Change motherboard, did I need to reinstall Windows 7

[Miharu]

Hi,
Few weeks ago, my old motherboard die.
I replaced it with a similar model.

Windows 7 has detected difference, removed older motherboard drivers and installed new motherboard drivers without any trouble. He just asked me to reactivate.

(In older Windows like XP... this mean a fresh install.. but since it's worked that great... I think Windows 7 support it right?)

But now, I see performance issue.
Flash running slow and game doesn't goes faster even if I changed the videocard for a 2 times faster one.
Games.. I have the same fps with the both cards (should be really different).

I just started to think it's related to "the motherboard change" or because I run every Windows 7 update.

So this is my questions:
1. Did Windows 7 support motherboard change like this ? or I was just lucky?
2. Did Windows 7 update could slow down my cpu than much (I don't have many program in memory... I keep it clean)
3. Can I just do a fresh install "formated empty hard drive" and reinstall Windows 7 with my current actived key?
4. Or there is a way to ask windows 7 to do a fresh install with my current installation ?

Thank you

 

[mister g]

I would do the clean reinstall and won't bother too much with the current installation except to backup important files. I don't have any experience with changing motherboards but I've tried installing Windows on one motherboard and switching the hard drive to another PC, Windows refused to boot up on the other one.

 

[MrBig55]

Indeed you have to reinstall the OS, no need to format the HDD just reinstall it. No need to backup anything. Anyways if you cannot access files after an install, you can just use a Linux live CD/DVD/USB to access these files without having to worry about access rights. (if you want to be absolutely sure you will be able to access your other media files or whatever, just make sure that "File Sharing" is enabled. Once it is, you won't have that problem at all.)

If you don't reinstall the OS, you have to know that there will always be important motherboard drivers that will be missing. That will lead to random crashes/slowdowns/incompatibility issues. Also you might not be able to use USB devices if things goes wrong. Better go the safe way and install a fresh Windows. ^^

 

[Miharu]

I figure out.

I'll answer my question just for you.

1. Did Windows 7 support motherboard change like this ? or I was just lucky?
Windows 7 support changing the hardware, no need reinstall since the complete disk is on hd. Incompatibility could occur, you just have to uninstall all previous hardware update and install new hardware (in safe mode sometime).

2. Did Windows 7 update could slow down my cpu than much (I don't have many program in memory... I keep it clean)
Windows 7 update could slow down a bit.. but not than much.

3. Can I just do a fresh install "formated empty hard drive" and reinstall Windows 7 with my current actived key?
I still don't know. I tried with Vista key... and he just tell me the key was used by another computer... the hick is just I switch harddrive for installing new windows on a new hd... it's the same PC.
I think you need to call for this (not cool).

4. Or there is a way to ask windows 7 to do a fresh install with my current installation ?
No idea. I think they call this repair and I don't know what this invoke.

Finally, I just tried a fresh install with Vista. Same problem. I tried OC the videocard, no result. So I figure out.. the MOTHERBOARD is the cupid. Even if P5QL/EPU support PCI-E 16x, he doesn't run it at full speed. Internal PCI-E bus is slower than 16x. I don't think there is a way to fix that, except replace the mb.

Thank you all.