Is it safe to do this? (Motherboard question)?

Question

Ok, heres as simple as I can put it.

I have a 2 year old computer with a cheap motherboard in it. I have better motherboard from another computer that should still work. Last time I checked it did. But, I don't have the motherboard CD. If I take out the motherboard, with the processor, and leave everything else the way it is, just put a better motherboard in, would I have to redo windows on the hard drive? Or would it register it as a new motherboard? Or, what? Ive never installed a motherboard before, so I don't know exactly what will happen. So, is it safe, and should I do it?

The old one is definitely different then the new one. But not by alot. They are both similar in processor, both being about 1800 amd. (Could be wrong, I forget the exact processors) The only difference I can see is that the new one has an AGP slot.

Yeah its windows XP. And I just reinstalled it about 4 hours ago, and I activated it. But its the last time it will activate unless i call microsoft. Ive installed it 6 times now on the same computer in the past 3 years. Why I did it this time is because the hard drive fried.

Answer 1

if the motherboard you are switching out is vastly different, It will not work, and even if its similar your better off re-installing windows, but if its identical, there will be no problems(any that I've ever found yet anyway)

Answer 2

LET'S CALL THE MOTHERBOARD YOU ARE CURRENTLY USING THE "OLD" MOBO, AND THE ONE YOU WANT TO INSTALL THE "NEW" MOBO(SHORT FOR MOTHERBOARD ). LIKE SOMEONE ELSE SAID, IF THE MOBO'S ARE IDENTICAL, AND I MEAN EXACTLY, THEN SWITCHING IT OUT SHOULDN'T BE A PROBLEM. BUT IF THEY ARE DIFFERENT AT ALL WINDOWS XP IS SPECIFICALLY WRITTEN SO THAT WHATEVER CONFIGURATION EXISTED WHEN WINDOWS WAS INITIALLY PUT ON THE SYSTEM IS THE ONLY ONE IT WILL BOOT TO. MINUS MINOR CONFIGURATION CHANGES, SUCH AS NETWORK CARD OR VIDEO CARD CHANGES ASIDE. I THINK XP EVEN RECORDS MOTHERBOARD ELECTRONIC SERIAL NUMBERS FOR THIS PURPOSE. SO THE NEXT STEP IS EXPLAINING WHAT IS INVOLVED, EXACTLY IN ORDER TO SWITCH OUT THE MOBO'S. THERE IS QUITE A BIT YOU HAVE TO LOOK OUT FOR IN THE PROCESS. FIRST, YOU HAVE TO MAKE SURE THE NEW MOBO HAS THE SAME CPU SOCKET TYPE AS THE OLD ONE. IT COULD EASILY BE A TOTALLY DIFFERENT SOCKET, AND THEREFORE STOPPING YOU BEFORE YOU EVEN GET STARTED. THE CPU HAS TO FIT INTO THE SOCKET ON THE NEW MOBO. IF IT IS THE SAME, YOU'RE GOOD TO GO. IF NOT, YOU'RE STOPPED RIGHT THERE. UNLESS YOU HAVE ANOTHER CPU FOR THE NEW MOBO. IF IT IS THE SAME SOCKET, THEN CHECK TO SEE THAT THE MEMORY MODULES WILL FIT INTO THE NEW MOBO. AGAIN IF THEY DON'T DO YOU HAVE MEMORY MODULES(OR STICKS) TO PUT INTO THE NEW MOBO? IF SO THEN PROCEED TO THE NEXT CHECK. AND THAT IS TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE SAME PSU(POWER SUPPLY UNIT) PLUG ON BOTH MOBO'S. ATX IS A 10x2 PLUG. 10 COLUMNS BY 2 ROWS. BOTH SHOULD BE ATX. SOME CPU'S AND MOTHERBOARDS REQUIRE AN ADDITIONAL 2x2 PLUG THAT GOES INTO THE MOBO EITHER ALONGSIDE THE ATX PLUG OR SOMEWHERE ELSE ENTIRELY. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE WHAT YOU NEED. ONCE YOU DO THAT YOU NEED TO GET ON THE INTERNET AND GO TO THE NEW MOBO'S MANUFACTURERS WEBSITE AND DOWNLOAD ALL THE DRIVERS THAT CAME ON THE CD THAT YOU SAY YOU NO LONGER HAVE. WITHOUT THOSE, YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO GET THE MOTHERBOARD UP ALL THE WAY OR EVEN AT ALL. SINCE IT IS A LITTLE OLDER(I GATHER) XP SHOULD HAVE ENOUGH GENERIC DRIVERS ON IT TO GET IT RUNNING. ALTHOUGH PROBABLY NOT AS GOOD AS IT SHOULD BE. SO YOU CAN LOAD THE DRIVERS AFTERWARD IF NEED BE. THEN ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS UNPLUG EVERYTHING FROM THE OLD MOBO, INCLUDING THE CPU AND RAM, AND PLUG IT IN TO THE NEW ONE. YOU MUST HAVE THE WINDOWS CD TO DO THIS, BECAUSE WITH THE MOBO'S BEING DIFFERENT, WINDOWS XP WILL NOT BOOT AGAIN. I HAVE HAD IT BOOT ON ONE OCCASION, BUT I SUSPECT THIS WAS A FLUKE. ANYWAY PUT THE WINDOWS CD INTO THE CD-ROM AND GO INTO THE BIOS AND SELECT YOUR BOOT ORDER, TO BOOT FROM THE CD FIRST. THEN RESTART THE COMPUTER AND INSTALL WINDOWS. THERE IS ALOT MORE COMPLEX DETAILS INVOLVED IN THIS, AND IF YOU REALLY WANT TO KNOW HOW TO DO IT, EMAIL ME AND I WILL CALL YOU AND TALK YOU THROUGH IT. I AM IN THE ARMY, AND AM ON LEAVE RIGHT NOW FROM IRAQ, SO I CAN CALL ANYTIME DAY OR NIGHT, BUT BE QUICK BECAUSE I GO BACK IN 3 DAYS. ALSO I HAVE FREE LONG-DISTANCE ON MY PHONE THAT IS WHY I SAY I'LL CALL YOU. I AM STATIONED IN HAWAII SO THERE IS ALSO A TIME DIFFERENCE OF 2 HOURS FROM THE WEST COAST. OR I CAN EMAIL YOU FROM HERE OR IRAQ, IT DOESN'T MATTER. MY EMAIL IS [e-mail]. IF YOU EMAIL ME I'LL GIVE YOU MY NUMBER. ANYWAY, GOOD LUCK WITH IT ALL AND JUST DO ALOT OF RESEARCH BEFORE JUMPING IN TO SOMETHING LIKE THIS OR YOU'LL GET VERY FRUSTRATED AND WILL WANT TO BREAK THINGS. BEST OF LUCK JOE.

Answer 3

You can do it, but there are several areas of potential software headaches. A lot of it depends on your motherboard and your operating system. For instance, many times motherboards have specific drivers for things (i.e. on-board audio, networking, USB drivers) if you just swap boards in, sometimes things won't get properly installed. Lots of times though, you can download the proper drivers from the Motherboard manufacturer's website (do this before swapping boards!).

If you have Windows XP, this might not be so bad. Older versions of Windows (95,98,ME,2000) are better off with a fresh installation of windows. A clean install usually takes about an hour, not including time to download security patches and updated drivers. Not to mention reinstalling all your applications.

If you don't want to spend the time on it, then you should just leave the computer as is. It can be very frustrating for novice users.

I consider myself an expert user, and it'll still take me a few hours to iron out everything. Also sometimes it's really just faster to reinstall windows than hunt down all the bugs.

Answer 4

you can do it by 2 way.

no need to reinstall windows to change motherboard, if you don't have motherboard driver you can hit the windows update and go to the hardware item in updates. you will find all the missing hardware in windows update, select all the item whatever is missing and click on update, it will install all the missing hardware ( IE. display driver, usb, bus driver ) or any other driver which is missing.

or you can go to the vendor site of motherboard and can search manually by motherboard code.

please let me know if you have any further question.

Answer 5

Are both the motherboards the same platform, as in either AGP/PCI/PCI-E...if not hardware such as the graphics card will not be compatible.
If you have not done it before I wouldn't recommend completely disassembling a computer including processor just to change the motherboard.

Answer 6

all ibm atx motherboards are inerchangeable if you have a mac then the motherboards will not ineer change as long as you have ribbon cables that will plug into the mother board it should work