Replacing mobo,dont want to reformat

[jose55]

I'm replacing my motherboard with my pentium 4 and getting probably a p55g pcchips or a p35 neo along with an e7400..I don't want to reformat,is there a way to do this?also,all my games are in drive e and os is in drive c,if i reformat drive c anyway,would all my games in drive e still work?i know its a lot of questions but i really need help,thanks in advance..

 

[4745454b]

Depends, whats your current motherboard? If you currently have an Intel board and get the P35, you shouldn't have any issues. (might need to activate some programs, but it should be minor.) If you currently have a via based board or something else, you'll have issue when its time to boot.

 

[jose55]

I'm not sure what's a via based board,but my current mobo is an intel d945gcl..btw when should i uninstall the current mobo drivers and install the new ones?thanks for your help

 

[4745454b]

Via is a company that makes chipsets, just like Intel, Nvidia, SiS, etc. If you have a 945 (Intel) board and switch to a P35 (Intel), you shouldn't have to reformat. Before you switch over, go to the device manager and remove the drivers for your NIC, Sound, Video, etc. All the stuff thats on the motherboard. Move the hardware over, load windows. It will load very slowly. It will install what drivers it has, but you'll probably have to use the driver disk that came with the board. Once thats done, you should be done.

 

[jose55]

thanks a lot for your help,by the way if i bought a pc chips p55g instead,should i follow the same steps?

 

[Shadow703793]

Via is a company that makes chipsets, just like Intel, Nvidia, SiS, etc. If you have a 945 (Intel) board and switch to a P35 (Intel), you shouldn't have to reformat. Before you switch over, go to the device manager and remove the drivers for your NIC, Sound, Video, etc. All the stuff thats on the motherboard. Move the hardware over, load windows. It will load very slowly. It will install what drivers it has, but you'll probably have to use the driver disk that came with the board. Once thats done, you should be done.

+1. OP should not have issues booting. But OP may need to boot in to Safe Mode for Windows to load properly and will have to install drivers in Safe Mode.

 

[4745454b]

I'm not sure what chipset a "pc chips p55g" uses. If its an Intel chipset, you should be fine.

 

[daship]

Dont hold your breath.

 

[pinaplex]

it's usually recommended that you do a fresh install if doing such a drastic upgrade like a motherboard upgrade. if you don't, your system "might" work, and even if it does, you might be plagued with slow performance and errors. if there's any way to reinstall your games and apps, it would be better to do a fresh install. if you don't then it's a crapshoot.

 

[4745454b]

^____ I disagree. I've done this many times, never had an issue. (windows, norton, etc will want to re-activate, but thats it.) The machine has never been slower then before I swapped it over, I've never had errors related to swapping. If you know what your doing, it can be done.

Installing fresh is easier. I'm not saying its not. But if you want to save all your stuff, it can be done.

 

[jose55]

alright,thanks a lot guys