Thread: Can I Change CPU and MOBO while not reinstaling OS

On win7 you can....

Originally Posted by danimal

I want to change from a ATX to MINI ITX, the board i found comes with Intel Core Duo T2500 2GHz 2M 667 SL8VP Processor, though i was previously using a AMD processor, so I was hoping that i could switch over my HD with the OS instaled on it to the new board and CPU and be ok, then i thought, yea right nothings ever easy.

If you could help me out id greatly appreciate it.

Yes you can. It's a fairly difficult process if you don't know how to manually install drivers. However it's very possible and pretty easy if you do. All you need to do is install the drivers for the new motherboard before you swap them. The biggest one is usually chipset and drive controller, but I typically do it all. Sound, video, chipset, CPU, hdd controller, etc. If you can do that, you're good to go. I've done this process quite a few times when upgrading hardware in a server 2003 box, and a couple times with XP. The process has worked for me 100% of the time on servers, and out of the 7 or 8 times I've done it with XP I've had it not work only once iirc.

The biggest difference between windows and linux is that linux does this automatically. The drivers are all built into the kernel, whereas with windows it loads the drivers it needs during install and forgets the rest.

Also, sometimes the ENUM key has to be deleted out of the registry, reboot, and do a manual detection of hardware. This used to be THE way to do it in win98, but it works with XP as well.

Originally Posted by soundman98

ot question: what makes windows 7 different that would allow for that?

Win7 goes into recovery mode (not safe mode-its new to win7) if it cant boot and then fixes the install - updates OS location, installs missing drivers, etc.

Originally Posted by danimal

Thanks everyone for your quick responses, my bigest concern was going from AMD to Intel and the compatibility.

Thanks Tidder thats the exact thing i was wondering, Ill give it a go and see how it goes. That dose apply even if im changing brands of CPU as well correct?

Yes, about 4 months ago I upgraded my office server from a Pentium 4 based machine to an AMD Opteron + tyan motherboard with ServerWorks chipset. Was almost effortless.

Originally Posted by sharpmusic

you can strip the drivers using a utility called Universal Imaging Utility (UIU). I use it for my job. where I work as a Tech suppport person and what that program does is strips the drivers associated with a particular install to make it hardware independent. http://www.uiu4you.com/

Now that is AWESOME! I'll have to see about getting a free trial...