question: re-install Windows when upgrading MB?

[dca221]

I need a new MB after (somehow) frying my current one. I am thinking getting an Asus P5Q to replace my Asus P5B-E.

Besides replacing the MB, I am not planning on any other changes to the components: same CPU, RAM, videocard, HDD etc. I have a lot of music, pictures, and other files that I haven't backed up so I am looking to preserve that data.

Question is: do I need to reinstall Windows XP before I can run my computer with the new MB? If I do have to reinstall, how can I save the data I have on the HDD? does the choice of the new MB help minimize the effort or save the data?

thanks a lot in advance for the help!

PS: this forum seemed to be the right place for this question. Mods please move if it belongs somewhere else.

 

[Lucky Stripes 99]

You may need to. Your old P5B-E uses a P965 northbridge and ICH8R southbridge while your new P5Q uses a P45 northbridge and ICH10R southbridge.

I've found that when changing northbridge chipsets, even an incremental generational change, can cause device drivers in Windows to have issues. The most common issue is that some devices will show up as broken (yellow exclamation point in device mgr). Other times, you end up with random crashes.

Some people have had luck uninstalling all of their devices from the device mgr before swapping hardware, as well as uninstalling vendor supplied drivers, and then letting Windows detect all of the new devices upon next boot, and then reinstalling the vendor drivers.

The official method that Microsoft supports is to use the File and Settings Transfer Wizard. This allows you to transfer all of your application data over to the new system.

Last word of note - if you are moving from the IA32/x86 version of Windows XP to the AMD64/x64 edition, there is a bug in the FSTW that needs to be patched on the x64 box. This is listed under KB-896344.

 

[Gillbot]

A fresh install is always best but you can use sysprep to get around it.

Search for sysprep and you'll find threads on it, or search at microsoft for the official technote on it.

 

[SanDiegoPC]

A fresh install is always ALWAYS the best bet. But here's something to try: I did it one time on a client's computer that did not have his disks to install his software over again:

Before shutting down the computer, delete ALL devices in the Device Manager. Then shut down, repair the PC and reboot. Let windows find all of the new devices and install the software for them if needed, with the new motherboard's disk.

That solution did indeed, work for me albeit just the one and only time I tried it. Good luck.

 

[dca221]

thanks for the answers!