Changing m/board cpu.

RUMBLERIDER2 · 20 Jan 2011 at 07:39

I am thinking of upgrading my m/board & cpu. The question is, will i be able to put back all my other componants inc boot hard drive, & expect the system to run from that installed windows, or do i have to re install windows, which is a lot of work & time. :confused:

Blue160 · 20 Jan 2011 at 08:28

Generally a full install is best. I'm told Vista and 7 can sometimes cope with a new board, but the one time I tried it I got nothing but blue screens.

I've had to reinstall twice more since then after some overambitious overclocking experiments, and adding an SSD. If you have all your documents backed up, and the installers for your programs ready downloaded it's not such a big deal.

Philtor · 20 Jan 2011 at 08:51

As above a clean install is recommended after changing the Motherboard.

RUMBLERIDER2 · 20 Jan 2011 at 09:53

Many thanks, is there a way i can speed up putting everything back on the hard drive, & setting up all the programs & desktop, without having to re install everything one by one.
I have made a full back up, & system recovery disc.

Philtor · 20 Jan 2011 at 09:57

Not sure what programs you use but Ninite might be worth a look. Very handy for getting all your freeware programs going again after a reinstall.

RUMBLERIDER2 · 20 Jan 2011 at 11:26

What i meant was i have windows 7 62bit, & i have never had to restore from a back up that i have made using windows back up & restore on an external hard drive.
Can i just run the restore on the newly formatted hard drive, with the freshly installed windows.
If so will it return the desktop shortcuts documents etc, so it will run the same as before i changed the m/board. Or do i have to move everything seperately.

Philtor · 20 Jan 2011 at 11:43

When you do a clean install and launch the backup and restore tool pick the option for 'restore my files' and you will eventually be prompted to select your restore destination. The backup and restore tool should restore all your files and folders to their original locations again.

Blue160 · 20 Jan 2011 at 12:00

What he said^

You will still have to reinstall your programs though.

RUMBLERIDER2 · 20 Jan 2011 at 12:57

O.k, many thanks for your help.
P.s. should i use the recovery disk.

Philtor · 20 Jan 2011 at 13:14

You would only need the recovery disk to boot from if you are going to be restoring a system image. Your going to be doing a clean install in which case you'll need the Windows 7 disk just. Then once you reinstall go into the backup & restore tool and restore your files which you backed up previously.

RUMBLERIDER2 · 20 Jan 2011 at 13:17

All clear now, thanks for all your help.