Replacing motherboard

[sefrican]

Hi all,

I have an old Pentium 1 computer that I have upgraded over the years and is still my workhorse for wordprocessing, etc... I'd like to upgrade the processor to something a lot faster (basically anything from the last 2 years 🙂. So, if I get a new motherboard and processor (along with memory) will I have to reinstall the OS, hardware and all software (which is what I definitely *don't* want to do)? Is there an easy way to upgrade to a new motherboard and still use the existing hardware and software without reinstallation?

Thanks,
sefrican

 

[Lonyo]

You might find it hard to get a mobo that can take all the hardware you have from a Pentium, but I think you should be alright, because Windows (I'm assuming that's what you've got) should be good enough to pick up and take into account any changes you've made. The only thing you'll need to set up will be the BIOS 🙁

 

[SemperFi]

You better make a backup of any and all important files to you. I do upgrades for people and I am about 50% on the chances you can boot it and upgrade the drivers.

Here is what I would do to increase your chances. Either download the latest drivers for your board or copy the cd to hard drive before you make the switch. The big thing here is the ide drivers. I have had it so windows was asking for the drivers but the cd would not work because of the ide drivers. Just before you power down to make the switch start regedit and delete the folder enum under Hkey_Local_machine. This will make windows scan for hardware.


semper Fi

 

[tohlya]

For Win9X OS:

1. BEFORE allowing WIn9X to boot normally AFTER changing the mobo, boot in
SAFE MODE. It is preferable that this be done before actually changing the
mobo. However even if you have already changed hardware and allowed Win9X to
boot normally this will work because you are about to delete all installed
hardware from Win9X and allow it to be re-detected.

2. In SAFE mode use DEVICE manager and remove EVERYTHING that shows up. Doing
this while NOT in safe mode may not allow you to see everything that Win9X
THINKS is installed on your system.

3. Use regedit and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Enum and delete this key
which will also delete all of it's subkeys. Some people will tell you that
this is all you have to do and my step 2 is not necessary. Don't believe it.
There are many registry entries associated with installed hardware that are
not located in the Enum key. By using device manager to remove each item,
Win9X should remove any associated registry keys.

4. Power down (change the hardware if not already done)

5. Allow Win9X to boot normally and it will re-detect all of your hardware.
Allow it to reboot whenever it wants to. DO NOT say no to the reboot
questions thinking that you can let it detect the rest of the hardware and
then do one reboot when it's all done detecting. This can and usually will
cause problems. If not now then in the future, because some devices can not be
properly recognized until other devices have been fully installed. Skipping a
reboot can result in something not getting installed or getting only partially
installed.

6. Reboot one or two extra times when you think everything is over just to be
sure everything has been detected and installed. Sometimes things are done in
the background and you don't even know it, so even though you see no on-screen
indication, installation of detected hardware is still going on.

Make sure that you have any vendor supplied diskettes or CDs handy as you may
need them when Win9X asks for locations for some drivers.

- from the late Roy Lehrer (Win98-L Mailing list)