Changing motherboards - Windows installation question?

[Lumeycom]

I'm changing mobo's because mine's died (well part of it has) but the new mobo has exactly the same chipset but is a different brand and has some slightly different additions.

Will I be able to get away without reinstalling windows? I will do it in the future but I'm in a bit of a hurry to get it working again.

Thanks

Lumey

 

[apeZ]

I wouldn't recommend it, due to driver conflicts etc between mobo/hardware.

Your best bet is a reformat.

 

[pjansell]

It's the windows HAL that complains when you undertake such a task, if its the same chipset it should be fine though. You'll be able to boot into windows, then just refresh the drivers with the ones you got with the mobo.

 

[reflux]

I changed between a couple of X38 boards and my Vista installation was fine. If it's the same chipset it doesn't matter as much.

 

[dillingerdan]

I went through 3 different nForce2 based boards without reinstalling windows (actually that's not true I did it once but didn't need to as I changed back but didn't that time, and it also worked).

2 were almost identical ie same south bridge, but different SATA controller, BUT it still worked as it was Si 3112 vs Si 3114 (2 and 4 port versions of the same thing essentially). And the 1 board has different south bridge with the super nForce Audio that everyone raved about at the time. No problems.

I would uninstall all installed drivers before you wipe the drive though. For conflict free moving.

 

[Lumeycom]

Glad to report all is well

Had a bit of fun with USB drivers for some reason, but once sorted its all well. Proabably should have uninstalled drivers as the poster above said!