MOTHERBOARD UPGRADE

[hmirshamsi]

Hi Everyone,
I would like to know what is the proper way to upgrade a p3 motherboard to a p4 and keep all the other components the same. I ahve done this once and got a blue screen after boot up so I must not be doing something right.

ps: I had replaced the board with a P4 processor and P4 memory.


Thanks

 

[tahoe2]

Did you swap out the power supply as well? P4 MB's and chips need a different power supply.

Corie

 

[hmirshamsi]

Yes I did change the power supply.

 

[EonSpeed]

What exactly have you done? Can you tell me what you did step by step.

What do you mean when you say P4 RAM do you mean DDR or SD?

And whn you say you replaced the board with a P4 Processor did you just switch the CPU's or did you change the whole motherboard?

 

[AP81]

Did you format your drive before installing the new mobo of after installing the new mobo?

 

[wcburton]

I have done M/B upgrades under Win98 and it can be a mess. I have not done one under Win2k yet. You need to be prepared to reinstall EVERYTHING from scratch if it does not work. Even if it does work, it is better to install from scratch.

Having said that, the key thing is that the HAL.DLL (hardware abstraction layer) would be valid with the new M/B. The proper version of this DLL is selected during initial installation of the OS. Since you are staying in the Intel line it should be OK. I could be wrong.

You need to put drivers for all your hardware onto the hard drive in case you cannot acess the CD after the change out.

Next step is to go into Add/Remove Hardware prior to changing any hardware. Remove the existing hardware devices. You will probably need to remove everything. Once you have removed the devices this way, you can shutdown and change out the hardware. When Windows restarts, it will run the add new hardware wizard. It may run several times. It will need to find your M/B devices before it can find the devices attached to the M/B. There may be restarts in between sessions of finding hardware.

Even if this does work, you are likely to have a sub-optimally installed system. I would do this only if you want to get some performance boost now but will do a full re-install later when time constraints may be better. (You know that is a myth - there is never more time later.)

Please feel free to seek other opinions on this procedure. There is no warranty provided with this advice. You are at risk of losing data. Make backups and be prepared to reinstall everything from scratch.

 

[soaplover]

The secret is to force device manager to show absolutly all drivers inkluding not used ones and hidden ones .
Delete anything mb related from here also .
I upgraded my system from VIA to Nforce2 400 without reinstalling .(just have to be careful to get all out of there , shutdown , and get to work)

//Regards Soaplover

 

[EonSpeed]

Do not I repeat DO NOT remove any of your drivers in your device manager.

I don't know what sort of work the other people posting here do, but I do upgrades for a living. It is a simple process, I just need to know what you have done so far.

Look email me at RicardoEwington@hotmail.com if you want some help with this.

 

[soaplover]

If you are going to reinstall windows anyway there is nothing to loose giving it a try . But as EonSpeed says removing devices means you have to do it absolutely correct or its a no go .But on the other hand if it works you have saved your self some time ,not have to reinstall windows , programs ,etc . In other circiumstances than when changing motherboard with intension to reinstall windows i do not recommend doing this .
Just to set my statement right .

//Regards Soaplover

 

[wcburton]

Eon--

If it is a simple process, why not post some details so that the rest of us may benefit. I have done a fair amount of hardware maintenance, upgrades, etc. but not on a daily basis. I also understand a fair amount about Windows operating system and what a mess it can be about devices. Win98 was terrible at creating duplicate device entries that would slow the system down. I know 2000/XP handles this somewhat better but as I stated, I have not had the luxury of putting this to the test yet.

If you have a simpler way, I am always eager to learn new tricks.

 

[hmirshamsi]

Hello again,
well I have to tell all of you. I did try to upgrade the borad with p4 processor, ddr ram and a new power supply. I logged on in safe mode and remove all the devices in device manager and put the hard drive in the new box but I got the blue screen of death so that porcess did not work for me. I am open to all suggestions.

Thanks again..

 

[wolluf]

I'd second that - I have moved drives with various flavours of windows between systems (including 2k) - but not on a daily basis. I've not yet found a simple foolproof method - seems to depend entirely on the 2 sets of hardware involved how well it goes (eg, removing devices, repair reinstall, running sysprep, just letting it work itself out. Sometimes it just won't boot in new system. Repair reinstall seems to work - but its long winded, and I've only a few cases to cite - not enough to be sure).

 

[EonSpeed]

Well just to let you all in on a little secret, some of you will know and some wont.

An operating system is essential because it is the go between for you hardware and your software.

What I mean by that is that if you have a priter and you want it to work with every possible application out there you need to write millions of Drivers for it, how ever with the operating system as a go between you only need to write a driver for the printer that the communicate with windows or dos or UNIX etc The same is true with applications they have their own drivers that interface with the operating system.

So it ends up flowing like this:

Program running is told to print =>

tells Windows it want to print=>

Windows receives the print info=>

Windows interprets the info an translates it=>

Windows sends the info to the printer=>

Printer prints.

 

[wolluf]

Eon - so what about details of how to move a hard drive with operating system intact as wcburton requested?

hmirshamsi - you could try a repair reinstall -

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;292175&Product=win2000.

Couple of sites which may be of use:-

http://www.windowsreinstall.com/install/other/motherboard/problems.htm

http://www.mostlycreativeworkshop.com/article11.htm

 

[EonSpeed]

Sorry you guys want specifics.
Well to remove a motherboard and put a new one in your machine, without having to reinstall anything you need to do the following.

1) Disconnect all drives from your mother board
2) Disconnect power supply from motherboard
3) Disconnect the LED leads and PC speaker from the mother board
4) Diconnect any ports e.g. parallel, USB etc that are connected to the mother board
5) Remove Mother board itself
6) Put new motherboard in and insert RAM and CPU.
7) Reconnect everything.

IMPORTANT!!!!
Whatever else you do there are 3 things to remember during any work on the PC.

1) Diagrams - Draw pictures indicating where things go BEFORE you remove them!

2) Ground yourself - either use an antistatic strap, or stay in contact with the metal frame of the PC as much as possible, also when removing cards try to hold them by the large metal part at the front as much as possible.

3) Make sure the power is OFF!


Another useful idea is to have a bowl or jar for the screws to go into.

 

[wolluf]

Eon - sorry, I think we were looking for how to prepare the operating system so it is GUARANTEED to work with the new motherboard. As has been mentioned here, and in many other threads, there is a problem with drivers. Windows may or may not boot. If it boots it may or may not load or run properly. Methods of preparing the drive include the remove all mobo related drivers in device manager before moving (in fact, all drivers for devices no longer present) - but this doesn't always work. We were hoping you had the holy grail - a simple procedure that always works.

 

[EonSpeed]

Well wolluf
So far I have a 100% success rate.
The trick is to let the windows detect the new hardware when it boots up.
In the case of replacing a motherboard ALL of the motherboard related drivers/devices/chipset/CPU etc will be updated/detected/changed etc.
If you are not going to use some hardware devices then those should be removed from device manager at a later point.
The key thing to remember is that in the case of a motherboard if the O/S cannot detect the motherboard that it was attached to last time it will update itself and configure for use with the new one.

 

[wolluf]

So you've not had the 'won't boot at all' problem yet? (you will, if you carry on doing this!)

 

[kvc63]

According to Microsoft, you can not run sysprep on a P3 machine and then use it on a P4 system. This would also apply to moving a HDD from a P3 to a P4 system.

 

[imstillatwork]

It will be FASTER. MORE SAFE. and a generally CLEANER INSTALL to make backups of all your data, and reinstall windows, apps, and replace data. You will be more satisfied with the results also.