Vista - What can expect when change motherboard?

If I decide to upgrade my present computer mainboard under Vista x64 will I
have to reinstall Vista and all present software? Or does the present
install can accomodate new hardware and CPU by asking for new drivers?

LarryC wrote:
Almost impossible to answer fully as I'm sure you already know but I
think you have to assume the worst, ie yes, and then hope for the best.
You will probably need to reactivate, probably by phone and I would make
sure that when you get hands on the new board you visit the maker's
website and grab all the drivers and stuff you can fins and copy them to
a CD / DVD before you even start.

If you have Acronis or something you may have an option to make a backup
that's less driver dependent but certainly do make a backup of some kind
in case your drive gets trashed in the process. Lots of things that
"Shouldn't" happen do

Good luck.

is it a retail copy of Vista, or an OEM?


"LarryC" <LarryC@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:60F00EAA-F1B7-486B-B10D-647AD26F2C8B@xxxxxx

If the new board is from the same chipset maker you might get away with it, but likely you will need to re-install. Additionally, since product activation generates part of it's hash from your currently installed hardware (specifically the unique ID all NICs have) you will likely have to re-activate. If this is you 3 installation in a short period you will likely have to re-activate by phone.

It is OEM.




"DP" wrote:

if its a retail the transfer should work just fine and hopefully nothing
should have to be reinstalled. but like the other person said expect the
worst just in case. if its an OEM copy then may not be supported. if the
transfer is supported on its own, the operating system will just detect the
new motherboard and possibly find the drivers for it on its own. then after
that it will ask for a restart of the PC.

i have done this kind of stuff to my PC before and it survived just fine. i
was running that PC under windows XP though and not vista so the operating
system might handle it differently in one way or another.

"LarryC" <LarryC@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:60F00EAA-F1B7-486B-B10D-647AD26F2C8B@xxxxxx

Hi Larry,

You'll need to reinstall to rebuild the system files specific to the new
hardware. Unlike previous versions, a Vista install isn't just a file copy
process but rather a block by block image is laid down to match the
hardware.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"LarryC" <LarryC@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:60F00EAA-F1B7-486B-B10D-647AD26F2C8B@xxxxxx

It will re-detect hardware, but if you are changing chipset families it can get ugly. I have found going from Intel to Intel or nVidia to nVidia works great, but going from say Via to nVidia, but out the prayer beads. Or course, your experience may vary.

Others can correct me, but I believe MS considers changing motherboards as
the equivalent of putting Vista on a different computer other than the one
it was first put on. With OEM versions that could be a problem since OEM is
supposed to be for one computer only.
You'll probably have to talk to someone on the phone and tell them something
that will convince them you had to change motherboards.
At least, that's the by-the-book rules as I understand them. Could be that
in real life MS is being more tolerant of such changes.

"LarryC" <LarryC@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news4E1D60A-55F0-49E6-81CA-EF1F4CD63755@xxxxxx

since it is an OEM. its just like getting a new computer. like the other guy
said "MS considers changing motherboards as the equivalent of putting Vista
on a different computer other than the one it was first put on." its not
really Legal to Put an OEM copy of an OS onto a new PC. however there might
be away around it, like if you need to replace the motherbload or something.

after you have installed the new motherboard, activate your copy of windows
by phone if you think it will fail over the internet. when you talk to them
about activating the PC and why, they are usually pretty understanding about
this kind of stuff.

"LarryC" <LarryC@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news4E1D60A-55F0-49E6-81CA-EF1F4CD63755@xxxxxx