Mother Board Question

[fresquito]

I have a mother board that went out. My question is if I replace the mother board with one that is not the same model as the one that malfunctioned will my system still function properly or will I have some errors/diffulties. I am running Windows XP on my machine.
To make the question clear will replacing the motherboard with a different model one cause my operating system any errors or will my system work properly. Thank you for answers in advanced

 

[emoric]

Not your system... but your hardware. The mobo must be able to hold your cpu type, bus speed, ide or sata disk drives, ddr or sdr, agp or pcie, the list can go on. Ha, you just have to know what YOU have at the moment as far as your hardware components. As far as running the same install of Windows... there might be some conflict. I know for a fact the nice people here can give you some info on how to get past that.

Keep looking and good luck!

 

[dustyjay]

If you change your motherboard with one that is not the same you will have to reinstall windows xp. it is doubtful that you would even get a successful boot using the old installation of windows. And if you have an OEM system installation of windows such as from Dell, HP, Gateway, Emachines, etc... you will need to purchase a new copy of windows xp as well. The OEM license for windows xp dies with the first motherboard it is installed on. This is true whether it is a Branded Computer or a computer built for you with an OEM copy of windows installed. Further the Branded OEM Versions usually are sometwhat custom to the original system and will be looking for the same hardware as was installed originally. Like Chipset and such.

So to answer your question, yes youwill 99% surely have problems.

 

[Blackhawk1]

Basically the answer is "Yes, you can", but on the other hand "No, you can't". As Emoric explained, youll need a pretty much identical motherboard.

The mobo must be able to hold your cpu type, bus speed, ide or sata disk drives, ddr or sdr, agp or pcie, the list can go on.

Of course you're better off taking the motherboard out(if you havent already) and bringing it to some computer store so they can find the most compatible replacement. Or if you can handle the extra information currents look out the manufacturer and model of the mobo(it usually reads somewhere on the mobo with big letters ) and Google the model. If the motherboard isnt extremely old you'll find at least some basic info on it. Make sure to post the model and info here too so we can help you find a relatively replacing motherboard. On the hard drive I agree with emoric completely, it usually creates big problems, usually on the driver-level, when you transfer a hard drive to a new system without a clean format-n-setup.

 

[fresquito]

Ok, thank you very much for the input. To understand this correctly, I should not do it but instead go ahead and do a complete reinstall. Thank you again.

 

[brite750]

Ok, thank you very much for the input. To understand this correctly, I should not do it but instead go ahead and do a complete reinstall. Thank you again.

you can certainly change your MB, however you will most likely have to reformat and install your opertaing system, MB drivers, other hardware drivers, programs etc., if you have a branded big box pc ie Dell, HP, etc. then you will have to buy a retail or OEM version of XP Home or whatever.
Now if we knew what you have now we could be a lot more definite about an answer, If you have just a clone pc with a normal retail MB and you buy a replacement that has the same chipset, you may get away with doing a swap without reloading everything.

 

[Frank4d]

See posts #4 and #11 in this thread: http://forums.techguy.org/hardware/591516-hard-drive-swap.html

 

[frankjohn]

Question ?? Why cant he use PC RE LOCATER

 

[frankjohn]

OK I SEE his mb went out SORRY