will it work???

[Brozen]

I'm putting together a new system and i'd like to keep my HD the way it is. my question is will i need to reinstall XP when i get all my new parts? The new part are new MB, vid card, Ram, Chip

3200 amd
evga 7800gt/and MB combo (via tigerdirect)
1gb of ocz ram


many other part but i'm going on a 18 day so this is a short post sorry. any help would be helpful...... thanks all

[Mini-Me]

Yes you will.

There is not really any way around this, as you have changed so much of the hardware, and all the bits need their own drivers, and all the drivers on the HD from your old build will be for different chips and chipsets, and the machine will probably not even boot past the XP splash screen...(it will hang/crash)

If you try to load these drivers on the new board, with a completely different chipset, the new board will not thank you for it!!!

Hope this helps a little.
:)


MM.

[hockey man]

Is that a Evga MOBO? Is so check this out: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130238
It is a free eVGA nForce 4 SLi MOBO with the purchase of the 7800 GT by eVGA.

[Paul Komski]

After installing the new hardware do not boot to the HDD. Boot to the installation CD and choose new installation. The install should then detect the original installation and ask if you want to repair it. Agree to this. I have done this successfully in the past and if it succeeds (not a given) you will need to reactivate the repaired installation.

[Brozen]

this is the motherboardi got with combo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813188002

And if repairing windows is posible should i remove all drives for this mortherboard and vid card ? would that even help..?

[Sylvander]

When you move the HDD from the old hardware combination to the new, [as Paul said] you must not boot, but must run a Windows repair reinstallation.
The new hardware combination will be detected, drivers installed etc, and new settings added to the hardware tree in the registry. That HDD, with its updated Windows registry, will then be set up for use on BOTH sets of hardware and could be swapped from one to the other [the Windows installation would need to be reactivated each time you swapped it (if the change in hardware were great enough to require that)].
The disadvantage of this is that the registry is bigger than it would be if only set up for use with a single hardware combination.
When Windows boots it detects the hardware combination that is connected, uses the appropriate settings in the registry to set up that hardware combination for use [uses the appropriate drivers and configuration settings], and all is well and good.

If you wanted to avoid this and keep the registry to a minimum, you'd need to [before the change] backup your drivers and data files, reformat [or zero-fill] the partition, and reinstall Windows [and drivers] and all your programs, then restore all your data files.
I've often wondered if there would be a way to delete the part of the registry that holds the "Local Machine" hardware settings [and also the other configuration files], then swap the HDD to the new hardware and then run the Windows "repair" re-installation.
That would mean all the old hardware settings would be eliminated from the PC.
I wish someone who knew their stuff would figure out a method for doing that. :)