Hello again!Last night I went off to my local store and bought myself the Asus A7N8X Deluxe - the one I had my mind on for a while.I've installed it, power on, POST OK. Changed some BIOS settings (FSB 100 -> 133, system time and CD ROM set as second boot device - all other settings set to default).Now for the problems1. I got to the Windows XP menu and selected windows XP home - no go - just a blank screen and automatic reboot. 2. I Selected F8 and safe mode start up - a few command lines appeared and then it froze when loading a file related to the VIA AGP driver. It then rebooted.3. Selected Windows Recovery Console - haven't a clue what to do here - typing 'help "command_name"' doesn't leave me any wiser. I type 'exit' and reboot4. So now the Windows XP installation CD. I booted from this, and got to a setup menu. 3 options - reboot, repair existing installation with the recovery console (activity 3 again), or (new?) setup.I read Gosta's advice of going for a 'repair installation' in reply to a post I made earlier. If I select setup here will I have further options to make a repair installation or will it proceed to format the drive without further prompts?Anyway, if I can get back to my current windows XP setup, that would be great - saves me having to setup my PAI schedules all over again!************************Overall commentsMy first time installing a new motherboard. I felt lots of reading left me better prepared for the operation - particularly on the matter of migrating the CPU. After installation of the new motherboard, the machine was powered on for about 40 minutes and the BIOS CPU temperature reached 55 degrees C - is this normal? I've used a Shinetsu thermal pad after cleaning off the previous pad.Anyway, any help much appreciated

Hi Anthony,this is where XP gets confusing :). There are two repair options. You came across the 'recovery console' one (which I never got to work). The other one will be presented after you select 'setup'. Don't worry, it will not reformat your drives, it will first ask you for the partitions to format, file system, and then ask, if you really want to do it. But there will also be the option for a repair install. It differs from the recovery console one, in that it will reinstall all Windows components, and not just fix broken ones. This means you may have to reinstall some drivers for your hardware, but all your programs and settings will be intact.Your CPU temperature is about normal - my CPU (XP3000+) runs at around 53-55 degrees Celsius, and it tends to stay there, even when the computer is running for a very long time.Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

>But there>will also be the option for a repair install. It differs from>the recovery console one, in that it will reinstall all>Windows components, and not just fix broken ones. Thanks for the info Gosta! If I have any more problems tonight, I've always got my trusty old celeron 300 to cry help with!>This means>you may have to reinstall some drivers for your hardware, but>all your programs and settings will be intact.That's not a problem, thanks again.

Good news, got back from work. I did the repair install - no problems! I'm now back.I only needed to install the N-Force drivers and reinstall my graphics card drivers, reactivate windows XP and that's it.After 40 minutes of testing, all my applications seem to work. I've rebooted a few times to check no instabilities were introduced from activities. I did a brief amount of playing about in fs2004, apart from recalibrating certain settings, it seems to be running fine.Well that was an adventure - lots of nervous moments! I feel that I've passed through some kind of "right of passage"! I think I can confidently say that I'm competent in most aspects of hardware upgrades now :-)As for the next item on my shopping list - I currently have a 300W power supply. If I upgrade to an Athlon XP3000+, should I upgrade the power supply on a pre-emptive basis? - or can I leave it until I observe any problems?Anyway, many many thanks to gosta for your advice and guidance - it was much appreciated!

Hi Anthony,although 300W is about the bare minimum nowadays, it will probably run ok. Having said that, problems caused by a power supply can be very hard to detect, unless the thing dies completely. If you do upgrade, make sure you get a good quality PS (Antec and Enermax are good brands, among others). Basically, if you have the choice between a 400W brand name PS or a 500W no-name one for the same price, go for the brand-name one.Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

Gosta, based on what I've read here and in a previous post, my understanding is this: If I want to pull out my current main board, CPU and ram, and upgrade all three, I'll have to follow the above method to get Windows XP to boot and recognise the new components (I'd be retaining my existing hard drive and case, etc.). Is this correct? I'd like to know because this will probably be the approach I'll use to upgrade the next time. Thanks.

Hi Paul,yes, if you change your motherboard, you will have to reinstall Windows (or do a repair install as described above). Changing just the CPU may not require a reinstall (it didn't for me), and changing RAM definitely does not affect Windows.So, as soon as you change the mainboard, you'll have to repair/reinstall Windows, regardless of whether you also upgraded other components or not.Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg

Thanks! I shall probably start looking around seriously at new components in another three or four months when my current system reaches its 2-year-old mark. It's been a great and stable system (Athlon 1700 XP, 500 MB, GF3 Ti 200), but, as they used to say to Scotty all the time, "I'm gonna need more power!"

Hi Paul,more power is always useful :). Now is actually a good time to wait a while before upgrading, as AMD have just released their new 64bit processors, so Intel are bound to come up with something to compete, so I'd say in 3 months' time there should be some quite impressive stuff around.Cheers,Gosta.http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxrebeta.jpg