I have posted this question before, but want to ask again.I have got 1 p4 2.53MHZ and a mobo MSI 648 Max. In my computer I havea AMD XP2000 and a socket A mobo from MSI. I am running Windows XP Pro.My question is if there are someone who have tried changing processor and mobo under Windows XP without reinstalling Windows. I mean is there a chance that Windows "take" the new hardwares without request for a new installation. As I have uppgraded the socket A mobo and AMD processor before without this request. But now I have to change from a Socket A mobo to a Socket 478. I have tried to look for some answeres to this all over the web, but can not find any answeres. Someone might have do the same replacement as I am going to do, or???.Hope there is someone that can help me. I have very many programs installed, so a reinstallation of Windows XP will take weeks to do.With best regardsSK985

Trial and Error? ;)Install the new hardware and try to boot, if it don't work, just reinstall XP over the old copy without format, you'll lose the drivers you had but have all the nice programs intact :)

Windows is on your hard drives - there should be no problem whatsoever. Just make sure you download the new motherbaord drivers and install them.

Yes, I know windows is on the hard drive, but have you tried it?????SK985

I recently replaced my motherboard....XP (Home) would not start after the change. I had to format the drive and reinstall.However, JOAKIME's comment about reinstalling XP without first formatting (if it doesn't start) seems like a good idea. I would go with his suggestion.Regards, Bob M.

I have replaces main boards (ECS to MSI)but both were running Athalon/Durons. At first I did get a BSOD (er stop code) but if you boot from the XP cd and make the motion as though you were installing XP, you are prompted with an option to repair windows.DO NOT USE THE REPAIR CONSOLE, run XP setup and have it repair.It worked for, but the standard disclaimer...your milage may differ.Kevin

>I have posted this question before, but want to ask again. >I have got 1 p4 2.53MHZ and a mobo MSI 648 Max. In my >computer I have >a AMD XP2000 and a socket A mobo from MSI. I am running >Windows XP Pro. >My question is if there are someone who have tried changing >processor and mobo under Windows XP without reinstalling >Windows. I mean is there a chance that Windows "take" the >new hardwares without request for a new installation. As I >have uppgraded the socket A mobo and AMD processor before >without this request. But now I have to change from a Socket >A mobo to a Socket 478. I have tried to look for some >answeres to this all over the web, but can not find any >answeres. >Someone might have do the same replacement as I am going to >do, or???. >Hope there is someone that can help me. I have very many >programs installed, so a reinstallation of Windows XP will >take weeks to do. >>With best regards >SK985 Since you are changing chipsets you will have to start from scratch. Sometimes you can get away with uninstalling all the system devices (CPU to PCI bridge etc.)and restarting windows, and it will ask you for the windows CD and try to load the correct drivers, but this does not have success when changing over to a completely different CPU and Chipset combo and I have not personaly done this on XP, only Win9X.You can Try as Joe suggested with an on top of install, but I have my doubts. I believe You will have painful trouble unless you do a re-install after your upgrade.

I have done it and here is how.I found out that there is a way to do this without reinstalling XP and it worked for me.After replacing the new MB, CPU, Graphics card and memory, I booted from the XP CD and started the setup.Do NOT take the "repair" at this stage, then after the license agreement chose the "repair installation".After XP is done doing it's thingy, I just had to boot into save mode and remove the graphics card, I then installed the new graphics card drivers and voila, everything with my software and old hardware is just the way it always was and the new hardware is as it should be. I had to reregister all MS office stuff etc., but that was no pain either.

I replaced two socket A boards with VIA chipsets (A7V333) with two Intel chipset boards (P4PE). In both cases, none of my best efforts could recover an operable system. In the end I completely reformatted and did clean installs. But if there's one thing good that came of this, it's that I've become very proficient with regards to reinstalling FS2K2 and all it's add-ons ;)

Your best bet might be just to plan on reloading XP and reformatting. Will work better that way anyway. But... you don't have to lose a lot of your info, just make another partition with PartitionMagic, copy your data and programs to the new partition, reload OS, reinstall the programs, then copy the programs and data to the new partition with the new installs.Bill

Hmmm... Interesting...I just tried to overclock my AMD 900Mhz CPU 2 days ago, before this thread and got nowhere!The CPU overclocked ok to the (initial) new freq of 950Mhz, XP started and stopped right at the user selection (I have XPPro and multiuser). Whatever I did, it wouldn't go further.It kept nagging about licence information and such...So even a higher CPU frequency may prevent WinXP from working. When I changed the CPU frequency back to the original 900Mhz, all worked ok.The repair sounds like a nice idea... I'll try it.Happy new year!George DorkofikisAthens, Greece

I am almost positive you have to re-install Windows when you switch the mobo and processor. I know you have to with Win2000 Pro and I believe it is the same way with XP.When you setup a new computer with Win2K and XP part od the install includes various settings for the mobo and processor that you don't actually take part in...it is all done during the installation. Not re-installing Windows could cause you problems related to the HCL (Hardware Compatibility List).I guess you could try switching out the hardware without a complete re-install but I certainly wouldn't reccomend it.Shane