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Retail Windows 7 reinstall needed after motherboard replacement?

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  • Motherboards
  • Windows 7
  • MSI
Last response: in Motherboards
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February 15, 2014 11:06:16 PM

I just got an FX-8320 and want to OC so my msi 970a-g46 was not going to work well so i bought an ASUS M5A99X EVO R2.0 and am wondering if i need to do anything before i replace my mobo or if ill need to do a clean install of windows. Considering it is 970 to 990 i cant see to much conflict but i was just wondering. I have retail windows 7 ultimate.

More about : retail windows reinstall needed motherboard replacement

a c 96 V Motherboard
a b $ Windows 7
February 15, 2014 11:07:28 PM

I did the Asus 970 evo to the Asus 99FX with no problem. Just plopped the new board in, and reboots and was fine.
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February 15, 2014 11:08:57 PM

getochkn said:
I did the Asus 970 evo to the Asus 99FX with no problem. Just plopped the new board in, and reboots and was fine.


Did you need to do the repair or anything like that? did you install the new mobos drivers before installing it or after?
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a b V Motherboard
a b $ Windows 7
February 15, 2014 11:24:58 PM

You changed brands, so will definitely need to systematically install all of the newest drivers if you are going to attempt to swap boards without re-installing W7. It would be better if you did a clean install of the OS and then install all of the newest drivers. Windows has default drivers for nearly every MB that will work well enough to allow you to update them with the more appropriate model specific drivers. After you install the MB drivers, make sure you install Asus's AI suite. You may be aware of the TPU software. It will allow you to do all your OCing in windows with simple sliders. It has testing software that will OC at two levels and show you all the changes it made and then you can systematically increase the values from there. I have the older M5A99X and frequently switch back and forth between the EPU and TPU modes, efficiency and OCing, without ever having to go to the BIOS. The whole suite has fan settings and profiles along with all the typical voltage, temp and fan speed info in one small gadget. Pretty cool!
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February 15, 2014 11:48:07 PM

avjguy2362 said:
You changed brands, so will definitely need to systematically install all of the newest drivers if you are going to attempt to swap boards without re-installing W7. It would be better if you did a clean install of the OS and then install all of the newest drivers. Windows has default drivers for nearly every MB that will work well enough to allow you to update them with the more appropriate model specific drivers. After you install the MB drivers, make sure you install Asus's AI suite. You may be aware of the TPU software. It will allow you to do all your OCing in windows with simple sliders. It has testing software that will OC at two levels and show you all the changes it made and then you can systematically increase the values from there. I have the older M5A99X and frequently switch back and forth between the EPU and TPU modes, efficiency and OCing, without ever having to go to the BIOS. The whole suite has fan settings and profiles along with all the typical voltage, temp and fan speed info in one small gadget. Pretty cool!


That sounds great! What do you mean systematically install new drivers?
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a b V Motherboard
a b $ Windows 7
February 16, 2014 12:06:51 AM

you know,you might do it without a clean install but,as you stated,you have a retail copy with key so why not cut to the chase and just do a clean install.back your stuff up and not worry about driver conflicts etc.
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a b V Motherboard
a b $ Windows 7
February 16, 2014 12:39:26 AM

Even with a clean install, you will want to install most of Asus's driver's. Go to Asus's site and look up all of the drivers and Utilities ( AI Suite has been updated many times ) for your MB. If there are multiple revisions of each driver, then make sure you have the newest driver as there is likely a reason why it was updated, to either fix a bug or have better compatibility with various other components. I always pre-download all of the the MB drivers and store them in a folder so you can quickly install any or all that you may need. Can't hurt!
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February 16, 2014 9:14:19 AM

If I'm trying to not do a clean install should I install the new motherboards drivers before or after I put it in? The reason I don't want to do the clean install is o have tons of games and things that I don't want to sort through
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a c 96 V Motherboard
a b $ Windows 7
February 16, 2014 10:02:33 AM

If you installed the AMD chipset drivers, it will have the 99fx ones there. There is very little different, and it should take no problem. I didn't have to do anything, I swapped the board and rebooted and started playing battlefield.

Normally if I am going to a new chipset like a big jump or amd -> intel, I'll do a new windows. My girlfriends pc I just built, she went from an Lenevo Dual Core Intel to a FX-6350 and Gigabyte 970 board, so ya, that was a new install.

From an Asus 970 to an Asus 99FX, it was fine for me. Very little difference.
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Best solution

a c 96 V Motherboard
a b $ Windows 7
February 18, 2014 11:37:57 AM

I would backup everything, then try the swap. If it works, you're good. If not, then reinstall windows and you have the backup already.

I know everyone here is chiming in from you should do this or that, but I actually did a 870 to 99FX swap 3 months ago and it was fine, so from experience over just guessing, it worked fine. I had all the latest AMD chipset drivers, etc, installed beforehand and I was playing BF3 right after the swap without an issue. It's not a big jump. Going from a Intel Celeron to a AMD, sure, it will need it, but most of the current 9xx series chipsets from AMD are nearly identical. It's not a huge leap.

Your old and new board both use the SB950 southbridge, so that won't be an issue and that is one of the biggest issues during a motherboard swap. They both use Asmedia 3.0 usb controllers. Both use Realtek 8111E chipset network chips. Both use Realtek ALC892 audio chips.

There is like 99% no difference between the main chipsets so I don't see a problem, and again, I'm going from experience of doing almost the exact same swap and considering the only chipset difference is the 970 to the 99FX, with the AMD drivers installed, it should find everything. The Southbridge, USB, Network and audio controllers are the exact same chips, so those drivers should already be installed. I see a swap and up and overclocking in no time without probably even needing a reboot.

Some people need to do like I did and look at the specs of the boards and see that every chipset is the same and make a logical conclusion that it shouldn't be a problem rather than just say, you need to reinstall without a reason.

Again, going from Intel to AMD or vice versa or going 4 generations back to a new motherboard, sure, I always reinstall because 99% of the time it's a bluescreen, but in THIS CASE, I'm willing to bet it will boot up fine and you won't have any issue. I could be wrong, but experience and exact same chipsets are on my side.
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February 18, 2014 11:57:15 AM

getochkn said:
I would backup everything, then try the swap. If it works, you're good. If not, then reinstall windows and you have the backup already.

I know everyone here is chiming in from you should do this or that, but I actually did a 870 to 99FX swap 3 months ago and it was fine, so from experience over just guessing, it worked fine. I had all the latest AMD chipset drivers, etc, installed beforehand and I was playing BF3 right after the swap without an issue. It's not a big jump. Going from a Intel Celeron to a AMD, sure, it will need it, but most of the current 9xx series chipsets from AMD are nearly identical. It's not a huge leap.

Your old and new board both use the SB950 southbridge, so that won't be an issue and that is one of the biggest issues during a motherboard swap. They both use Asmedia 3.0 usb controllers. Both use Realtek 8111E chipset network chips. Both use Realtek ALC892 audio chips.

There is like 99% no difference between the main chipsets so I don't see a problem, and again, I'm going from experience of doing almost the exact same swap and considering the only chipset difference is the 970 to the 99FX, with the AMD drivers installed, it should find everything. The Southbridge, USB, Network and audio controllers are the exact same chips, so those drivers should already be installed. I see a swap and up and overclocking in no time without probably even needing a reboot.

Some people need to do like I did and look at the specs of the boards and see that every chipset is the same and make a logical conclusion that it shouldn't be a problem rather than just say, you need to reinstall without a reason.

Again, going from Intel to AMD or vice versa or going 4 generations back to a new motherboard, sure, I always reinstall because 99% of the time it's a bluescreen, but in THIS CASE, I'm willing to bet it will boot up fine and you won't have any issue. I could be wrong, but experience and exact same chipsets are on my side.


Thanks yea i had mixed opinions and i saw that sysprep was a thing for it and didnt know if it was worth it. ill try to just do it and reply how it goes. The only difference i saw was the Realtek 8111F and Realtek 8111E on thos motherboards i have. I also saw you should uninstall all drivers before but i dont think i need to. THANKS again
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a c 96 V Motherboard
a b $ Windows 7
February 18, 2014 12:00:49 PM

You might have to reinstall the network drivers if they are E and F difference, may not, I thought they were both E.

The main difference that causes bluescreens during motherboard swaps is the southbridge. It tells the OS how to talk to everything else, hard drives being the one major thing. When Windows expects to access a HD one way and a new board uses a different SB, it can't access windows anymore and bluescreens. The SB950 is the same on both, and it should be fine.

Happy Overclocking!
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February 18, 2014 4:43:24 PM

I get the red error for cpu on the motherboard led and cant figure out the problem. I think i need to update bios but idk how if i cant see or do anything
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February 18, 2014 5:49:34 PM

Got rid of that but now I get a short blue screen when windows boots I can't tell what it is
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a c 96 V Motherboard
a b $ Windows 7
February 18, 2014 5:51:34 PM

Seems it didn't take it then. You had good odd's, but seems a reinstall is in order.
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February 18, 2014 6:17:42 PM

can't even boot from USB without it blue screeninh
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February 18, 2014 6:24:07 PM

Finally got to be able to. Should I do an upgrade? Would that wipe drivers and keep data?
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February 18, 2014 6:31:34 PM

Did a clean install thanks for all your help unfortunately I couldn't keep it but I have it all backed up so its all good, dumb question but since I backed up my whole c drive can I copy and paste over everything to get it all how it was or no
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