TIP: reinstall Windows if you upgrade

[SamS]

I recently upgraded my BH6 w/ Celery 366@550 to an A7V w/ Duron 600@950.
My previous installation of Windows ME (relatively recent install too) was still on the machine when I upgraded the mb and cpu. After the hardware was put in, all sorts of drivers were reinstalled by windows (IDE, BUS, etc) .. then I downloaded the latest 4in1 via drivers from asus etc. And, the system looked like it was running great (no device manager conflicts). But, then I started installing some games (Half life, Q3A, ..) and the troubles began! Games would lockup and then their installation would become corrupt and would never run again. So.. to make a long story short.. the system looked stable but it was NOT!

If you upgrade your hardware (especially if you go from the BX to the VIA chipset) - make sure to reinstall windows FROM SCRATCH!

btw, everything works great now - stable 950 (9.5*100fsb @ 1.75v).

 

[Fumiup]

Yeah it's a must to install windows fresh when you change a motherboard. It's not like changing your NIC or CDROM.

 

[RoadRuner]

i dunno about that. after changing from celeron 950 to duron 950 (during setup i ran at 600 to be safe!), everythings grand. no sweat.

also. the a7v drivers on the cd are outdated and buggy.
see viahardware.com for newer stuff.

 

[SamS]

Yep. My system seemed to be in great shape too, but you will soon find out that it's not. I tested it with 3dMark, Prime95, etc.. and I could run overnight.. but as soon as I tried installing games - my system crapped all over itself!

I did get the latest drivers from the asus website (including the bios updates)