Motherboard Change Question

[n25]

Will a motherboard change warrant a re-install of the OS?

 

[g0ste]

depends on chipset for example, VIA chipset to nForce, yes. Altho I managed to do it, but my system ran like utter crap, so I spent more time "fixing" it, than it would have taken to format and reinstall.

 

[n25]

How about if there will be just a difference in the "version" of the chipset, say from nforce2 to nforce3 (in that scenario we may also consider the changing of cpus, as the 2 chipsets support different sockets)?

 

[franklin97355]

Depends on the OS and how it looks at the new hardware.

 

[wolluf]

n25 - if you're talking 2k or XP, it will be pot luck whether it boots or not with new mobo - but a repair reinstall will usually fix it -

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341

(2k similar).

XP may also need reactivating (because of hardware change).

9x/ME much the same - an over the top install may fix it if it doesn't boot (personally I'd just do a clean install if it doesn't boot with these o/s).

 

[Frank4d]

I upgraded a five year-old Soyo 5-EMA+ (VIA chipset) with AMD K6/2-400 and 256MB RAM to a ECS MOBO (VIA chipset) with AMD Athlon 2400 with 512 MB RAM... no other changes. After five minutes of detecting new hardware, Windows XP came up with a message that my hardware has changed a lot and I need to re-activate Windows. Other than that no problem. Sometimes you get lucky.