When installing a new processor

[Modular]

Hey all,

I have a HTPC that's in need of a new processor for HD playback. I'm running a 3400+ (socket 939) in it now and it maxes the processor out and still leaves me with stuttering. So I'm thinking of upgrading to a dual core 939 CPU. If I do so, should I reinstall Windows?

 

[adairusmc]

I never had to re-install windows when swapping a processor. As long as you are using the same motherboard, you should not have an issue.

 

[vanvock]

No, but do a backup before installing the drivers & hotfix just to be safe. The AMD driver borked my system somehow & I wound up getting it via chipset driver upgrade.

 

[Spikesoldier]

a cheaper alternative would be to pick up a cheap video card that supports hardware decode on it.

if you are going to a x2 from a regular a64, you shouldnt have to reinstall.

 

[Lonyo]

I went from a 3200+ to a 4200+ without reinstalling.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

somewhere along the lines i heard you can't go from one chip maker to the other (AMD to INTEL, INTEL to AMD) not sure but ... good luck

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
somewhere along the lines i heard you can't go from one chip maker to the other (AMD to INTEL, INTEL to AMD) not sure but ... good luck

?

I went from A64 3200+ on NF4 to Pentium 930D on 945P to E2140 on P35 without reinstalls...

 

[Aeridyne]

You should be careful doing this, i have seen it go good and bad for people. Use something to make a full backup of all of your data first just in case for sure!

I know that with earlier cpu's 2000 and XP installed different HALs for the use of one or two processors and if you try to switch it will not work at best... I personally would reinstall, you can try and it might work, but check out task manager and see if both processors show up, i would also flash your bios to the latest version and remove the chipset drivers in windows, then install the latest again after you do the swap. Don't be surprised if it BSODs though...

 

[Aeridyne]

Originally posted by: Spartan Niner

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
somewhere along the lines i heard you can't go from one chip maker to the other (AMD to INTEL, INTEL to AMD) not sure but ... good luck

?

I went from A64 3200+ on NF4 to Pentium 930D on 945P to E2140 on P35 without reinstalls...

!!! how the hell did you pull that off? I have had machines BSOD when going from a PII to PIII etc. Did you do a repair install each time?

 

[WildHorse]

I went from a 3200+ WInchester to a 4200+ Toledo.

AT FIRST I didn't reinstall Windows XP Pro. It worked, but it didn't work right.

I finally did reinstall Windows XP, and that solved the problems.

As I understand it, when you install, Windows configures the Hardware Abstraction Layer to be compatible with the type of cpu present during the install.

Apparently, at least in my particular case, there were some differences between the HALs for the 3200+ Winchester single core and the 4200+ Toldeo dual core.

What sensitized me to this was in using nLite, there's a place where you can chose the type of cpu (it says 'type of computer'), which causes some adjustments to the HAL configuration which gets installed That, and also the fact that reinstallation solved my troubles.

 

[21stHermit]

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
somewhere along the lines i heard you can't go from one chip maker to the other (AMD to INTEL, INTEL to AMD) not sure but ... good luck

That make sense, that's a new MB . . . always.
In addition, I swapped MB's using the exact same Intel CPU. I had to re-register XP.

 

[Modular]

OK, thanks for the info guys. If I decide to upgrade the chip rather than plop a 2600xt in there (it has a vanilla 6600 now that can't run the Purevideo decoder very well) I'll just reinstall. There isn't anything on the OS partition that I need, and most of the movies/shows are hanging out on a separate drive anyways...the cleanest, most trouble free way seems to be a reinstall.

 

[SlowSpyder]

When I upgarded my single core 3000+ to my dual core opteron, on the first boot up Windows treated the second core like a new device. It found it, installed it, I rebooted, and everything worked fine.

 

[Gikaseixas]

Originally posted by: Spartan Niner

Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
somewhere along the lines i heard you can't go from one chip maker to the other (AMD to INTEL, INTEL to AMD) not sure but ... good luck

?

I went from A64 3200+ on NF4 to Pentium 930D on 945P to E2140 on P35 without reinstalls...

really????
different chipsets, if you did it then you are really lucky

 

[NoelS]

Modular,

I just recently went from an ASUS Commando mobo and E6600 to a new build using an ASUS P5K-E and E6850, using the same HDDs with my old version of XP. I had zero problems. The new rig booted immediately and has been running like a champ since. The only thing I don't have is my new ICH9R chipset drivers to run my SATA HDDs in ACHI mode. So I have my HDDs running in IDE mode right now with no data transfer problems. I plan to do a repair install of XP to install those ICH9R drivers as soon as I get a chance. The repair install procedure has always worked for me to keep my old settings, etc.

My philosophy has been try the rebuild with the old version of XP and if it works, GREAT - if not, re-install the OS.

Good luck, Noel

 

[Aeridyne]

Originally posted by: NoelS
Modular,

I just recently went from an ASUS Commando mobo and E6600 to a new build using an ASUS P5K-E and E6850, using the same HDDs with my old version of XP. I had zero problems. The new rig booted immediately and has been running like a champ since. The only thing I don't have is my new ICH9R chipset drivers to run my SATA HDDs in ACHI mode. So I have my HDDs running in IDE mode right now with no data transfer problems. I plan to do a repair install of XP to install those ICH9R drivers as soon as I get a chance. The repair install procedure has always worked for me to keep my old settings, etc.

My philosophy has been try the rebuild with the old version of XP and if it works, GREAT - if not, re-install the OS.

Good luck, Noel

chipset drivers are not as important as cpus from my experience, so long as the cpu is from the same manufacturer and has the same number of cores it should work fine, especially if you strip out the chipset drivers before you do the swap, the same of motherboards so long as they are the same socket and number of cpu cores. Like the other guy and I were saying before, you run into problems when something you swap in would normally have a different HAL, thats when you get the BSODs, however you can just hook up the new hardware and do a repair install before you boot windows and it will work just fine, probably what Spartan did to get windows to work on so many different platforms.

 

[Gikaseixas]

Originally posted by: Aeridyne

Originally posted by: NoelS
Modular,

I just recently went from an ASUS Commando mobo and E6600 to a new build using an ASUS P5K-E and E6850, using the same HDDs with my old version of XP. I had zero problems. The new rig booted immediately and has been running like a champ since. The only thing I don't have is my new ICH9R chipset drivers to run my SATA HDDs in ACHI mode. So I have my HDDs running in IDE mode right now with no data transfer problems. I plan to do a repair install of XP to install those ICH9R drivers as soon as I get a chance. The repair install procedure has always worked for me to keep my old settings, etc.

My philosophy has been try the rebuild with the old version of XP and if it works, GREAT - if not, re-install the OS.

Good luck, Noel

chipset drivers are not as important as cpus from my experience, so long as the cpu is from the same manufacturer and has the same number of cores it should work fine, especially if you strip out the chipset drivers before you do the swap, the same of motherboards so long as they are the same socket and number of cpu cores. Like the other guy and I were saying before, you run into problems when something you swap in would normally have a different HAL, thats when you get the BSODs, however you can just hook up the new hardware and do a repair install before you boot windows and it will work just fine, probably what Spartan did to get windows to work on so many different platforms.

I disagree with you here. IMO chipset drivers are more relevant than the cpu itself when you change a motherboard. It's easier (less problems) to swap a Pentium D with a E2160 than to change a Nforce4 mobo with a P35 one. I've been building pc's for a long time now and more often the mobo was the guilty part.

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: Gikaseixas

Originally posted by: Aeridyne

Originally posted by: NoelS
Modular,

I just recently went from an ASUS Commando mobo and E6600 to a new build using an ASUS P5K-E and E6850, using the same HDDs with my old version of XP. I had zero problems. The new rig booted immediately and has been running like a champ since. The only thing I don't have is my new ICH9R chipset drivers to run my SATA HDDs in ACHI mode. So I have my HDDs running in IDE mode right now with no data transfer problems. I plan to do a repair install of XP to install those ICH9R drivers as soon as I get a chance. The repair install procedure has always worked for me to keep my old settings, etc.

My philosophy has been try the rebuild with the old version of XP and if it works, GREAT - if not, re-install the OS.

Good luck, Noel

chipset drivers are not as important as cpus from my experience, so long as the cpu is from the same manufacturer and has the same number of cores it should work fine, especially if you strip out the chipset drivers before you do the swap, the same of motherboards so long as they are the same socket and number of cpu cores. Like the other guy and I were saying before, you run into problems when something you swap in would normally have a different HAL, thats when you get the BSODs, however you can just hook up the new hardware and do a repair install before you boot windows and it will work just fine, probably what Spartan did to get windows to work on so many different platforms.

I disagree with you here. IMO chipset drivers are more relevant than the cpu itself when you change a motherboard. It's easier (less problems) to swap a Pentium D with a E2160 than to change a Nforce4 mobo with a P35 one. I've been building pc's for a long time now and more often the mobo was the guilty part.

Yeah, it's the chipset and drivers that are the problem.

It's not CPU.

Might not even be a different (brand) Mobo that's a problem - cuz different mobo's may still use the same chipset, thus the same drivers.

Fern

 

[Arkaign]

Swapping to a different mobo/chipset causes Windows to fail to boot like 8 or 9 times out of 10. Swapping to a different cpu (even with different cores) on the same mobo usually is near-painless. Sometimes it takes some configuration to get Windows to start using all the cores, but it's very rare to change cpus and have Windows crash on you.

 

[pugster]

Originally posted by: scott
I went from a 3200+ WInchester to a 4200+ Toledo.

AT FIRST I didn't reinstall Windows XP Pro. It worked, but it didn't work right.

I finally did reinstall Windows XP, and that solved the problems.

As I understand it, when you install, Windows configures the Hardware Abstraction Layer to be compatible with the type of cpu present during the install.

Apparently, at least in my particular case, there were some differences between the HALs for the 3200+ Winchester single core and the 4200+ Toldeo dual core.

What sensitized me to this was in using nLite, there's a place where you can chose the type of cpu (it says 'type of computer'), which causes some adjustments to the HAL configuration which gets installed That, and also the fact that reinstallation solved my troubles.

I've swapped out an old motherboard with a dual core cpu and motherboard. Before I do I had to change my ide drivers to generic drivers (which you don't have to do) and copied the i386 directory from the winxp cd onto my c:\ drive. After your swapped out the board and booted with the same hard drive, the computer will ask you for a different hal. Make sure that it is using the ACPI Multiprocessor PC Hal instead the single processor hal.

 

[WildHorse]

...the computer will ask you for a different hal.-pugster

Interesting.

Wish my Windows XP had been that friendly to me and prompted me for a new hal.

That would've helped me figure out the problem it was having much sooner than I finally did.