Switching out mobo

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I'm upgrading my mobo from a P5K3 to a P5Q3. Do I have to reinstall my OS, apps, etc???

 

[Gillbot]

Not usually but it is recommended for best performance. You can also use sysprep.

 

[GundamF91]

You don't have to reinstall OS, or any appz that do not depend on specific hardware. For example, I went from Athlon XP, to A64 x2, to Conroe, to Yorkfield, all with the same exact copy of Windows XP SP2. Each one had a different motherboard. Now, I had to make small tweaks to make sure the software all run with the hardware after each upgrade, but for the most part, they just transitioned nicely.

That said, I did recently install Vista 64bit on my Yorkfield, and I am very happy that I did a clean install. Things feel smoother, and you dont' get mysterious errors. So if you are doing this for the long run, reinstall OS would be recommended.

 

[Drsignguy]

I just did this from an Intel 975XBX2 to my Ep35c and what I did was "uninstalled" all apps like sound, lan and whatever else from control panel, uninstalled the driver for the main HD, and uninstalled everything that had to do with the intel board ( usb etc..) without rebooting. Once uninstalled and double checked what I did, then shut down the pc, changed boards, hooked everything back up and booted into bios. Checked to make sure my Hd was reconized and made sure things were set to default. Put the boot priority to the DVD first and then the main Hd and rebooted. Went Perfect! Used my Mobo disk to install the drivers accordingly.

 

[Gillbot]

A simple swap over does NOT always work. At least back up to be safe. I've had my fair share of failed hardware swaps!

 

[Drsignguy]

Originally posted by: Gillbot
A simple swap over does NOT always work. At least back up to be safe. I've had my fair share of failed hardware swaps!

This is great advice no matter what you do. I did do this BTW but did forget to add.....Thanks for the heads-up Gillbot!

 

[Gillbot]

I did a simple vid card swap once and it trashed the OS install. I'va also swapped entire setups and had it work fine so YMMV. ALWAYS at least back up!

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I may just back things up first, and if it goes to hell, it'll be fine, its just a gaming machine