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Swapping Motherboards without a clean Windows install
I can't take credit for this guide- it was written by James M Daly
This is a step-by-step instruction pertaining to preparing
Windows XP for a swap of your motherboard without having to reformat
and do a clean install of Widows following the swap. This is for a
system with a PATA IDE Hard Drive as the system drive, there may be
further steps for SATA and I am not covering them here. I had no
problems with this method, the worst that could go wrong is that
you would have to do a clean install, but just the same please
understand, all liability is yours and not that of any individual
or entity involved in creating or presenting this how-to article.
It should be noted that while handy, a clean install is probable
always going to be the optimum answer to this situation if at all
possible. For me this was more of an exercise, to see could I do it,
and how would it work out, going from an i865PE board & P4 2.8C
to a VIA K8T800Pro board & A64 3500+? The answer is of course,
yes I could do it, and it worked out quite well. I will still probably
turn around and do a clean install, partly to remove any doubts of
lagging performance via this method (I currently see none), but
mostly because I love to tinker.
A large credit goes to “Hat Monster” and his excellent thread on
this subject at the ARSThecnica Forums, which can be found
here,
it clued me to a step I missed when I tried this a couple years
ago. I suggest you read the entire thread thoroughly. I have simply
done a more in-depth step by step for you, and corrected what I found
to be a missed command line in his after swap cleanup procedure, at
least as how they pertained to my Windows XP installation.
The goal of this exercise is to allow Windows to see the Hard Drive
via the new Motherboard’s IDE Controller, and to allow you to be
presented with video; Windows will take care of the rest. The reason
I would say this should be considered in the realm of mid to advanced
level users is because there are variable names of the items you want
to change based on the current motherboard, ask at 1PCBuilder or the
forum above if you need help finding them.
Preparing for the new IDE Controller
Click “start”> right click “my computer”> click “properties”>
click “hardware” tab> Click “device manager”>
Find the item “IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers” and click the (+) plus
sign to expand it (an alternate name for this item might be “Bus Master
IDE Controller”)>
Under the previous heading find the Controller that refers to your
motherboard (example: Intel 82801 Ultra ATA Storage Controller) and
right click on it>
Click properties> click “driver” tab> click “update driver”>
Select “Install from a list or specific location”> click “next”>
Select “Don’t search I will choose the driver to install”> click “next”>
Highlight “Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller”> click “next”.
When the Driver Update Wizard has finished you will be asked to reboot,
reply no!
Do not reboot at this time.
Uninstall Graphics Card drivers
Click “start”> click “control panel”> double click “add/remove programs”>
Locate your graphics card drivers and click “uninstall”.
When the Uninstall Wizard has finished you will be asked to reboot,
reply no!
Do not reboot at this time.
Prepare for new CPU to AGP Controller
Click “start”> right click “my computer”> click “properties”>
click “hardware” tab> Click “device manager”>
Find the item “System Devices” and click the (+) plus sign to expand it>
Under the previous heading find the item that refers to your motherboard’s
“CPU to AGP Controller” and right click it>
Click properties> click “driver” tab> click “update driver”>
Select “Install from a list or specific location”> click “next”>
Select “Don’t search I will choose the driver to install”> click “next”>
Highlight “Standard PCI to PCI Bridge”> click “next”.
When the Driver Update Wizard has finished you will be asked to reboot,
reply no!
Do not reboot at this time.
Just about there
You are for all intents and purposes done now, but if there are other
items that are on this current build that will not be replaced on the new
one, such as a sound card, PCI modem or PCI NIC then you might want to got
to add/remove programs and remove the software for them.
In the process, do not grant any reboot requests.
When you are quite sure you are ready, shut down the computer through
the normal Windows procedure.
That is “turn off computer” not restart.
Switch off and/or unplug your power supply and install your new Motherboard.
Powering back on
After you are done with the install have your new motherboard’s driver disc
on hand for when you need it. Power up, but do not let it finish POST before you
start hitting the Delete (or appropriate key) and enter the BIOS setup.
If you don’t know what you are doing at this point you probable need to ask
more questions before you perform any of the stuff written in this guide!
Do the usual checking to make sure everything is recognized; drives, memory,
CPU, etc. Set the system clock; disable any onboard audio device if you have
a sound card installed. When you are ready, save to CMOS and exit.
Before or during the appearance of the Windows desktop you may receive a
popup window asking you to reactivate windows, tell it you will do it later
(you don’t have an internet connection yet).
When the Windows desktop appears there will be a flurry of activity with
new hardware items being found one after another, just sit back and let it
happen, Windows will follow through and install the drivers for some stuff
automatically and tell you it is ready. When an install new hardware wizard
window does appear and remain on your screen prompting you for drivers from
a location just click cancel. This may happen several times, when everything
quiets down you are ready to move on.
Cleaning up
What we want to do now is clean out all the drivers for hardware devices
associated with your old Motherboard that are no longer present. I believe
this is an import step, and not getting it done correctly is probably what
screwed me up when I tried this procedure a couple years ago.
Windows has to be commanded to show you the non-present devices in device
manager, to do that follow these instruction, and/or refer to this
Microsoft KB article.
Click “start”> point to “all programs”> point to “accessories”>
click “command prompt”
At the command prompt type>
set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
Then hit enter
At the next command prompt type>
cd\system root\system32
Then hit enter
Note: The above term “system root” should be replaced with the name of
the folder where Windows is installed, in my case that is simply, “windows”
(without quotes).
At the next command prompt type>
start devmgmt.msc
Then hit enter
The device manager will open, and first thing go to the top and click
“view”, then click “show hidden devices”. You can now go down through the
categories expanding the lists of devices and you will see crystal icons
(semi-transparent), you can right click on them and click properties and
instead of telling you “this device is working properly” it will tell you
something to the effect of “this device is not present, error:45”. If you
have come this far through this guide I figure you are experienced enough
to know which devices relate to your old Motherboard and/or CPU, and you
will right click on them and select “remove”. You are quite likely to find
some in there for items you installed and then removed on your computer
ages ago. This is actually a good clean-up procedure even if you have not
just installed a new Motherboard. A note of caution even for the experienced
don’t take something out if you are not pretty sure what it is, I removed
what I thought was a duplicate driver for my sound card and ended up having
to reinstall the software (Creative Labs drivers suck).
When you are done return to the command prompt and type exit.
You are now ready to install all your new motherboard and graphics drivers!
When you are done be sure and re-activate Windows if you were prompted to do so earlier.
Good luck.
>James M. Daly
The information in this how-to is common knowledge.The presentation however
is copyright Daly Services Group, Inc. 2005 and not for display by anyone other
than 1PCBuilder without the permission of the copyright holder.
3 Jan 2005, Revision 1 (edit minor spelling errors)
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