Changing Motherboard type in Xp

[Anonymous]

I upgraded my daughters PC this morning from a P3 1GHz (BX440 Chipset) to a P4 2.53GHz (845PE Chipset) without having to re-install XP.

Unless you need drivers for a fancy RAID controller you can use the following steps:

1. Backup the existing disk in case
2. Put ALL drivers for new motherboard on the hard disk.
3. Put ALL drivers for existing cards/periphersals on the hard disk.
4. Put latest BIOS for new MB on bootable floppy (test that it boots)
5. Set IDE controller driver to "Standard IDE Controller"
6. Power down.
7. Fit new motherboard and cards.
8. Flash new BIOS.
9. Configure BIOS.
10. Ensure NO USB devices plugged in apart from keyboard/mouse.
11. Boot XP into SAFE Mode (Important! This way it redetects the hardware layer)
12. Install chipset drivers and any card drivers that do not get redetected (I only had to reinstall soundcard drivers)
13. Boot XP into normal mode.
14. Start plugging USB devices back in if you need them.

Voila! Perfectly stable system without having to re-install

If you need to change between RAID controllers or are fitting a Motherboard that now has a RAID controller you can follow the instructions here.

[Anonymous]

Once you boot to safe mode don't panic if it looks as if keyboard and mouse are not working. It takes quite a while before they respond while everything gets redetected.

And obviously if you are swapping in an identical board then you don't need any of the above

[Anonymous]

Worth making sure your installation will look to the hard disk for installation files too. Check the following:

1. Copy the /i386 folder from your XP CD to the C: drive
2. Open the registry and go to the following entry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup

Edit the "SourcePath" registry key (found within the registry key mentioned above) to point to the new i386 folder - you want to change it to point to the folder just before the \i386 folder so if you copy it to C:\i386, point the registry key to C: e.g. "SourcePath"="C:"

[Vincentvega]

check out the big brain on BB

[Anonymous]

I'd like to claim it as my idea but it came from several websites.

It worked like a charm. Whole motherboard swap process took 1 hour.

[Anonymous]

I've taken all the steps and made a single article. You can get it here if you want to keep it.

[Norm]

Nice Job BB,this will save me lots of time and discs.

[Vincentvega]

wot about registry issues? :unsure:

[Anonymous]

That's the nice thing about it; there are none - or very few.

The secret is that first boot into SAFE mode which, for some reason, redetects all the hardware and fixes the registry just nice:)

I had to install drivers for my sound card and my USB camera - everything else worked - Oh and I swapped graphics cards at the same time as the motherboard but you shouldn't do this unless you have the version of XP that doesn't need reactivated.

If you only swap the MB you should be OK but here is an article about how to backup and restore your home/pro activation files in case you need them.

[Vincentvega]

how do u go about reistalling windows if a problem occurs ie virus or wot eva and u need to activate windows cos there not activating oem no more are they??

[Anonymous]

See link in post above Just don't change any hardware until you have everything working again that way your backup copies of your activation files will be fine

[Gone_Away]

Well Done BB.. I've archived this for future use..

[suicidal_monkey]

nice.
old motherboard and cpu out, new board and cpu in, ...windows back up and running again, everything seemed fine! Now to try and force it all to overclock like it's supposed to. I mean, what kind of mobo supports multiplier adjustments that only affect desktop processors when the XP-M's are the natural choice :ranting: