Hi Robert, there has just been a thread on this topic.

Basically, there are a few things to consider. The first is the hardware
change itself. Windows 2000/XP is pretty good about detecting and
re-configuring the hardware differences (which with a MB change, can be
pretty significant since the chipset, PCI bridges, etc are all different).
One thing it doeesn't cope with is if the disk controller is a different
type. The kernel initially uses a simple method to load the files from the
boot disk (probably int 13), but for performance reasons, it loads the
native disk controller as soon as possible to continue with the bootup
process. If the disk controller has changed, then the driver it tries to
load will not work, and you will set a STOP message "Inaccessible boot
device", and it won't boot.

What my recommendation is, is prior to shutting down the old system for the
last time, you use the device manager to "reinstall" the disk controller
driver to the "Standard dual channel IDE controller". This should work for
most disk controllers, albeit not with the best performance. Now when it
boots up on the new MB, it should run and allow you to install the native
drivers.

Sometimes you need to do this with the video card drivers also, "reinstall"
a standard VGA driver before shutting down.

NOTE, after changing to the "generic" drivers, do NOT reboot on the old HW,
as it will simply re-install the native drivers, and you will have to
repeat the process.

NOTE2, XP activation is another subject. Depending on the magnitude of the
changes, you may need to re-activate. I am not much of an expert on this
though, I use Win 2000 at home, and at work we have volume licenses for XP,
and they do not need activation.

At 02:54 AM 2/24/2005, you wrote:
>Hello,
>I am preparing to replace the motherboard and CPU in a machine that is
>running Windows XP Pro.
>Is there any precautionary actions I should take to make this change run
>smoothly?
>The hard drive is 40Gb partitioned at about 10Gb for the O/S
>The motherboard, an Epox EP-8KTA+ with a Duron 1Ghz CPU and 384 Mb RAM, is
>being replaced with an Epox EP-8KRAI-X kt600 With a Sempron 2800+ CPU and
>512 Gb PC3200 DDR400 RAM.
>Any advice you have would really be appreciated.
>Robert Richardson

Russ Poffenberger
Credence Systems Corp.
[log in to unmask]

            Do you want to signoff PCBUILD or just change to
                    Digest mode - visit our web site:
                   http://freepctech.com/pcbuild.shtml