upgrading mobo

[pinoy87]

First off i will state my problem. The OS in my hard drive is Windows XP. This means i cant just plug my hard drive into another mobo. It wont run because of security reasons i believe. How would i go about installing a new mobo without formating my hard drive?

[wallie_x]

It most likely won't boot because of configuration problems.
A clean install is the most effective and least H/A producing method of configuring a new mobo. Leaving an already configured OS and transferring it to a new system is not worth the problems it is most likely to create.
It might be doable if your using an upgraded version of a same maker chipset, e.g. Intel based board to another Intel mobo.
I've never tried it though and would not recommend it either.

[dlh75]

You can back up the data. Do you have a cd burner?

[NoLimit]

I guess you can do a repair install. Just boot up with your Windows XP cd and use the Recovery Console.

[Buzioid]

How do you do a repair install??

[NoLimit]

Click here and scroll down to where it says 'Windows Installation CD - Repair Current Installation'.

[pinoy87]

how bout just installing the new mobo's drivers while in the old mobo then sticking the hard drive in the new mobo. Will this work?

[wallie_x]

pinoy87,
Are you going to transfer all your old peripherals to the new board?
If so, you will have to place them in the same PCI slots. You could try a barebones approach and see if it will boot, and then re-install your peripherals. However, even a version such as Win XP pro is very sensitive to BIOS changes and what not. On my machine I put a new HD as slave to transfer my existing files and Windows would not boot until I got into the BIOS to do a manual recognize and left the setting where the BIOS ID'd the HD.
If your just want to save your old files, why not partition your HD and transfer the files you want to save to the partition and then do a clean install. I don't want to sound overbearing, but wishing to proceed with what you have planned will most likely lead to some bitter frustration. If you could give us a little more info about your existing system and the one you're going to build; and why is it so necessary to leave your HD the way it is would be helpful.

[zidane182]

I fried a motherboard once and i switched it out and it booted win2k just fine and I didnt have to reinstall. You might as well try just to see.

edit: I tried it the oem method. I left all the pci cards out.

[pinoy87]

i am switching from a via km266 mobo with 3 PCI and 1 AGP to an nforce2 mobo with 5 PCI and 1 AGP. I got a 9700 pro, a tv tuner, a modem, and an audigy 2.

I wanna save my hard drive because I actually have 2 hard drives and for some reason with windows xp a two hard drive config is very sensitive and will only recognize when both are plugged in not when only one of them is. My second hard drive is all filled up and my main hard drive is 10gigs full. Both are 60 gigs. I dont wanna install everything again.