replace motherboard without reinstall windows?

[skyfish]

the replacement of my motherboard is going to arrive soon. I have been using my 'backup' board for a while. I am planning to remove all the items in the device manager before I change the motherboard, so the system will reinstall all for the new board after replace/restart. Is this plan OK? or I'd better to do a clean reinstallation and reinstall all the softwares for the new board?

by the way, the OS is XP.

Thanks

[EvilRick]

If it were me, I'd do it from the ground up. You'd probably be happier in the long run. Something might creep up later that you'd wished you done it anyway.

I vote reinstall XP.

[Daft_Ghosty]

depends.. but not likely.. esp if they have differnt setups.. u r likely to get a bsod on startup.. u could do that with the 9X systems but these nt os.. r pretty picky about changing the main board..

try it.. see what happens.. if all else fails.. just install over the top of the old one..


edit:
btw just did that same thing just a few weeks ago.. replaced my IWill kd266 with 1.4 tbird.. with a MSI Turbo2 with XP 1600+ windows bsoded.. I run win 2k.. which is the core of xp..

[chapmc]

I also would try installing over the old windows install. Backup first. If it doesn't work satisfactorily then a clean install is in order.

[Emc2]

I've NEVER been able to switch motherboards that were on different chipsets in XP. Over the summer I got 3 different motherboards in an attempt to upgrade my system...2 motherboards were KT333 chipsets, and I didn't have to re-install the OS, but when I switched to an Iwill board, I had to re-install.

[GroundZero3]

i vote re-install just to be safe

[skyfish]

OK, I will:

back up important data/bookmark/personal files first;

make a list of what software I am running;

remove everything in device manager;

replace the motherboard and restart;

if ( XP reinstall the devices)

...run system for a few days watching for any abnomal signs ;

...if xp runs OK

........I'm lucky;

...else

........clean reinstall OS; reinstall all softwares; restore data, etc;

else

...clean reinstall OS; reinstall all softwares; restore data, etc;

[PresterJohn]

skyfish,

do you realize that if you were still using DOS, you won't have to do much of anything...

your proposed plan looks about right.

[skyfish]

It is right. actually I dual boot XP and DOS on the other computer I have

[fyxxer32]

Start with a clean slate , it will save you a headache.