upgrading and need help

[DaiShan]

Hi my friend recently purchased an abit kg7 motherboard 512 megs ddr and an athlon xp 1700+ and asked me to install it for him. He previously had a p2 400, and is keeping all but the afore mentioned parts, is there anything special I need to know for going about this? (drivers and what not?)

 

[GreenGecko]

I would get the latest VIA Drivers at VIA Hardware. You will also want to look at the FAQ on Via Hardware's Site concerning the KG7 boards. I think the FAQ applies more to the RAID version of the board, but you may want to look just to be sure. Here's the link to the FAQ: KG7 FAQs

Other than that, I don't see needing anything special for this project. Be sure that you have a Good HSF, though.

 

[GregMal]

Well let's see....you'll probably need to reformat, you'll need VIA drivers,
make sure the case and PS can handle the new MB/CPU.....that's a
good start....
Greg

 

[DaiShan]

ugg, You think the reformat will be necessary? I have a few extra hdds laying around, How do I put the data from his hdd to the extra hdd (sry just learning)

 

[GregMal]

You can attempt it.....but going from an Intel solution to an AMD is tough
without a reformat.........Greg

 

[ianbergman]

<< You can attempt it.....but going from an Intel solution to an AMD is tough without a reformat.........Greg >>



I've had a lot of succes before without a reformat; in truth, it depends on the OS. If your friend is running XP or 2000, you'll probably be OK. If it's older, esp. Win95, you could be in trouble. Frankly, it can't hurt to try it without reformatting; just back up the data first, and the worst thing that can happen is you have to reformat and lose some time. EDIT--play with Windows for a while before you decide it's working; sometimes minor instabilities take a few hours to show, even if it booted fine.

best way to back up data is to plug in one of your extra HDDs into his old computer before you change anything (hopefully you have extra power+IDE connector, if not, unplug from a CD drive and use that). Then they should both appear under My Computer; just copy everything from the original to the new. If the new one isn't formatted, you'll have to do that first.

Once the important stuff is backed up, change out the mobo and processor and have fun

your friend will probably want to upgrade his hard drive at some point for best performance.

 

[GregMal]

That's amazing...I've had just the opposite results........
I've had no problems installing MBs (without reformatting)
using Win95 and Win98(SE) when going from Intel to Intel
chipsets. But when going from Intel to AMD/VIA.....numerous
problems. And reading the forums here, many have problems
changing MBs (no reformat) when using Win2000 and XP......
Greg