Should I be able to swap my motherboard out without messing windows up? I'm oing from an NF7-S v2 to a DFI infinity, so the chipset is the same. I'm not worried about having to reinstall LAN drivers or anything like that, as long as I'm prepared for it. would a repair install of XP be enough if the straight swap doesnt work? I dont want to do a full format + install.
I did that (change mobos) before, when I started windows it forced me to reactivate windows for some reason, and i used up my product keys 5 times, so i had to phone up and argue with microsoft that I was just changing the mobo. I won of course Me: 1 Microsoft: 0
i think so, i'm just gonna do it. I cant see how it can go too wrong with 2 mobos with the same chipset.
I went from a nforce2 to a kt400 mobo with no probs... windows took care of itself. I was planing on a fresh install but all is well and that was 3 months a go.
It'll all work fine, I still have an install of Windows that I made on an 8RDA+, then installed an NF7-S on, and then a DFI Lanparty into...and then when I got this new NF7-S I used that install for a bit on it too. The most you'll get is a load of "Found New Hardware" prompts and have to do a lot of clicking, on the 8RDA -> NF7-S changeover I didn't even have to do that. It works fine
Thanks Kam It seems silly to have a dfi infiinity, 2x256 BH-5 and a XP2500-M sitting in a box here, while im using my 2nd choice parts to play doom3 on .... (waiting for me to get round to cleaning + lapping all my WC stuff). I might as well have a quick swap around while I pluck up the motivation to service the watercooling gear.
I don't recomend it, but normally if you have the same chipset, it isn't really a problem. I personally use a motherboard swap as a good time to clean out all the bit rot and worthless data I save for some reason that made sense six months ago. Now I wonder why I have a flash of a baby singing "I pooped my pants" I've done this several times. The majority of the arguements goes like this: Microsoft: Why are you reactivating? Fronzel: I changed the motherboard. Microsoft: Is this copy of XP used on another computer? Fronzel: Nope. Microsoft: OK! Your new code is...