Replacing my mainboard

[blueonblack]

I'm being forced to replace the motherboard on my system, and as many times as I have done this I've never done it without either building an entirely new machine or at least wiping the hard drive and reinstalling the OS and all the software.

I run XP, and the new board has a slightly different chipset than the old one. I've read a couple of sources that say I should do a repair installation before I let it try to boot. Can anyone tell me what the dangers might be when doing this?

My main concern is that the programs I have installed won't work after the repair installation, and I don't know enough about the more basic functions of operating systems to know if this might happen.

[SXRguyinMA]

you'll have to reactivate windows, but it should work fine. I used a HDD with xp on it to test a used mobo and proc that I got and it booted up just fine. it told me I had to reactivate windows because of the hardware change, but everything else worked great

[Trace]

You could also install the chipset drivers beforehand

[Kayin]

Pah. Google the ENUM key trick and replace with impunity.

Though if this is your AMD system, I'd be replacing XP with 7 for full support anyway.

[blueonblack]

I am happy to say that all went well. I didn't even have to go through the repair installation on XP, just booted to my normal boot drive and installed the drivers that came with the board. Running like a well-oiled machine. :)