New board and the install?

[Neos]

Ok...I have to get the socket A mainboard (still trying to decide on Asus, Abit, or wait on the new MSI) ...but when I get it, I would like to just take this 8.4 gig hard drive that I have in this AT system / 98SE, and plant it in the new system, and go. I have seen recommendations that I format the drive and all, but I would like to forgo that. Anyone tried this ...am I headed for trouble . ..taking all opinions.
Oh, the system I have now is a K6-3 400 on a Soyo 5EHM board w/ 128 mg. PC100 ram. ...Via drivers installed by Win 98SE.
Thanks,
Neos (Andrew in AL)



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[PlunX]

I recently upgraded from an FIC VA-503+ to an MSI K7T Pro with a Duron 600MHz and I just stuck in the hard drive and everything was autodetected and it went into Windows right after I turned it on. It -is- a good idea to reformat and everything, but you don't necessarily have to do it if you don't want to.

 

[greg]

Q: As a reseller we are often asked to upgrade someones motherboard. Sometimes it is a breeze and other times the only hope seems to reinstall Windows from scratch. Am I missing someting? Does anyone know of a site that has a FAQ on MB swapping or lobotomys ??
I thought a site like this might have people who try this all the time!
thanks

A: This procedure works most of the time, but always backup whats important:
Open registry editor
open HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
highlight the ENUM key and delete it

It will remove everything windows knows about your hardware. Reboot, it will say your display adapter is not configured properly. Click OK, run through add new hardware wizard.

It will reboot alot, and after its done load video/sound/modem drivers.

 

[cavingjan]

I'll let you know how that lobotomy will work by the weekend. I am in an almost identical position except I'm using 98FE. I'd like to replace the video card and network card too but I tihnk I'm just goign to swap out the motherboard for now. I have a fairly recent install (2 months old) so I'm not expecting any problems. I'm also going to start small and work up. AKA video card only then network then sound. I am backing up the whole drive just in case I hose things.

 

[cavingjan]

Board and chip just came today. Took a little bit to get in the new case but its running. I happened to replace my hard drive from my old system a month ago so I had a hard drive to play with. Ran into a few small glitches but nothing that can't be worked out. First problem I ran into was the fact that it needs to reinstall the main drivers (AKA printer, serial, usb, IDE, and the bridges) which are mostly just rehashes of what is already there. Two of them were new but since I already installed the 4 in 1 drivers, they were on the hard drive. Unfortunately they needed the windows cd which wasn't available because it didn't finish with the IDE drivers. This is when I discovered I had deleted the usualy win98 directory that is on all of my hard drives to avoid this request. Took about 2 boot ups and I had 4 unknowns that I had to reinstall drivers for. No biggie. And then their is the mass storage driver that is also simple. So the system is up and running no sweat. I will caution you on two things:
1. USB WILL be knocked offline until you get those usb drivers reinstalled. AKA USB keyboards a mice will not help you for this reinstall. I actually had to shut off the server so I could steal its keyboard to complete the install. FRustrating but funny.
2. My ps2 trackball was not recognized when I just had the usb keybaord installed. I don't remember whether that was a driver it had to reinstall or not. I don't think it was. It worked after I plugged in a ps2 keybaord. I hoping I was just being braindead on this but who knows.

One note: the only card in the system at this time is the video card. I didn't move anything else over yet. I've seen enough now that I don't expect a problem. So I'm just moving over the other drive and booting up. Then I'll add the nic and reboot. and then sound, reboot. etc. I've got a couple of cards that I don't need for a little while so I'm leaving them out until I'm happy with the stability.

So tomorrow night I go live with the other drive after I back up a few files.
I do have one question: during post, it lists the processor speed. Mine always comes up with 650 (6.5 x 100) even when I change the multiplier. Does that change when you overclock? AKA did I just not connect the L1 bridges enough? I suspect that but I figured I'd ask first before I go pencil happy again. What is a good cleaner (removing the pencil lead) in case I need to start pencilling again?

 

[cavingjan]

LAst update unless someone has questions. The cd drives are definitely not accessible until after the IDE drivers are installed. Make sure you have all the cab files on your hard drive to avoid having to reinstall drivers later in life.
I did notice one little glitch. In the BIOS it lists my zip drive and burner (both are on the same channel IDE2) but during post it only lists the hard drive (on ATA100 IDE3) and the DVD (on IDE1). Windows sees them fine so I'm not too concerned but anybody else have this happen?