Motherboard swap using existing loaded harddrive?

[Cybercraig]

Doing an upgrade for Mom with an ASUS A7N266/-E 1.2 Duron. I gave her an ATA-100 20gb Drive for her CompaQ 233 last year. Thinking about just wiping current drivers and sticking the 20gb drive into the new machine. No existing CD burner to save data files. Am I asking for it? I have never tried this without a clean hard drive before. OS is Win 98SE.

 

[Crashman]

First of all, copy the VIA 4-in-1 drivers to the hard drive. Then go into Safe Mode and delete every device from Device manager. Then change boards and let it detect the parts, load the video card as a standard VGA adapter or whatever comes up. Then load the VIA 4-in-1 drivers. Then load the video card drivers. Then run an install over for Win98SE.
Regardless of what others say about Win98SE being unstable, I have traced most of the instability to be VIA chipset specific. Guys who swear by VIA chipsets are mostly running Win2k or XP.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[jihiggs]

yea, do as crash said and you should be cool.

how do you shoot the devil in the back? what happens if you miss? -verbal

 

[Cybercraig]

Thanx, Crashman. The only problem is , "What 4-in-1 drivers?" There are none on the Asus disk. I wondered about this too. I cannot find them anywhere. Is it possible they are already integrated into MB? There is no mention of this in the Asus manual either. Anyway, I got it up and I have a couple of conflicts (resource) with ECP port and ACR-ASCH card. Win98 does not like this card. Cannot figure ECP out. Using IRQ7 and looks proper in bios. Why would a printer need an IRQ?

 

[Xaos]

The VIA 4-in-1 drivers are VIA chipset drivers. The reason you can't find them is because you have an Nvidia chipset on your A7N board.

Swapping a drive configured for a different computer into a new one--especially with different chipsets--is always a gamble, esp. with win 98. If the data is that important, I'd try to find a cheap burner or a second HD first.

Give me Convenience or Give me Death!

 

[Cybercraig]

Right you are. I loaded the Nforce drivers ok. I put in a burner and I will try to save data and start again. I should probably migrate this to XP also. I had nothing but problems with 98 and ME on my A7V. Nothing but smooth sailing for 6 mos on XP. I don't want to run over to Mom's every week for some dumb problem.

East or West, THGC is the best!

 

[Crashman]

Sorry, I was thinking of the A7V. You need the nVidia chipset drivers on the A7N, they are on the settup CD for your motherboard. Printer PORT normally uses IRQ7, it's been that way forever.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[Crashman]

Yes, VIA chipsets as used on your former A7V were responsible for many problems in Win9x. I would love to find out if your nVidia chipset offers more stability under 98SE. All my Intel chipset boards run 98SE without a hitch.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

 

[Cybercraig]

I'll keep you posted Crashman. I am going to try and deal with ECP problem first. It almost has to be the ACR card. I am just a sucker for Asus. Never had one of their MB's go bad. My old P-5 233 is sitting in the corner for emergency use. It will still get you anyplace you want to go on the net. Thanks for the info.

East or West THGC is the best