Changing motherboard without re-installing Windows?

[Black Panther]

I'm trying to find an identical motherboard, because the pc's owner has a lot of programs installed and prefers not to reinstall everything.

The motherboard I need is a P5KPL-AM SE.

So far I have found a P5KPL-AM EPU.... but I'm not sure if that will make his pc start-up without having to reinstall the OS?

 

[bogmali]

It should load windows and start installing needed files for the new motherboard.

 

[Deleted member 110753]

I did that a lot with XP.
No problem at all, XP ask only the missing drivers.

Unfortunately, with Seven that was not the same thing, and I had to reinstall...

 

[Frick]

I did that a lot with XP.
No problem at all, XP ask only the missing drivers.

Unfortunately, with Seven that was not the same thing, and I had to reinstall...

If anything it should be the other way round.

 

[brandonwh64]

If anything it should be the other way round.

This is true. I made windows 7 last through atleast 6 motherboard changes and that is going from AMD to intel and back.

I even keep a HDD with windows 7 vanilla installed so I can trouble shoot PCs and its booted on ever machine I have worked with.

 

[TheLaughingMan]

Yeah. Once you install the new motherboard, Win7 will just install or reuse the drivers needed to run all the features. I recommend running Ghostbuster after the first restart to remove all the other entires in the registry for the old motherboard. After that you just check for updates on the manufacturer's site to ensure you have the latest and greatest and you are all set.

 

[brandonwh64]

Yeah. Once you install the new motherboard, Win7 will just install or reuse the drivers needed to run all the features. I recommend running Ghostbuster after the first restart to remove all the other entires in the registry for the old motherboard. After that you just check for updates on the manufacturer's site to ensure you have the latest and greatest and you are all set.

Yes that ghostbuster program is highly recommended for reused OSes

 

[digibucc]

had never heard of that thanks

 

[cadaveca]

had never heard of that thanks

You don't spend enough time in TS. That's my "gift" to some TS users, tips for unknown apps that fix issues commonly encountered.


Ghostbuster removes references to installed hardware that are left over by basically everything, and no other tools seem to remove properly. However, at the same time, I suggest that if you DO use it, you make sure to un-install drivers for the hardware you are removing BEFORE using Ghostbuster, or be sure to have new drivers installed first, at least.

 

[Deleted member 110753]

Hi Guys,

I've just replaced a Gigabyte MB by an Asus on one of my PCs.
I used 2 disks from my Gigabyte MB (XP and W7).
I started first with a XP disk, no probleme at all, only the drivers update.
I restarted after with a W7 disk, no real probleme except my activation online refused...
I've been obliged to use an activation by phone because M$ checks if I use several W7...

 

[suraswami]

If the old mobo is still alive, uninstall all mobo drivers and may be vga drivers too (just to be sure), shut down pc, rebuild with new mobo, boot with the HDD and install all the drivers including vga. May be need couple of restarts and you should be golden.

After you finish everything make sure you remove all the hidden devices,

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315539

This way you don't have any driver or device ID conflict.

If changing from Intel to AMD or viceversa make sure you put AHCI to IDE mode and uninstall the drivers for AHCI too. This way you avoid BSOD.

 

[de.das.dude]

similar chipsets work fine. even then windows 7 is pretty nice to allow changes. it will slow the computer down a bit.