Replacing motherboard without format...

[Bleek]

I've not actually ever attempted this even though being in the IT field for 7+ years but I don't want to format because my machine is crammed full of data, games, apps and settings so my idea is to delete every driver I possibly can and powering down - replace the board - boot up and hopefully install the new devices without any BSOD or random reboots.

Now I'm going from an nforce (XP 2500) to a Opty on an ULi board, can anyone see any problems with this or has done the process themselves (nvidia to uli) and could warn me of any caveats?

Thanks

 

[Bleek]

The fear is requiring my XP disc which is ruined, it doesn't even run anymore... scratched to within an inch of its life as it was left in a box for years.

Its XP Pro, seeing as I have serial I guess I could just download XP and bang it on a disc.

 

[Bleek]

Cheers Dom, I'm sure I've done it in the past just by letting Windows detect new parts and then throwing the right drivers in once I get to desktop.

I'll download XP bootable just as a precaution though, can't be without a PC!

 

[Bleek]

Well that went too well, deleted everything I could without ruining the stability of the system. Things like nvidia and creative drivers, then NIC, RAID etc, powered down. Swapped board over, booted up, rebooted, installed NIC and 6800Ultra... done.

No problems at all. Brilliant.