty much fixed the last of them.

I wonder how long I can keep this going before stuff goes totally whack 😛
 
Finally dove off the deep end and clean installed W10. Skipped putting in a key then, after installation complete, put in my 7 key and it activated right up! Not a single hitch. I've even gotten most of my programs that were installed on a separate 'D' drive up and running. Woo hoo! lightning fast and lovin' it 🙂
thanks everyone for your replies,
Dana
 
SparkyJJO said:
I broke all the rules ever since Windows 7. My Windows 7 install jumped across at least 3 different motherboards (from my Q6600 to my AMD 955BE, to my current 2600k). All I did each time was remove all drivers (including video), shut down, swap everything over, boot up, after the initial basic driver install reboot, then install all current up-to-date drivers.

So from 2009 until 2015 I had only ever installed Windows 7 on my PC once.

Heck, my Windows 10 install is based off of an in-place upgrade from that exact Windows 7 install. I did the same thing with it - uninstalled drivers, rebooted, ran the upgrade, installed new drivers. Yes, it had some bugs still but those all ironed out over the next couple of months until the 1511 update in November that pretty much fixed the last of them.

I wonder how long I can keep this going before stuff goes totally whack 😛
Click to expand...

Have you seen the video of the guy starting with Windows 1.0 and upgrading to every version up to Windows 7? It was interesting. It was in a VM, but it was still amusing to watch.
 
Yeah, you forget some of the old school graphics, like the computer with the papers spread out during the Windows 95 installer. Makes me feel old, nostalgic.
 
In my other install (Win7) same machine, I just went for it without doing a thing. I had nothing to lose so I figured what the hell. It lacked a network driver and that was about it. Up and running with super new hardware.

In my travels I ran across these links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGwa5TrTSL0
actually no link but, what vailr said above a few posts looked promising.
 
SparkyJJO said:
I broke all the rules ever since Windows 7. My Windows 7 install jumped across at least 3 different motherboards (from my Q6600 to my AMD 955BE, to my current 2600k). All I did each time was remove all drivers (including video), shut down, swap everything over, boot up, after the initial basic driver install reboot, then install all current up-to-date drivers.

So from 2009 until 2015 I had only ever installed Windows 7 on my PC once.

😛
Click to expand...

With Win10 it is even better. The Drivers pool is even larger and newer than it is in Win 7.

Clean ) or inplace upgrade) install per-se with Win 10 is Nothing (less than an hour).

However, it takes me at least 10 hours to load all the None OS Programs and Apps and configure them to the way I need so that the computer will a Functional as a tool rather than a Psychological /social Booster.

It takes 10 Minutes to save a HD/SSD with an App like Acronis True image and another 10 Minutes to Ghost it to a new SSD (or the old one).

In any case it is Not Wise to reinstall (fresh or otherwise) a new HD/SSD without having a backup of the current working HD.

Let say that after doing Upgrade One found out that in One particular situation fresh install is a better solution. Than the only thing lost is the 30 Minutes of fiddling with back up and reinstall.
---------------

In the last few month I did about 20 upgrades from Win 7 to Win 10 in all cases I did not need to do fresh Install.
----------------------------

It is 2016, as the TV commercial Let Go suggest - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0sbTLCLpgY

It is time to Let Go of old habits that we entertained in the past when hardware/software were more "primitive and slower".



😎

P.S. One thing that is realty important, after Install of Win 10 use a program like cCleaner and look at the Tool/ StartUp aspect. Disable (when not sure) or delete when One is sure all the Autoruns Entries that are Not needed any more. They slow the Startup and waste Memory.



😎
 
just make sure the sata types match, ahci/idea/nvme. If they don't you will have to make a couple registry changes then it will work.
 
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