Motherboard Upgrade Precautions

I currently have a motherboard that doesnt support AGP 8X. I want to upgrade it is to a motherboard that can. What i want to do is upgrade the Mobo and leaving everything i have right now in place except the current mobo. So please tell me what should i do before i upgrade the motherboard because i dont want to lose anything on my harddrive.

The motherboard i am upgrading with is a ECS K7S7AG
http://www.ecsusa.com/products/k7s7ag_v5.html

thanks

 

You don't say which HDD you have, but this is a good reason for partitioning or a second HDD.

This would be a good time to invest in another drive, onto which you can install XP if it chokes as Steve said. That way you don't have to worry about losing any data. I'd disconnect the old drive if it won't boot XP, while installing XP on the new. Then reconnect and there shouldnt be any problem accessing data.

 

Well it seems i do have 2 hard drives

Maxtor-80 GB Primary
Quantum-13 GB Slave

The maxtor one has Windows Xp on it. the other hard drive is Backup adn has Windows ME installed on it.

 

How about i do this.

I will backup all the information i have to the slave drive i have and then format the primary drive. I will then unscrew my computer open and take out the slave drive and leave the primary drive in. i will then put in the mobo i want and then fresh install windows Xp again.

 

You have several options then. The 13GB is large enough to hold XP if it chokes after the new mobo is in place. You could just move all the data from it to the big drive.
I'd go for it.

We crossed in the mail.
Before you do anything to the drives, do the mobo and see if XP really does choke. If not, you've saved yourself lots of trouble. Well, on second thought, prepare for the worst by moving data off the drive you may be installing to.

 

Ok ill try it in a week or so and see if it works.

i bought it off ebay today for $25 including shipping.

 

Be sure to let us know how it goes - to benefit others who might try the same thing. Even me!

 

ok i Will.

Thanks for all the help!

 

Make a GHOST of the existing installation. These things can be done. But sometimes it takes a few tries.

From what I've read, you do a REPAIR installation IMMEDIATELY upon boot up. That is, you have the the CD in the DRIVE ready to boot.

I used to do something similar all the time with Windows 9x. It was a bit easier and more forgiving. But I would always have a Drive Image Backup. Sometimes I would have to do it a couple or three times before it got straight!

 

MOBO It seems there are some preparations one should take in swapping motherboards and trying to move an XP installation intact.

Trying to get a 5 minute reacquaintance period for Widows to the new motherboard and everything goes on hunky dorey ain't happening. It used to with Windows 9x. But it's not that way with XP.

From what I gather from various sites, while your present system is still intact: TAKE OUT AS MUCH HARDWARE AS POSSIBLE. Whatever hardware that can't be removed, convert that hardware to GENERIC DRIVERS.

When you swap out the boards, boot up with as little hardware as possible. Remove all the excess baggage and go into the BIOS and disable what it not necessary for the initial installation.

Boot using a Repair Installation. After Windows gets settled with the new board, install all the hardware.

Here's a link to one of the things I found:

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=50009562&f=77909774&m=1400925745

 

OK. Let me sum this all up.

First I should make a ghost image or backup of my exisiting settings and info to my other hard drive. Then i should swap both mobo's and remove as much hardware as possible. Next, I should boot into repiar from the xp disc immediatly after the swap. And thats about it.

If anyone wants to add anything, please add to this because i want to have alot of confidence in doing this.

thanks.

PS- Thanks for the site.

 

assuming your using XP I have done this dozzens of times.

Replace the motherboard.
Boot with the XP cd in the drive.
Go into the bios at post and set the cd drive as the first boot device.

restart the computer and when you get a message to "Press any key to boot from cd" DO So

Go through all of the XP screens just like your going to do a fresh install.

Finally Windows will find the partition and give you a choice to "Press R to repair windows" or "Press D to delete partition "
Obviously press "R "

Windows will wipe out the driver data base and windows updates and reinstall
all of your devices including your new motherboard.
No data will be lost and you will be cooking with gas in about an hour.

Just remember..... go past the screen that says "Press R for recovery consloe" you don't want to select that choice.

 

ssmith10pn

I read this with interest and appreciate your instruction and confidence here - this used to be such a PITA with 9X and quite often resulted in a total mess even after killing all the "enum" entries. What you say re: this procedure with XP makes perfect sense and I'm going to try this as soon as I get the right opportunity to do so. Thanks.

 

We all have our strongpoints Rockster and I often look at your posts with great interest.
Thanks for the compliment.

 

Ok guys, i received the mobo in the mail today, with USPS priority mailjust for this, had to pay extra.

This is what happened. I did a bakup of my information and data just to be safe. Then i did what ssmith10en said to do and VIOLA! it worked. the boot was succesful. I went to windows update, downloaded all the updates and updated the bios. MAN it felt like your head was going to explode when going through the process. I was a bit scared because the chipset i had for my original board was VIA and the other boards chipst eas SIS and i felt windows would not find it compatible and fry itself. but it worked out just right.

Thanks guys for the help.

 

Excellent - Looks Like Stan's The Man!

 

Glad to hear some first hand on a basic way to get it done. The common thing I've found was that the new motherboard should be booted immediately from the Windows XP CD disk.