Upgrading the motherboard under Windows 2000 Pro

[cp668]

Hi,

I need to upgrade my MB and CPU (low cost) so I likely will pick a ECS SiS chipset MB to reuse my old PC100 RAM. The IRQs and drivers appearantly will be changed after this upgrade. Questions that needs your wisdom:

1) Is this an easy upgrade (hopefully Win2K wizard picks up new IRQ and drivers correctly)? Or a clean install is the only route (I hate to install all software I have especially with all personal settings)? Any suggestions?

2) Do I enable "PnP OS" in MB BIOS in order for the wizard to work or keep it off as the old MB?

Thanks for help in advance.


/Chris

 

[Saltin]

Regardless of what anyone else may say here, the only smart thing to do is re-install the OS.
The new motherboard, in all likelyhood, uses a totally different HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) than your current one.

Do the right thing, don't be lazy!

 

[skriefal]

A "repair" install should be all that is needed. It'll reset the drivers and such, and you won't lose your currently installed applications or your customized desktop.

 

[gunrunnerjohn]

Actually, both previous responses are half right. There are two HAL layers, and that cannot be changed after installation, but if the old and new boards both support ACPI, you should be able to do the upgrade.

 

[cp668]

Thanks for the help..., still unclear though...

I did not have ACPI installed when Win2K was installed (old MB BIOS). Does that simplify the upgrade or make it harder? Do I still have a choice for "repair install"? I researched a little bit and got an impression that once the HAL is configured during install, it cannot be changed!!!


Again, thanks in advance for the help.

/Chris

 

[Nothinman]

There are two HAL layers, and that cannot be changed after installation

Not quite. There are more than 2 HALs and they can be easily changed after the OS is installed, but if you pick one that won't work with your hardware it's nearly impossible to get the OS booting again.

Just make a backup then try it, if it works great, if not you can restore your data onto a fresh install from backup.