do you have to reformat if your motherboard shorts out and you have to replace it or will windows find it and contiune as if it never was changed???
2007-01-13 04:50:46 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Desktops
If your motherboard is REALLY old you might have to. sometimes if the new hardware is too different windows might not recognize it.
just fire it up and see what happens.
2007-01-13 04:57:11 · answer #1 · answered by fratmcgee24 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It Depends on what motherboard you are getting:
Buying Same motherboard
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-->No, You do not have to format your hard drive
Your Hard Drive stores your windows, which will be able to find all of the hardware on the new motherboard, and work again as it did before
Buying Upgraded/Downgraded motherboard
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Yes, it might be a good idea to not reformat the drive, but instead re-install windows, because each windows installation custimizes the way it runs on the type of hardware in your system, so even when you change the motherboard, the changes might affect certain things you want to do, such as play some games, or use some software.
Granted you can fix most issues of motherboard replacement when you go back into windows, by just installing new drivers(for the hardware on the new motherboard) and de-installing drivers (from the old motherboard) and it should work fine
2007-01-13 13:01:19 · answer #2 · answered by André S 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If you're getting the same model of motherboard, to replace the old one, you'll be fine. If not.. you may have some issues. The new motherboard will have entirely different drivers than your old one did. Chipset drivers, and drivers for onboard sound, network, etc.
I replaced an old motherboard with a different model in my old system. It worked, but it wasn't as clean as formatting the HD and installing the OS and all the new drivers would have been. But, I didn't want to go through backing up all my data, reinstalling the OS, programs, etc.
WinXP may make you re-register windows, which might require a phone call to Microsoft.
2007-01-13 13:03:11 · answer #3 · answered by Krista 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you're using Windows XP, it may or may not.
If you get a HAL.dll error, install another windows xp on the same computer in another partition and copy it from D:\Windows\System32 and to your original windows folder.
2007-01-13 13:04:54 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
odds are its not the same exact motherboard, all the drivers in your harddrive would be wrong,you need to reformatt
2007-01-13 13:11:59 · answer #5 · answered by jlbudweiser 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋