New mobo/chipset require reinstallation of OS???

[Systemlord]

Hello folks. I recently had my Asus P5B P965 mobo die only after five months of use and someone said that I must reinstall my OS (Windows XP) when ever you change mobo/chipsets, is there any real truth to this or is this just a rumor? My replacement mobo is an Asus P5E X38, everthing else is exactly the same hardware.

Thanks for helping me out! Systemlord :)

[zanzabar]

its probly not mandatory but i would advise that u do

[xoqolatl]

Generally it's true, but if the chipsets are not much different you should be fine. nForce 680i to 965P required OS reinstall, but 965P to P35 didn't. Either way you will be better off reinstalling it not to leave old drivers and such.

[Systemlord]

Well what I can say for sure is that I just finished running Orthos blend priority 8 for 20 hours from stock E6600 2.4GHz to 3.2GHz @ 1.29 Vcore, the same setting from my Asus P5B. I have noticed that since I installed this new mobo things has been loading faster with more responsiveness that my P5B lacked, so just imagine what a fresh install of my OS would do. I used Crysis's built-in GPU benchmark @ stock 2.4GHz, did it @ 3.2GHZ with my 8800GTX overclocked to core 651MHz, Shader 1525MHz and memory 2000MHz. Here are the results, wonder how much more I can get out of a fresh install of XP? What can I really expect performance wise from a XP fresh install over the benchies that I have here? Don't forget to look at the avg FPS in both benches. Thanks for you help and suggestion!:clap:


http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/1630/12082007174149ym7.jpg
By systemlord (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/systemlord) at 2007-12-07

http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/9443/12082007171343qo8.jpg
By systemlord (http://profile.imageshack.us/user/systemlord) at 2007-12-07

[trowakage]

You don't need to format to reinstall or anything, just a repair install will do. That will clear out the drivers but leave your applications intact.

[Systemlord]

You don't need to format to reinstall or anything, just a repair install will do. That will clear out the drivers but leave your applications intact.

You mean the repair will just remove my older chipset driver, can you go into more detail if you please. Anyone care to get tech with me as I can handle it, my brain won't burst. :rofl: So at after I repair Windows XP it will show no drivers for my system like it was when I first installed the Windows the first time?

[Bl4ck^!]

i recently moved from i965 (ABIT AB9PRO) to P35 (MSI-P35 NEO2-FIR) and in Vista Ultimate i didn't need anything to reinstall ect. just installed Intel INF setup again and reboot , also i moved to Windows XP SP2 for testing purposes and also didn't need to reinstall, BUT you maybe need to do it when you used AHCI under i965 or any other RAID ect.

[Boogerlad]

so basically, if you're getting a new upgrade, just uninstall all drivers, therefore resulting in the use of generic windows drivers, switch hard drive, and then reinstall the new drivers for the new components?

[mutambo]

Is your OS an OEM version or retail full version ?

[Systemlord]

Is your OS an OEM version or retail full version ?

Its OEM and have already had to reactivate Windows XP having to input a new product key the MS gave me because I have had three mobo deaths. How many times can I format and do a fresh install of Windows before MS starts charging me money? How much new hardware can I add before... I don't know how it works at all, if I will need to purchase a hole new OEM down the road. :shrug:

[Systemlord]

i recently moved from i965 (ABIT AB9PRO) to P35 (MSI-P35 NEO2-FIR) and in Vista Ultimate i didn't need anything to reinstall ect. just installed Intel INF setup again and reboot , also i moved to Windows XP SP2 for testing purposes and also didn't need to reinstall, BUT you maybe need to do it when you used AHCI under i965 or any other RAID ect.

Question is how would one know that one was having a performance drop do to older drivers still in the HDD and have heard that sometimes Windows doesn't remove the older chipset drivers properlly all the time, I have heard so many different views that I don't know what to believe. I should just format and start over, right???

[disruptfam]

do you have to re-install if you get a new cpu???

[halo112358]

You don't have to re-install, however, re-installing (repair install) is the easiest way to migrate to a new system/board.

I've moved my current windows install from single core A64 -> dual core opteron -> core 2 duo on P35. The trick is to uninstall *ALL* drivers for your motherboard in safe mode (and I really mean _all_, including your sound card and nic) and then update the driver for your current HAL to "Standard PC."

Immediately after finishing the new HAL driver install you need to shut the machine down and *not boot at all until the new hardware is installed*. After all of the new gear is installed and your boot drive is attached you can boot and start installing drivers, it's pretty straightforward unless you miss a chipset driver, then you're likely to BSOD while booting and you'll need to do a repair install to fix it.

ps: if you change motherboards or chips and have to call M$ to re-activate then I hear that you can tell them you had to replace a failed motherboard. now I wouldn't do that because it's almost as dishonest as charging a customer for a new copy of windows every time they swap motherboards, but I hear that some people tell M$ that kind of thing every 6 months.

pps: if you switch from AMD to Intel *please* *please* *please* remember to uninstall all of the AMD processor software fixes, like the dual core optimizer and any CPU driver updates, I can't tell you how much of a pain in the ass it was to uninstall that stuff on my machine when I forgot about it and switched hardware.