installed new MB,without format on HD?

[sweeper2]

Okay, I have installed about 5 MB's now and have been told that i have to format my HD if i change brands of MB due to the bios. Well, after selling my ECS MB, I forgot that i didn't erase the drivers etc. Well, I bought a MSI KT4AV MB with a VIA KT400A chipset, totally different then other board. I put everything back together, set the bios for my cpu, then went to find old drivers for the ECS board and, can't find them??? so i install all new drivers for this board etc, get everything going and walla, it's running like a charm without formating? IS this correct, or will I run into a problem later on? how do i go about trying to find the old drivers if they exist anymore??

thanks

[bill1971]

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, Sweeper. I think it just depends on the board involved. I don't think the BIOS is a real issue.

You might want to check the Device Mgr., to make certain everything there is OK, with no red or yellow marks next to any devices.

As a general rule, it is recommended to re-format and do a fresh install of OS and drivers.

- Bill

[elroy]

I've accomplished this with Win9x but heard it is next to impossible with WinXP. But the re-install is the preferred method.

[Omardeth]

sometimes ya just get lucky

[John Prophet]

the bios doesnt really matter.....its the drivers and hardware entries listed in the registry etc.

usually with xp u would just get a blue screen right away

you didnt say which OS.....for w98se ,if it does act up at some point you can just install windows "over the top" by running the windows install from within windows itself etc...usually that straightens things out...for xp you would instead boot off the cd and do a "repair" (the 2nd 'R' not the first "R")

[sweeper2]

it is win XP operating system. No "X"s or "?" marks in device manager, everything seems to be working fine? didn't get any blue screen? when i booted up i just held down the del key and changed my bios settings for cpu to 133 for my 2400 and then it booted up? I installed all drivers from cd, works fine? Guess I shouldn't worry then.

[John Prophet]

dont worry, be happy

[sweeper2]

okay, i thought i didn't have problems, but for some reason, with all the overclockability in the bios, i can't seem to overclock my cpu anymore? On the ECS board, where i could only adjust FSB, i could run it at 145 from 133 (athlon xp 2400). Now with this MSI KT4AV MB with a VIA KT400A chipset, it seems to lock up if i put it anywhere above 135 ? Is it because i didn't do a format? I have run MSI boards before and they have run flawless and i was able to overclock also. I am not moving any voltages etc as i didn't with the ECS board. But if i try and set this to 145, it either will keep rebooting or will start and then run for awhile and then lock up. Any suggestions again?