Possible to change motherboard without reloading OS?

[Hulk]

I'm thinking about upgrading the system in my sig to a Core i7 system and would really like to not start clean. My current XP rig is set up perfectly and although I can reload everything it will take many many hours to get it done.

Could I replace the motherboard and keep my current set up or it is not worth the effort?

Anyone done is successfully?

- Mark

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

You can certainly try

EDIT: opps, hit the reply button too soon, hehe

You may have issues with vid audio network mb chipset drivers as well as others

 

[PCBeal23]

It's perfectly acceptable to swap out your hardware without reloading, but as BTRY said, you will have issues with drivers.

You might just want to see if it works out of the box. If you have any driver conflicts, though, I would recommend a clean install. Less hassle in the long run.

 

[ZipSpeed]

I think it's worth the effort to reinstall IMO. Any future conflicts or problems would be easier to diagnose if one part of the equation is eliminated.

 

[theAnimal]

See here.

 

[severus]

I'm actually going through this horrid process right now. Due to my own stupidity, I failed to set everything back to defaults in device manager as stated in that link above, and ended up with windows not being able to boot. I went from an i845 to an i865PE chipset board and a non HT p4 to an HT p4. Also swaped out the graphics. I figuered "Oh, I uninstalled the video card drivers an motherboard drivers, should be fine!" WRONG! wouldn't boot for my life, ended up installing windows on a second HDD, copying all important files over to that one and then formatting and doing a fresh install.

 

[theAnimal]

Repair install will also work.