• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

How do I install a new Mobo and not re-installXP?

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

Mr. Fri

Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2003
Location
Deep in the Heart of Texas
I want to make sure I get this right before I switch mobos. I don't want to have to reinstall apps and data, etc.

I think this is what I need to do...
Un-install the drivers for my L7VTA mobo (other hardware too?), shut down XP, swap boards, then rebood and add the new drivers when the new mobo is detected.

Is that right? Are there any more tricks that I don't know about. (My new board will be an NF7 or an 8rGa+)
 
Ya... that has worked for me in the past. Its the most sure fire way. If you do ahve a problem though, you sould be able to boot form the XP disk, choose install and then do a repair install wher eyou load up the drivesr again but it keeps all your programs and documents and stuff.
 
I'd agree with that. Sometimes XP recognises the new motherboard, but you're not guaranteed.

I switched successfully from a Pentium 3 to a KT266A board, but when I tried switching from the KT266A to a NForce2, XP did not start up.
 
Hmmmm...........I have a hairbrained idea that it so crazy it just might work!!!!!!!! MWuahhahahahahahah!

Uninstall the drivers for the existing motherboard.

Get the drivers for the new motherboard and copy them into the c:\windows\system32\drivers folder.

Shut down and swap out mobos. Plug 'n Pray!

Any takers?
 
ColdMiser said:
Hmmmm...........I have a hairbrained idea that it so crazy it just might work!!!!!!!! MWuahhahahahahahah!

Get the drivers for the new motherboard and copy them into the c:\windows\system32\drivers folder.

Any takers?

seems like a great idea.
 
Sounds like trouble when you just delete files and put the new ones in their place. I'll let someone else try it first.

So, do I need to delete any of the other drivers other than the mobe drivers when I swap boards?
 
I'm sure you could by by doing this but i really think you'd just run into more problems...if you cant back up your files on any other media other then floppy disks then i guess that is your only choice.

But even for games, i just copy the entire game onto a sep. partition and then instlal the game again and overwrite the files with the ones i copied before and it works great.

Just my .02
 
I tried the above steps also, but windows would just give me the message "There was a problem loading windows, this might be due to a hardware change, please restart the computer and try again" so did, but no luck. I had to reinstall the OS.
 
Which "above steps" didn't work?

Un-install the drivers for my L7VTA mobo (other hardware too?), shut down XP, swap boards, then rebood and add the new drivers when the new mobo is detected.

OR

But even for games, i just copy the entire game onto a sep. partition and then instlal the game again and overwrite the files with the ones i copied before and it works great.
 
I removed all drivers that related to the previous motherboard/chipset/sound

This didsn't work, I have a feeling, if the hardware change is to extream windows still detects it. Therefore, forcing you to reinstall so that you can "re-activate"
 
ashenfang said:
I removed all drivers that related to the previous motherboard/chipset/sound

This didsn't work, I have a feeling, if the hardware change is to extream windows still detects it. Therefore, forcing you to reinstall so that you can "re-activate"

or you can do a reapair install.

I have had both ways work for me.
 
Thanks y'all for the input. I'll go ahead and give it a try. Once the new mobo is detected and the right drivers are installed, I should be running as good as before.
 
I did the repair install thing... been having a lot of problems ever since. tons of things wont play (movie backups) and various other things like that wont work in WMP. but will in other progs like the DivX player and such... dont get why at all :eh?:
 
pik4chu said:
I did the repair install thing... been having a lot of problems ever since. tons of things wont play (movie backups) and various other things like that wont work in WMP. but will in other progs like the DivX player and such... dont get why at all :eh?:

you may need to re-do the updates or somthing, or maybe re-install the codecs so it works with windows stuff.
 
sorry if someone has already stated this. IF you install a new mobo, and wnat to keep the same copy of windows, boot with the cd, choose repair, and repair the operating system. This will make xp re-install on top of itself and keep all your partitions/data in-tact, but re-do the whole installation process. This is what you need to do when installing a new mobo while keeping the OS intact.
 
i installed a new mobo 3 weeks ago without REINSTALLING or REPAIRING windows.

Plug and Play. All i did was re-install NEW intel chipset driver and application acceleration and I'm DONE.
 
yes, but in the case plug n pray doesn't work, the above is how you fix it without having to format and lose all your stuff. The only thing is, you'd have to re-do some of the windows updates like service pack
 
Back