Replacing Faulty Mobo With Identical Model w/o OS Reinstall

[superstar_67]

My motherboard seems to be dying. It all started this week when my computer would just freeze or reboot while using it. I tried unplugging everything piece by piece to see what the root cause could be. Such as the following:

- Used a different psu

- Unplugged all pci cards

- Unplugged graphics card and used onboard instead

- Unplugged hard drives

- Unplugged disc drives

Now I'm bare boned with just cpu, ram, mobo, and psu. It's still freezing... Navigating the Bios works than bam, freeze. I have countless software settings that took me years to tweak. I totally never mirrored/mimicked these settings on my 2nd pc. I'm not worried about my data as all of it's backed up. I'm worried about the countless software settings for massive amounts of software I have installed. I can't redo the same settings on my new pc, I'll never remember everything...

So I want to buy the same identical motherboard and swap it without having to reinstall Win XP so I can get it all up and running again. I found someone on the net selling the same motherboard I have. All I have to identify mine is the model number and the information on two stickers located on my motherboard. He has the same model motherboard but some of the information on his stickers are different than mine. Does this matter?

Look:

The model info on my HP motherboard is the same [eg: Model D9820-60009 Made In Mexico, obviously different serial number]. Except mine says this change of information on the first sticker:

D/C: 0108
BOM R-02

& this on the second sticker [Bios version]:
IP.01.06.US

Does the change in info matter? I want to successfully swap motherboards without the need to reinstall my O/S, and don't know if these small bits of info are relevant or not when doing so. I don't think the bios version number matters as I can just upgrade it. But wonder what the heck D/C and BOM info mean or if it matters.


Thanks

 

[TheDudeAbides_99]

That is a Vectra VL400, that´s HP OEM part. Can probably grab one online for $100-150.

a quick search shows it going for 101 on ebay

D9820-60009 - Board System Vectra VL400

Hope it helps.

 

[JKatwyopc]

As long as the mothereboard model number and name are exactly the same, you should have no problem with replacing the motherboard and having it still work with your installation of windows. Windows will probably reinstall some or all of the motherboard device drivers but that won't affect the performance or functionality of your system.

I had to replace a mobo on an HP computer a couple of years ago. All I had to do was install it and let windows XP do the rest. Never had a problem with it.