RMA/Replacement mobo: anything a noob should know?

[Edge1]

First build went great except for a few bad DIMM slots on an MSI P6N SLI Platinum. Windows installed beautifully, but can't do dual channel due to DIMM slot issue. RMAed mobo for a replacement (same board).

When the replacement arrives, do I have to reinstall Windows from the ground up? Do I do a repair install? Or is it simply a matter of plugging everything in and powering her up? Again, same board, same chipset, etc.

I know this is basic, but hey there's gotta be a first time for everything.

Thanks so much.

 

[Edge1]

Given that I've got no responses, I guess I'll just plan on a Repair Install of Windows and see where that gets me. I've heard that if you do that, it only redetects your hardware, leaving all your original non-system files as they were. Will research some more. Again if anyone has anything to share regarding this I'd love to hear it.

Thanks.

 

[rexian96]

A repair install wouldn't hurt but there is no need though IMO. Dual channel is a BIOS/motherboard feature and I don't think it depends on XP. Even if you had changed the board, you could install the new drivers after booting into XP. I have done it several times and XP does a pretty good job in detecting the new hardware. Unused old drivers will just waste space (and memory for programs that run at starup) and that's the only thing a clean install would help with. But in your case, that's not needed.