Changing motherboard

SlyReaper

SlyReaper

SlyReaper

Soldato
Joined
26 Apr 2008
Posts
6,653
Location
Bristol, Old Blighty
Just a quick question. If I swap out my motherboard for a newer model, do I have to worry about drivers and such-like?

I mean, will I have to uninstall all the drivers before doing the swap, and then installing the drivers that come with the new board after the swap? Or do the old drivers just go dormant, letting you install new ones on top of them without hassle?
 
when changing MB, it is recommended you format your drive / partition that your operating system is on and reinstalling your operating system to avoid driver conflicts and other issues
 
you OS will work fine after you reinstall if you can reactivate, but by changing the MB as you are planning you are breaking the EULA anyway regardless of if you reinstall windows or not, so either way you should go and buy a new OS to remain legally licenised
 
SlyReaper said:
Just a quick question. If I swap out my motherboard for a newer model, do I have to worry about drivers and such-like?

I mean, will I have to uninstall all the drivers before doing the swap, and then installing the drivers that come with the new board after the swap? Or do the old drivers just go dormant, letting you install new ones on top of them without hassle?
Click to expand...

Depends on which motherboards they are.

You can usually switch between Intel boards without any driver issues, tho going between Intel, Via, nVidia boards can be a different matter.

Ininstall sound and network drivers first tho as different manufacturers can use different ones, unless you're sure thay are going to be the same.
 
Last edited:
Which chipsets?

I would still uninstall the sound and network drivers first. Tho it should be fine to leave them alone and see if they work.
 
You may be ok without uninstalling the chipset drivers as both chipsets use the same Intel INF driver set, tho you'll likely need to reinstall them after the first boot.

Windows will almost certainly need to be re-activated, and strictly speaking you'll be breaking the terms of the OEM EULA that is tied to your current board.
 
I have no moral qualms about breaking the EULA. I paid 50 bloody quid for the disk, and absolutely loathe that MS would stop me using it just because the PC configuration is different.

As for practicality, how likely is it that windows will fail to activate after swapping out the motherboard and reinstalling the OS? I'm sure I heard somewhere that OEM licenses have a little bit of leeway in them to allow for components breaking and being replaced.

The only things I've changed on this rig since installing Windows are an extra hard drive (which I can unplug during reinstall) and a new PSU (and I guess I could use the old PSU during install if Windows is able to detect the difference).

So if the motherboard is the only thing that's changed, will Windows still be able to activate?
 
The motherboard is the only thing that's tied to the OEM copy. Microsoft pretty much consider the motherboard to be the computer. But ofcourse motherboards break and have to be replaced.
 
Replacing the motherboard will certainly see you having to phone Microsoft to re-activate. I have done this in the past with no problems, but now I believe that MS are getting a lot tougher. More so with Vista than XP. If you say the motherboard failed and the supplier did not have a direct replacement in stock, they *should* be reasonable about it....
 
you can also use "sysprep" to do a mini install which allows you to swap out the motherboard, then it reinstalls the OS with the new drivers.

Google: swap motherboard and sysprep

I have used it once recentley and it worked a treat - saved loads of time.

Be sure to make a copy of any drivers you don't have on CD first.
 
gunner said:
you can also use "sysprep" to do a mini install which allows you to swap out the motherboard, then it reinstalls the OS with the new drivers.

Google: swap motherboard and sysprep

I have used it once recentley and it worked a treat - saved loads of time.

Be sure to make a copy of any drivers you don't have on CD first.
Click to expand...

That looks really useful, but I'm not sure how it's supposed to work. Does it just remove all machine-specific drivers from your hard drive and then allow you to boot up? Or does it make an image which you have to burn to DVDs and then reinstall the OS from there?
 
IIRC it's only the OEM of Vista that's tied to the motherboard, OEM XP isn't.

If it's been a while since you installed XP (ie 6 months+) you wont even have to phone Microsoft, your install will verify via the net.
 
SlyReaper said:
I have no moral qualms about breaking the EULA. I paid 50 bloody quid for the disk, and absolutely loathe that MS would stop me using it just because the PC configuration is different.
Click to expand...

Hello SlyReaper, when you first purchased an OEM license, you should have known and fully understood the terms of that particular license, which for an OEM license are as follows:

You can change any system component in your system as many times as you wish apart from the motherboard and you will still be licensed. Now you may have to re-activate Windows after a hardware and/or configuration change either by the online process or if it fails for various reasons, you will have to ring them up. If you do have to ring them up and speak with a Microsoft Agent, just tell them the truth, what exactly has happened and they will happily re-activate your copy of Windows for you. You will not be violating the EULA and you are still within your rights to use Windows.

Now if you change your motherboard for a performance upgrade (We are not talking about replacing your motherboard under warranty), then I am afraid you will have to purchase a new copy of Windows (License).

SlyReaper said:
Damn. So I guess the idea is: don't replace the motherboard unless I'm prepared to buy a new copy of XP.
Click to expand...

Yes. :)

dagwoood said:
IIRC it's only the OEM of Vista that's tied to the motherboard, OEM XP isn't.
Click to expand...

Hello dagwoood, sorry, but that isn't correct. The licensing terms are exactly the same for Windows XP OEM and Windows Vista OEM since it isn't the Operating System that determines the licensing terms, it is the license. :)
 
Last edited:
SlyReaper said:
That looks really useful, but I'm not sure how it's supposed to work. Does it just remove all machine-specific drivers from your hard drive and then allow you to boot up? Or does it make an image which you have to burn to DVDs and then reinstall the OS from there?
Click to expand...

As you initially thought, it removes all your machine specific drivers then does a mini setup. It looks exactly like the installing windows screen of XP install (i think it is the same). I have only used this with XP. There is no DVD burning or such like.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom