Personal computing discussed

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DPete27
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Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Tue May 13, 2014 11:40 am

I have a computer that I'm 99% certain the motherboard died. I ordered a replacement, however, the new one is not the same model/brand (because it's LGA 775). Since this is the first time I've had this problem, I wanted to get some TR gerbil knowledge before I start the process of swapping mobos. The "broken" motherboard does not post, but I can connect the hdd to another computer if needed.

1) Can I do this swap without having to re-install Windows 7? (please say yes...) All other hardware will be the same. Anything special I need to do for this?
2) I assume I need to uninstall the drivers related to the broken mobo? If so, how do I go about doing that?
3) Anything else I should know?
Last edited by DPete27 on Tue May 13, 2014 1:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Tue May 13, 2014 12:20 pm

7 actually seems to be a lot better about stuff like this than earlier versions of Windows. You'll almost certainly need to re-activate, but you may actually be OK on drivers with no further action on your part.

I would definitely recommend hooking the drive up to another system and saving an image of it though, just in case. If things go wrong, you can restore it to the exact state it was in before you booted it on the new mobo.
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SuperSpy
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Tue May 13, 2014 12:30 pm

I've had good luck with swaps like that as long as the boot drive doesn't change places logically, or require previously-unknown drivers to access, such as motherboard raid. You will get a wall of new hardware prompts as Windows discovers it's new home, but it generally works fine.
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Flatland_Spider
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Tue May 13, 2014 12:41 pm

If the chipset is the same, you shouldn't have any problem getting it booted.
 
nerdrage
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Tue May 13, 2014 12:47 pm

How does re-activation work in a scenario like this?
 
Arvald
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Tue May 13, 2014 12:49 pm

Worst case a phone call to Microsoft's automated system.

I've had to do this a few times on a PC that I replaced almost everything. other than being a little slow it works well.
 
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Tue May 13, 2014 12:56 pm

I have always reinstalled windows when I've had to replace the mobo. By doing so you make sure that you don't get any conflicts with existing/old drivers and it puts you in a position where, once you've done it, you can take an image of your new system and use it as as back up going forward. This is especially important if you're new mobo uses a completly different chipset to your old one
 
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Tue May 13, 2014 1:11 pm

The big thing that is forgotten a lot is to make sure your bios has the settings correct for ahci/idea/raid. Many times I've swapped a hard drive to another machine, only to see a bsod at windows loading screen. Changing the data option fixes this usually
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DPete27
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Tue May 13, 2014 1:16 pm

Flatland_Spider wrote:
If the chipset is the same, you shouldn't have any problem getting it booted.

Welll... The dead mobo is an XFX 750i and the replacement is a Gigabyte EP43-UD3L. Is that going to cause problems?
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Glorious
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Tue May 13, 2014 1:34 pm

I once took a hard-drive with windows 7 installed from an AMD-based computer and stuck it into an Intel-based computer.

It successfully booted (Yes, it still needed a lot of drivers).

Give it a try. Windows 7 installations are way more hardware-independent than Windows XP ones.
 
The Egg
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Tue May 13, 2014 1:37 pm

You're going from an nForce chipset to an Intel chipset. I would definitely reinstall. You might be able to get booted into windows, but you'll want to reinstall to get it right.
 
Prestige Worldwide
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Tue May 13, 2014 1:40 pm

99% certain it will work fine by hooking it up and booting up your PC.

I went from LGA 775 to LGA 1156 without any problems.

When you first boot into windows, you will see a whole lot of automated driver installs being done by the OS, after that completes you should be ready to rock!
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Ryu Connor
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Tue May 13, 2014 7:56 pm

After the transition use Sysprep.
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The Egg
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Wed May 14, 2014 10:32 am

Prestige Worldwide wrote:
99% certain it will work fine by hooking it up and booting up your PC.

I went from LGA 775 to LGA 1156 without any problems.

When you first boot into windows, you will see a whole lot of automated driver installs being done by the OS, after that completes you should be ready to rock!

It might work, but you'd be leaving yourself open to possible issues or less than optimal performance. I've never seen that Sysprep utility, but it looks interesting. If it were my own system, I would still never change the motherboard without doing a clean install, even if it seemed to be running fine.
 
DPete27
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Wed May 14, 2014 10:37 am

The Egg wrote:
you'd be leaving yourself open to possible issues or less than optimal performance.

So, from bullet-point #2 in my OP, is there a way to go about uninstalling the unused motherboard drivers without having to do a clean install? Is there any driver-cleaner program that I can actually trust?
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zenlessyank
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Wed May 14, 2014 12:07 pm

Unless it is a DIRECT replacement/exact model, DONT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT. Just back up your important data and install fresh. The only exception to that is if you know windows registry inside and out, familiar with all hardware ID's and how they get enumerated and then familiar with all the insta-code that was compiled for each program on system at time of those apps installation according to what chipsets specs were required. The list goes on and on. Yes, I'm sure some peeps have replaced boards that seemed ok afterwards, but why take chances on wasting a lot of time and possibly losing data? Your windows is probably due a fresh install anyways.

INSTALL FRESH. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.


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DPete27
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Wed May 14, 2014 12:15 pm

So far the results are:
6 votes - No re-install necessary
3 votes - Re-install Windows.

zenlessyank wrote:
Your windows is probably due a fresh install anyways.

It's actually a system that I repurposed for a co-worker. The OS install is only 1.5 months old.
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Deanjo
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Wed May 14, 2014 12:45 pm

Hardware failures...... one of the reasons why my copy of Windows resides in a VM and run Linux as the main OS. Motherboard dies, unplug drive, plug in other motherboard, done.
 
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Wed May 14, 2014 12:49 pm

Since this machine is for somebody else and the chipsets are different I would definitely re-install windows. If it were for yourself I'd say just wing it, since you know what you're doing (and can fix it should issues crop up).

Better to deal with it now, then deal with the calls of "my computer is acting weird" later. I've gotten burned one too many times though so take from that what you will.
 
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Wed May 14, 2014 1:32 pm

DPete27 wrote:
So far the results are:
6 votes - No re-install necessary
3 votes - Re-install Windows.

zenlessyank wrote:
Your windows is probably due a fresh install anyways.

It's actually a system that I repurposed for a co-worker. The OS install is only 1.5 months old.


Don't be fooled, there isn't a debate here.

The proper, official, and supported Microsoft way to migrate Windows Vista, 7, and 8.x from one box to another is to SysPrep the box and then move the install over. The OS as of VIsta forward is now designed to be hardware agnostic and along side SysPrep can eject all hardware specific information of the OS and it will reconfigure itself at boot.

IT technicians told Microsoft that they wanted an OS that they could more easily image and Microsoft delivered on that request with Windows Vista forward. SysPrep is the tool to take advantage of this new found functionality. In fact the very copy of Windows 7 off the install disc isn't even a "fresh" copy of the OS. It's an image they captured from a master machine and then purged of all hardware specific information (sysprep). This is amongst the reasons that SlipStreams don't exist anymore (it's an image, not a set of install files).

Since the box in question is dead, you'll have to migrate it over without SysPrep initially and then you'll want to SysPrep the box to clean it up and get it into an officially supported state.
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Wed May 14, 2014 1:44 pm

Deanjo wrote:
Hardware failures...... one of the reasons why my copy of Windows resides in a VM and run Linux as the main OS. Motherboard dies, unplug drive, plug in other motherboard, done.

Yes, I do the same thing. As long as your use case isn't significantly impacted by running in a VM, it works quite well. Don't even need to re-activate, even after major hardware changes.
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Deanjo
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Wed May 14, 2014 1:51 pm

just brew it! wrote:
Deanjo wrote:
Hardware failures...... one of the reasons why my copy of Windows resides in a VM and run Linux as the main OS. Motherboard dies, unplug drive, plug in other motherboard, done.

Yes, I do the same thing. As long as your use case isn't significantly impacted by running in a VM, it works quite well. Don't even need to re-activate, even after major hardware changes.


Well I don't do any gaming on Windows so it is pretty much there for the very rare times I need a Windows only app. The unfortunate part is that I fire it up so little that it usually takes a while before windows does it's updates and reboots before I get to do what I need to.
 
DPete27
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Wed May 14, 2014 1:54 pm

Ryu Connor wrote:
you'll have to migrate it over without SysPrep initially and then you'll want to SysPrep the box to clean it up and get it into an officially supported state.

Step 1: Swap mobo
Step 2: SysPrep to create an image
Step 3: Re-install using the SysPrep image

Correct?
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Ryu Connor
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Wed May 14, 2014 2:03 pm

Yeah, since the existing system is good an dead that's the approach you'll want to take.

Swap the mobo
Windows will deal with the new hardware
Once at the desktop it's time to clean up the mess and get us into a supported state, so we'll sysprep the box (sysprep /generalize /oobe /shutdown)
Now all you have to do is just turn the box back on. You'll watch Windows walk through an install process, you'll then answer a few configuration questions, you'll create a new throw away user account, and when you log back out there will be all the existing accounts to log into.

The OS has been successfully cleaned of all old hardware information, you now have a fresh image for the new box.
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Glorious
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Wed May 14, 2014 2:20 pm

DPete27 wrote:
Step 1: Swap mobo
Step 2: SysPrep to create an image
Step 3: Re-install using the SysPrep image

Correct?


To be extra-clear and re-emphasize what Ryu Connor is telling you, the "image" in your example is the installation on you harddrive.

In other words,

1) Boot from the original harddrive using the new motherboard (this should almost certainly work)
1b) ...Once Windows 7 is done discovering everything and the computer is usable...
2) Run sysprep (following Ryu's detailed instructions, which will automatically turn off the machine for you)
3) Just turn the computer back on (and follow the rest of Ryu's instructions).

Voila!

You don't really have to "re-install" or "create" any images, sys-prep is automagically cleaning up/preparing the only image you're going to need to deal with: the pre-existing installation on the HD!

Cool, huh?

As Ryu points out, don't listen to all the ridiculous FUDsters. The *only* hiccup here is the fact that the original motherboard is kaput, but so long as you can boot into windows 7 (which you should be able to), that's easily surmountable. This isn't crazy-talk. I've done it, and people are routinely doing it everywhere. I'm not sure why people think it's impossible/dangerous.

Best guess is that all the silliness is coming from the days of Windows XP, which wouldn't allow you to do what you're about to. But as Ryu says, that hasn't been been the case since Vista.

You can verify what he says, as usual, so there isn't any sense in even taking a vote ;P
 
DPete27
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Wed May 14, 2014 2:36 pm

Glorious wrote:
You don't really have to "re-install" or "create" any images, sys-prep is automagically cleaning up/preparing the only image you're going to need to deal with

Fantastic! Even easier. It's like... you know... that's what you'd expect to be able to do in this day-and-age. Thanks for the help!

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captaintrav
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Wed May 14, 2014 3:05 pm

The only issue I've come across here with this is two:

Uninstall any device specific storage drivers, and just use the MS AHCI driver if possible.

If you want to go from an AMD system to an Intel, uninstall all of the AMD drivers first, AMD does a PCI express filter driver that will render the system unbootable on an Intel chipset. I believe it might hose the USB ports too. That's somewhat of a given, but should the motherboard die or you forget, you don't want to have to go about editing the registry hives offline in PE to fix it. :wink: I don't think I've been stymied yet switching a Windows installation from one motherboard to another, and I've done several from AMD to Intel. Not ideal, but it's a lot easier than reinstalling *everything*. FWIW I didn't even sysprep.
 
DPete27
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Thu May 15, 2014 8:47 pm

Ran across a bit of a problem... sysprep/generalize/oobe did it's thing. (I actually used the GUI, but selected all the aforementioned settings). Computer shut down. Now when it starts back up, it goes through "Setup is updating registry settings" => "Setup is starting services"....but then it produces an error message: "Windows could not finish configuring the system. To attempt to resume configuration, restart the computer." I only have one option, to click "OK" upon which the computer restarts, goes through the same process, and returns to the same error message. HELP!!!
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zenlessyank
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Thu May 15, 2014 8:53 pm

I WARNED YOU. /sarcasmly
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zenlessyank
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Re: Mobo Swap, Re-install Windows?

Thu May 15, 2014 9:00 pm

Probably will get flamed, but since I don't care, I will tell you this..... "sysprep"ers and "oobe"ers are peeps who deal with dell/hp big box brands which those tools are made for. They can easily make a custom 'image' and roll it out remotely to a whole crap load of similar hardware for large departments, etc. Problem is most of us techies buy diff motherboards with diff options/features that those tools don't take into consideration.
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