PCA Forums

hey guys, gonna put in a new mobo tomorrow...do i HAVE to reinstall XP if i swap? I understand that alot of drivers will be switched, and that XP will probably give me a blue screen. (At least 2k would)...

is there a way i can do this without having to reinstall, cuz that can be a pain...

Just do it right and do a clean install. It will save you time in the long run and your system will be much more stable. You might get away with doing it without doing a clean install but I doubt it and I would be willing to bet if it works at all you will be left with a buggy, unstable system.

That depends on the motherboards mainly. I changed from an epox to a shuttle and it went almost too easy. All I did was start the new mobo with just the video card. Let it install the new mobo drivers etc.. then rebooted. Be sure it was all stable then I added back in the peripherals one at a time. I didn't get any blue screens, lock ups are any hassles at all. Easiest mobo change I ever had and I think xp had a lot to do with it.

You may have to do a clean install. Depends on the hard drive controller.

The BIG problem with Win2K/XP is the "Inaccessible boot device" error.

This comes about because Win2K/XP - unlike Win9x - does not use DOS drive letters but the actual device address for the drive.

When you install a new mobo it's important that the boot drive's device address not change.

The problem is, since the advent of ATA100 controllers, the boot device address CAN change. For instance if your old mobo had a seperate EIDE and ATA100 bus and you were using the ATA100 bus for your boot drive, but now the new mobo uses a single combined EIDE/ATA100 bus, then the boot device address will be different. This is because on systems with seperate ATA100 controllers (even if they're onboard) that controller is usually treated as a SCSI controller.

This is why I recommend (ESPECIALLY if the system is mission critical) that when originally setting up the system you buy and install an add-on ATA100 controller like the Promise card (just disable the onboard ATA100 controller). Then if you ever have to change mobos (upgrade or mobo failure) you move the Promise controller over to the new system and the OS will see the boot device in the same address (usually - at least in my experience so far).


Here's what I recommend in your case:

Put some time aside for this - a LOT of time. Like a whole weekend.

First, MAKE A GHOST IMAGE of the boot partition first before swapping mobos! If this doesn't work, and the system is mission critical, at least you can restore it, put the old mobo back and give it back to him until you can deal with it.

ALSO make a repair disk BEFORE swapping mobos.

You're just going to have to try swapping mobos first and PRAY it works. If the current mobo has the boot drive connected to the standard EIDE controller then you should do the same with the new mobo and all SHOULD go well.

If it doesn't then try this:

Boot using the Win2K install CD (or the install floppies). If your new mobo has an ATA100 controller that requires special drivers to be recognized by Win2K (as most do), then you MUST have a copy of those drivers unzipped to A FLOPPY (must be on a floppy since you won't be able to access the hard drive).

First thing the Win2K installer does when it boots is ask you to press a function key (I think F6) if you have a SCSI or other disk controller drivers to install. Hit that key, and it'll prompt you to put the drivers in the floppy drive. It'll install the drivers and continue on.

When you get asked if you want to do an installation or repair, select REPAIR.

When it comes up with a list of repair options, put an X ONLY in the FIRST option (called something like "Repair Boot Sectors"). DO NOT SELECT ANY OTHER REPAIR OPTIONS.

This will (hopefully) setup Win2K to boot properly from the device you just installed drivers for.

If this doesn't work, you're screwed and you'll have to do a clean install.

Good luck.

Query:
"...and with the lifespan of current 3D cards, it's almost like two people standing in the desert arguing over who has the better looking ice cube."

is that talking about the actual hardware life/durablity or how often a card is changed to keep "up to date"?

thanks for the info FP

this weekend is exam studying and switching mobo weekend if the swap doesnt work, then i wont have a computer to distract me from my studies

Shadow: That was written back around the time of the Voodoo2 video card. It was a statement he made after a VERY long thread full of people arguing about NVIdia versus 3Dfx.

I thought it was extremely funny at the time, and still applies. I read it to mean that's it's stupid to argue about how good your 3D card is versus someone elses, when at the same time you're arguing about it both your cards are rapidly becoming obsolete.

I kinda like that quote...

my GOD!!!! I think I've become enlightened!

he he, it's a fantastic quote..
how old is it again?

That dates back to the 3Fingers forum on VE. Crap, that must go back at least 5 years or more.

"D"changed his name about the time the Voodoo2 came out, so the popular cards at the time of the quote were probably the Voodoo1, Riva128, and the Virge.

Wow,

I actually remember when that was said! You should have seen all the whiney children preaching which card was better and "my card is awsome, yours sucks" and "the voodoo kicks Nvidia's ass"! Those were fun days!

What ever happened to D though?

I remember seeing "D" on VE's forums within the past year, but there's nobody there now.