About to install New mainboard.....

I'm about to put in a new mainboard and i am just curious about something before I do....
I've always been told to re-install XP after a new board is put in (I've always done this aswell) but I am wondering if it is possible to put in the new board and start XP in Safe mode then just install the drivers for the new mainboard instead of completely re-doing XP completely.

 

Not with XP but have put in a new main board in 2000 and gone straight to normal boot to install drivers. Main question is will XP allow CD access in safe mode? Can't remember at the moment if 2000 will or not. I know that 98 won't.

 

I'm not sure if XP will allow CD access in safe mode.... I am going to check that and see what happens.... However I think I'd try the "repair" option first... Besides if worst comes to worst, I'll just re-install.... Everything is already backed-up.....

 

In XP , the Hardware Abstraction Layer is tied to the activation code. Thus if more than a certain number of devices change, the activation will not work and you must do a repair install to rebuild the HAL and boot. In most cases a new motherboard exceeds this number.


Understanding windows product activation

Moving XP to a new motherboard