new motherboard = need to format?

[mark23]

im getting my new iwill mobo in the next few days to go with my 1ghz axia,will i have to format my hardrive?
the reason i ask is because windows has the bx chipset controllers installed and i thought this might mess things up because the new mobo has a different chipset.
the mobo is a iwill kk266r.
any help would be much appreciated

[El Azoto]

i shouldn't think that you would. can you not just install the latest chipset once you get the new m/b?

anyway, just try it and see if it wokrs. if not then reinstall

[Geobronc]

I feel your Pain Bro.... I had a BX Motherboard and a PIII650. I recently upgraded to an ASUS Via chipset and AMD T-bird. I had to reformat my harddrive also. If you have a slave drive, then backup all your files that you dont want to it or Burn a CD.

I have DSL so I was quickly able to re-install and update all my software and games, etc..
However, It took me 2-full days!

Anyways, I know it has to be done! Sorry :(

[mark23]

should i format before i install the new board or after? which is best?

[TranceBear]

You really should re-format, you will make sure you do not cause any conflicts. A clean hard-drive is a happy hard-drive..:o)

[castle lager fan]

I found W2K tobe pretty forgiving, but not always. You didn't specify which windows you were using? Or did you.

If it is W2K, I would copy all files to backup device (CD,tape, spare drive, ZIP, whatever). Install new hardware and bootup. see what happens, you have nothing to loose. W2K seem to come up with generic drivers, which gets you can then update with the correct drivers. If it doesn't work, you have to do fresh install. I do not recommend this with Me, NT or 9x.

[Aman99]

You don't HAVE to reformat, but things seem to work better when u do :)

Aaron

[The Stickie]

FORMAT... your partition with windows in it...

what would71 says works, but I think it isn't good; all those drivers and things stay listed in the registry (and bigger registry=slower pc)

[AMDGuy]

mark23 (Jun 27, 2001 04:04 p.m.):
im getting my new iwill mobo in the next few days to go with my 1ghz axia,will i have to format my hardrive?
the reason i ask is because windows has the bx chipset controllers installed and i thought this might mess things up because the new mobo has a different chipset.
the mobo is a iwill kk266r.
any help would be much appreciated

There's an easier way.

1. Get a program called Norton Ghost.

2. Install it

3. Goto Control Panel --> System --> Device Manager

4. Delete all the hardware

5. Make a Ghost image of the HDD after you do the delete and store it on another drive or CD

6. Format the drive

7. Install the new mainboard

8. Put the ghosted HDD image back on the drive

Windows will keep all your programs and redetect the hardware. Have your driver disks handy. You'll need them for the reinstall. There's a write up on this under the tips section on the main page I believe.

[AMDGuy]

Would71 (Jun 28, 2001 03:30 p.m.):
Actually, AMDGuy, it sounds like you added a couple steps (the whole Ghost bit) to what I posted. :D

The end result is probably the same, but Ghost takes care of all the dirty work. No need to copy cabs or worry about reinstalling the OS. It only takes about 10 minutes as well instead of the 30+ to reinstall Windows.