New AMD64 and mobo....sorry im a noob!!!

You don't need to reformat, but I strongly recommend you to NOT install WinXP over your actual WinXP.

If your HDD is "FAT32", then boot with a Win98/WinME diskette and rename your actual Windows directory. Then, reinstall Windows XP on your system in a new directory, after everything is done you will be able to delete your old Windows and a "fresh" system without any format!

I can suggest you that having 2 partitions (split your HDD in 2 logical part) is always a good thing when it comes to system upgrade or reinstalling, you basically have 1 partition for Windows that you can wipe at anytime and a second partition for your programs, games and documents that you don't need to format when you do major OS upgrade, etc...

So, my recommandation for you is to backup your stuff on CD or DVD. Then partition your HDD (a partition of 10Gig is more than enough for Windows XP, the rest for your files, programs, etc...). Then install windows and you will never have any problem in the future.

<font color=red>THE FOLLOWING STUFF IS RISKY :</font color=red>

You can try to go into your hardware manager i n WinXP and remove all the stuff that is in it related to your motherboard and CPU, then shut down your PC, swap your hardware and reboot your "new system" and have your WinXP CD ready. This might work... But, this can mess everything too!!!

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A7N8X / <font color=green><b>AMD Sempron 2800+</b></font color=green>
Kingston DDR333 2x256Megs
<font color=red>Radeon 8500 128Megs</font color=red> @ C:275/M:290

I've had no problems at all performing a "repair" installation when making major hardware changes.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

The problem with having all your app and games on a seperate partition, and re-installing your OS is that a lot, if not all, of you applications/games won't function properly because of missing registry keys.

XP2800+, Abit NF7, 1GB Dual-Channel DDR333, ATI R9800PRO 128MB, SB Live! 5.1 Digital, TT PurePower 420W, Samsung 120GB, Maxtor 120GB, LG DVD+-R/RW, WIN2K PRO SP4

On my son's rebuild. I'd hoped to keep the old programs on there by doing a "repair" installation. Didn't work. It just kept rebooting and reloading and reloading. The repair would get to a certain point in the XP Professional installation and then hang. Finally had to do a clean install.

Kinda glad I did.

Da Worfster

If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.

I just went from nforce2 to nforce3 250. I have also changed from one nforce board to another.
What I did, was to go into control panel, then device manager. In device manager, I deleted all the drivers that related to my mobo. Then I shut down, and changed mobos. XP even loaded most of the new drivers, without incident. I upgraded them all anyhow.

Many apps won't work without missing reg keys, but most of the games will work

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Maybe half, if hes lucky....Speaking from experience.

XP2800+, Abit NF7, 1GB Dual-Channel DDR333, ATI R9800PRO 128MB, SB Live! 5.1 Digital, TT PurePower 420W, Samsung 120GB, Maxtor 120GB, LG DVD+-R/RW, WIN2K PRO SP4

I know it, but at least, you don't need to wipe everything and you don't lost your save games, documents, etc... by mistake.

I personaly have 2 HDD (my main HDD is partionned). It's the most reliable solution, I often backup to the second HDD and also on a DVD-RAM. And when I need to reinstall Windows for major hardware change, I only have to wipe my Windows partition and I have no worries because I know that all my important data is not on this partition.

By the way, another good trick is to move the default folders from the Windows partition.

Example :
"C:\My Documents" becomes "<b>D</b>:\My Documents"

So basically you end up with a C drive that is only containing the Windows folder.

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A7N8X / <font color=green><b>AMD Sempron 2800+</b></font color=green>
Kingston DDR333 2x256Megs
<font color=red>Radeon 8500 128Megs</font color=red> @ C:275/M:290