Is Windows reinstall necessary if MB replaced?

[CMBURNS]

At the beginning of May I built my system.

2GB DDR800 OCZ Platinum Rev 2 4-4-4-15
Gigabyte GA 965P DS3 Rev2
E4300
Freezer 7 Pro
Foxconn GeForce 7600 GT
Antec NeoHE 500W Power Supply
SAMSUNG|SH-S183L LS SATA DVD Burner
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA Hard Drive
Windows Vista Business OEM operating system

I put the system together, installed the operating sytem, and moderately over clocked it. The sytem ran fine for a week then one day I started the computer and it would no longer post. I have determined that the motherboard died and RMA'd it back to the vendor. I have recently been notfied by the vendor that they have shipped me a replacement board.

My question is would it be necessary for me to reinstall the operating system? Will there be problems if I don't do a reinstall?

 

[CMBURNS]

I'm hoping the replacement board will be rev 3.3. If so, is that enough of a change to reinstall the operating system?

 

[CMBURNS]

thanks mpilch. I'll post my results.

 

[tamalero]

I had no problems going from an ASUS A8V-Deluxe ( AGP, VIA chipsets ) to an A8N-E ( Asus, PCI-E , NVidia chipsets )

first boot will be slow, but once you install the drivers, everything goes back to normal, but note that I only changed the mobo, no cpu not anything
once my mobo as fully recognized, I pluged my new dual core chip to replace my single core one, and thadaah, everything fine
its still more effective to reinstall obviusly ).

 

[CMBURNS]

I finally got a replacement MB. Took the vendor forever. I am happy to report that they sent me v3.3 with the F11 BIOs. Put the computer back together and it fired right up into Vista with no problems. Did not even have to replace any of the drivers since v2 and v3.3 use the same ones.

 

[valis]

As long as you get the same board then you will be fine. If you got a different brand or model then you would have to reinstall.

i've never found this to be the case and i've swapped OS hard drives from one computer to another many times in the past. on first bootup windows will find all of the new devices and load the appropriate drivers, you may have to download some drivers yourself but i've never had to do a full re-install. i keep wondering why people keep saying this.

Valis

 

[sdrac]

What I've been told in the past is that although its not absolutely necessary to do a reinstall when moving to a new MB, its better if you do.
You leave around old registry entries, etc. which could concieviably slow down your rig to some degree.
I believe the part about the 'garbage' left around - not sure how much it could really slow you down though (I've seen no data one way or the other on that).

 

[curnel_D]

Most of where this myth comes from is people swapping out OEM OS'd hardrives (Dell, HP, Gateway) to new motherboards that dont have their bios. When this happens, it doesnt boot up.

There are a few times that windows has errored for me from mobo to mobo, but it's nothing a quick windows repair wont solve. Though honestly, I dont suggest at all doing that for a longtime repair. There usually tends to be errors over the windows repair mode.

 

[EagleTwelve]

Most of where this myth comes from is people swapping out OEM OS'd hardrives (Dell, HP, Gateway) to new motherboards that dont have their bios. When this happens, it doesnt boot up.

There are a few times that windows has errored for me from mobo to mobo, but it's nothing a quick windows repair wont solve. Though honestly, I dont suggest at all doing that for a longtime repair. There usually tends to be errors over the windows repair mode.

I'm a bit confused - have a question for you.
I have a fairly cheap HP computer, with a good enough HD for me to transfer it to a gaming computer I plan on building in two months on the ASUS Crosshair motherboard. The HP comp is a a1710n, and even though I couldn't find the make of the motherboard, I know it's pretty cheap quality(at least compared to the ASUS Crosshair).
I'd be doing so just to save from having to re-buy Vista.. saving 100 dollars would be great! Do you think I would have a problem?

 

[curnel_D]

Most of where this myth comes from is people swapping out OEM OS'd hardrives (Dell, HP, Gateway) to new motherboards that dont have their bios. When this happens, it doesnt boot up.

There are a few times that windows has errored for me from mobo to mobo, but it's nothing a quick windows repair wont solve. Though honestly, I dont suggest at all doing that for a longtime repair. There usually tends to be errors over the windows repair mode.

I'm a bit confused - have a question for you.
I have a fairly cheap HP computer, with a good enough HD for me to transfer it to a gaming computer I plan on building in two months on the ASUS Crosshair motherboard. The HP comp is a a1710n, and even though I couldn't find the make of the motherboard, I know it's pretty cheap quality(at least compared to the ASUS Crosshair).
I'd be doing so just to save from having to re-buy Vista.. saving 100 dollars would be great! Do you think I would have a problem?

Yup. When you'd first try to load up the OS on the new mobo, you'd get the windows loading screen, and then it would bluescreen, giving you an error. At this point, it would want you to reinstal the OS, or repair the OS.

Since it's a fairly new HP, it's likely it didnt come with any reinstall software, since they now put them on second hidden partitions on the hard drive. If you tried to reload from this, it would'nt let you because it knows that it's not being installed on an HP bios version.

Your options then are to either try to repair over it, using a spare windows xp cd, and using your OEM code on the side of your case. This method is a hit and miss, since I'm not sure if it will work. Either way, It is violating your OEM EULA that you accepted when you first purchased the computer.
Or,
You can try to reinstall completely after a full reformat with that spare windows CD, using the OEM code from the side of the case. Then when you try to install, it wont register with MS (I'm doubting the first method would either), so you'd call Microsoft and lie to them, telling them it's the original computer. They may catch on, they may not. And again, either way, it's violating the EULA.

If you want a good free OS, Linux is really your answer. It doesnt play some games, but with Wine you can play most games without a problem.
In this sense, you really get what you pay for.

 

[Ogdin]

Valis wrote:

i've never found this to be the case and i've swapped OS hard drives from one computer to another many times in the past. on first bootup windows will find all of the new devices and load the appropriate drivers, you may have to download some drivers yourself but i've never had to do a full re-install. i keep wondering why people keep saying this.

I've had poor luck with that,if the chipset is the same i just swap it out.If the chipset on the new one is diff i reinstall.