Ran into some trouble with a partial new windows 8 build.
Put a MSI Z97 PC Mate motherboard and G3258 I had lying around with 8gb ram, bx100 ssd and Windows 8.1 OEM.
As soon as I started trying to update the software I got the new blue screen with a vague Whea hardware fault. After looking it up, it is a nondescript hardware/driver problem. I get a blue screen anywhere from 30 to 90 seconds of the computer being on.
So I updated all the drivers except for the onboard video because it reported the builtin driver as newer. When that didn't solve the problem I ran Memtest overnight with no errors.
Next I went ahead and installed MSI's video drivers. No difference. Then I remembered that I wasn't really overly satisfied how the front usb 3.0 header fit in the motherboard so I disconnected that. No difference. When I was testing that change I noticed that the youtube video I was playing was skipping right before it blue screened.
So next I installed a video card. Unfortunately all that I had handy was a x300 video card. There really is no x300 support under windows 8 without jumping through a bunch of hoops so it is just running as "Microsoft Basic Display Adapter". So far it has been running for about 40 minutes without a problem. Here are my questions:
1) How do I figure out if I have an actual problem with my motherboard or just windows 8 driver incompatibility?
2) If I take the easy way out and just buy a cheap video card (like nvidia 210) what are the odds that the motherboard will develop problems in other areas?
3) If I replace the motherboard with an Asrock board I have, will I be able to keep my Win8 install? The reason I ask that is because I bought OEM instead of full version. Usually under Win7 install I get all my backing up and testing done before I activate. Windows8 just decided to activate itself when I connected to my network so I am concerned I'm going to be out the money I spent on the license.
This problem becomes simpler if anyone can tell me that they have successfully reactivated Windows 8.1 OEM. I would just replace the motherboard, nuke the ssd and start over; so if someone had a personal experience with this it would be most helpful.
Thanks guys