swapping a mobo....

[cmdavid]

I'm guessing this isnt a good idea but somebody that im building a comp for thinks this might work. I built him a comp w/ a K7S5A a while ago.. recently the K7S5A died... I gotta 8KH3A and now its time to reinstall/format the HD and everything else.. hes suggesting to me, to just plug in the hard drive and he thinks it will just boot up fine into winxp and everything will work dandy.. im telling him there will be conflicts and errors and possible chances of ruining either the mobo or the hd... I just needed to make sure i wasnt being paranoid here and that in fact it is NOT a good idea to just try swapping the mobos, but that i should go through the entire formatting/reinstalling everything process.... anybody?

 

[DarkManX]

I thought the same with win2k your instalation will get messed up... a few days ago i swapped my K7S5A with a Shuttle AK31A and windowsXP pro didnt even ask me for new drivers... it was like nothing happened. I was really amazed and also prepared to format and reinstall.

 

[cmdavid]

:Q
so it worked??? no way!!... weird.. still contemplating whether i should try it or not....

 

[RegaPlanet]

I just went from a socket 370 mobo to a socket A mobo(KT333) and just did a swap without a reinstall like you said and am not experiencing any problems. I think each case is diff. I did however remove all system resources from device manager and reboot just to be sure. I'm using win98se btw.

 

[dakata24]

Originally posted by: RegaPlanet
I just went from a socket 370 mobo to a socket A mobo(KT333) and just did a swap without a reinstall like you said and am not experiencing any problems. I think each case is diff. I did however remove all system resources from device manager and reboot just to be sure. I'm using win98se btw.

i think that's the key. to remove everything as you did in device manager so windows would re-detect everything on restart. if the mobo's had the same chipset, i dont think that would be necessary though.

 

[DarkManX]

Win9X dosent have a problem with this, Im not sure about ME. I know I did it with 2k and it got totally messed up. And yes the other day i went from a SIS to a VIA chipset I didnt do anything before i shut down with the old mobo.

 

[cmdavid]

i guess a better question now would be.. if it doesnt work.. what are the chances of it ruining some hardware... whether it be the mobo or hd or anything?

 

[cmdavid]

well i tried it and it didnt work ... got the dreaded blue screen...
but at least no hardware was ruined or hurt... guess i gotta format/reinstall everything.. sigh...

 

[DarkManX]

dont worry nothing will be hurt.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: dakata24

Originally posted by: RegaPlanet
I just went from a socket 370 mobo to a socket A mobo(KT333) and just did a swap without a reinstall like you said and am not experiencing any problems. I think each case is diff. I did however remove all system resources from device manager and reboot just to be sure. I'm using win98se btw.

i think that's the key. to remove everything as you did in device manager so windows would re-detect everything on restart. if the mobo's had the same chipset, i dont think that would be necessary though.

There is actually a better way to do that, at least for the Win9x OSes. Windows actually has a built-in feature to re-detect all the hardware, as if you were re-installing it cleanly for the first time. (As opposed to device enumeration, which is what happens when you boot the OS.)

It involves using hardware profiles. You need to create a backup copy of your hardware profile "Original Configuration" - defaults to "Copy of Original Configuration", and then you need to re-name "Original Configuration" to something different.

Then, when you reboot the computer, you will be presented with the hardware profiles menu. Besides the two profiles listed, there should be a third option, something about a new computer/profile or an unknown one. Pick this option. As the OS boots, it will automatically create a new "Original Configuration", and it will say something about detecting hardware for the first time. If the hardware-detection requires you to re-boot, pick the new "Original Configuration" hardware profile during subsequent boots. Do not select the unknown/new configuration option again.

When Windows' has finished re-detecting and re-installing all of the hardware, you then have a couple of options. If you are going to be moving the HD between different systems, then I suggest keeping the hardware config for the original system, and naming it something appropriate. If you are going to be staying with the new system, then simply delete the two backup hardware configurations.

Unfortunately, Win9x, does not offer the option of having a default hardware config selection and menu timeout as does W2K, so the presence of multiple hardware configs will require the user to choose on every boot. If you don't want to have to do this, make sure that you only have a single hardware configuration, and that it is called "Original Configuration".

This should really be added to the AT FAQ, as the current procedure listed for Win9x is not really correct, and can cause problems in certain cases. (Win9x will not automatically re-add certain Device Manager "System" device class entries if you simply delete them.)