Possible to swap MB without OS re-install ?

[sourthings]

Hi all,

One of my systems mb bios has gone corrupt and does not post anymore, a gigabyte p35c-ds3r. I'm going to replace it with a ep45-ud3p. The system has vista 64 on it. Is there a way to do this swap without an OS reinstall ? I have a huge amount of data on the system drive and a backup would be a huge deal.

I was thinking I can just uninstall the p35 chipset drivers and swap mobos and install the p45 chipset stuff. Not sure if anyone has any experience doing it. But I remember having read before that this is possible to do smoothly.

Thanks in advance for your advice/experience. 🙂

 

[nickbits]

i have had good luck doing that with xp. not so good luck with vista.

 

[sourthings]

I've read now that using the sysprep tool with -oobe and -generalize settings before shutting down and making the swap should make this mobo swap possible.