Quick question regarding VIA chipset mobo replacement

[HerrOber]

Guys.

Fried VIA KT600 (Northbridge) - VIA 8237 (Southbridge) mobo.
Alternative replacement available using VIA KT600 (Northbridge) - VIA 8235 (Southbridge) mobo.
Same manufacturer, same model - seems to be slightly different mobo version.

Question: Will system be able to pick up and run without Windows reinstall or something similar?
Last time I had to replace with different manufacturer and model VIA board. Windows was a little distrought and I ended up being forced to reinstall it from scratch.

 

[baracuda73]

It shouldn't cause any porblems but to be safe i would google a utility called sysprep which is on the win xp pro cd that wipes system info and allows to to move windows to a different computer without requiring a reload.

 

[HerrOber]

Sysprep is good. Used it at work since while back for making images.

The only trick is that the machine is dead now - found it liveless on the desk when I arrived from holidays...

Typical. Last time a Gigabyte mobo died on me when I powered down the machine. Now this mobo dies when it's being left on....lol..

 

[ChipDeath]

If you boot it into Safe mode the first time, and install the chipset drivers that come with the new mobo, it should be fine.

I've done that successfully a few times with much more drastic Chipset replacements (KT133 to KT333 for instance)

 

[HerrOber]

Great stuff, thanks for the tip.
Will post the results as soon as I receive the new Mobo.

 

[HerrOber]

Got the replacement mobo yesterday, but the system won't start.
Can't pinpoint what is wrong at this stage, so any comments would be welcome.

Occasionally, when I try to power on the machine, the cpu fan twitches. Reminds me of last year when my previous mobo died. It was exactly like this...

 

[HerrOber]

Did double check ram yesterday. Took out one by one (2 in total) and even tried without.

Friend just made a point that since the Mobo got 4-pin +12v contact aside from your normal ATX psu power contact, I should connect that cable also.
Kind of didn't look there even...

Will double check cabling and memory today again. Thanks for the pointer.

Just to mention, the mobo is ASRock K7UPGRADE-600.

 

[baracuda73]

Ya you wanna connect that 4 pin power, then you should be cookin.

 

[HerrOber]

No 4-pin connectors on the mobo, but the 13+14 pin shortening revealed PSU being unable to start. Case fan twitching like a dying roach...when I'm lucky..

Damned I hate this I-Tee case.

 

[sturm]

So are you sure the old motherboard was fried and not just the powersupply?