Thermal Glue

What should I know about changing my motherboard?

I need to change my motherboard and am wondering what will happen once I change it. Will I lose all my information on my harddrive? What should I be aware of? What things should I keep in mind? Any tips or advice?

Public Comments

1. You will not lose any information on your hard drive, however when windows boots up the first time it will go through the found new hardware wizard many times to update the hardware database. Make sure your motherboard comes with drivers for the integrated systems.
2. Make sure ur board is compatable with the slots in the box. Have all the device drivers and other info ready before installing. Most motherboard comes with a CD and a manual. Just go through it, if it requires a series and chronological set up. i.e some device needs that x should be 1st, y should be 2nd , z should be third etc.. ur Harddisk info will not be lost. If u can get the hardware person it will be better, he will earn an extra and u will save ur headache.
3. When you change your MOBO you gotta be aware of whether all your current components are compatible with the new MOBO? For example: Is your processor going to be compatible? Is your video card running on AGP/PCI-E ? Is your memory module SDRAM/DDR/DDR-2 ? Is your HDD of type IDE/SATA ? Rest assured all your data will not be gone as long as nothing is done to the HDD. Before deciding on a MOBO to purchase, it will be best if you can decide on individual components first, e.g. Which graphic card are you eyeing for? If you want an AGP then you gotta look for a MOBO which can support AGP. The same goes for HDD.
4. Sometimes this will help stableize your windows when you move it from one motherboard to another. Before you even let windows load after hooking the hard drive to the new motherboard..... Throw the system into safemode. Once in safemode, go to your device manager and Uninstall everything you can under "System Devices" and "Universal Serial bus controllers" topics. These items are specific to the old motherboard, and you do not want them causing a conflict with the new motherboard. Also.... If you have a different video card on the new motherboard, then also uninstall the display adapter. If you used onboard sound on the old motherboard, then also uninstall all the Sound Devices under Sounds , Video and Game controllers topic. Only keep the devices that you will reuse on the new board in the Device Manager list. Once you have done all of this, then start windows in Normal mode. Your hardware wizard will come up and locate all these devices from the new motherboard. Don't forget to run your new motherboards resource disk. Good Luck
5. If you change to much your Programs and OS will be shredded. Look for system and driver hooks in ini, inf, pif, bat, exe, and dlls. Driver signing is used to verify. readup carefully! Tech.net is a helper. I use a new disk for new motherboard. Then you have a failsafe image backup and can revert back. that way you can reformat the new disk and try again if it's not the right flavor for you.
6. Actually there are lots of things to know. First, we will assume you know exactly what type of motherboard and CPU chip that you want to buy. Things to consider would be if you also need to upgrade your power supply. I would recommend around a 450 watts power supply for today's nicer motherboards. Also, I would strongly recommend you do a backup of your hard drive even though you shouldn't lose anything off your hard drive switching from one motherboard to another, unless something goes wrong. Make sure that your motherboard comes with a "very good" cpu fan (heat sink) and hopefully your new board will have extra fan connections for your chasis. Heat is a killer. So consider buying a couple of extra internal and chassis fans. You can also buy side-mounts where the fans stick out and don't occupy a PCI slot. And since you're installing a new motherboard you might want to consider upgrading your video card to at least a 128 or 256 megabyte PCI-E x 16 card. You will appreciate this very much and it will compliment your new motherboard nicely. You do want to make sure all of your old devices will work with your new board. And I'm assuming again you are buying new memory as your old memory most likely will not be suitable with your new board. Have on hand your Window's original CD and it would be wise to make some emergency boot disks before swapping out boards. Have any other CDs that might have drivers for any of your devices handy too. Your new motherboard will come with a CD and it's quite possible you will need to download a newer BIOS file and other updated support files from the motherboard's website. So if you know what board you will buy ahead of time, visit their site and download any new drives and put them on a floppy disk. Also note that often when you change your motherboard, or dramatically change hardware on your computer, that Windows might notice this and ask you to re-verify your Windows OS software and you will have to enter your registration information again. It's also possible after your upgrade that Windows might ask you to contact a Microsoft support center to verify. This is harmless, but a nuisance still. Ask the store where you will buy your motherboard what to expect and if the current version of Windows that you have is compatible with the newer board. Hopefully the CD that comes with your new board will take care of things, but if you get stuck boot up in Safe Mode and then start Device Manager to see what devices and what drivers are being used. Again, you might be upgrading those drivers to work with the new board. Make sure when you install your motherboard that you discharge any static electricity from your body. Touch a piece of metal. It's much better if you have a static discharge wrist band. Make sure your power chord is unplugged from the computer too. Also, make sure your CD player is working and that Windows can recognize it in case you have to boot from your CD player. If you need to change your CPU chip, then you will be installing both a new CPU and a new heatsink with a cpu fan. It's very important that you read carefully the instructions for doing this as most likely you will need to apply a thin film of grease, or thermal paste, between the top of your cpu chip and the heatsink. Make sure you plug everything in snugly. Make sure your hard drive cables are correctly lined up as they will have either a dotted red or blue line on one edge, so make sure that edge is lined up nearest the power cable of the hard drive. Double check everything. Leave your case off until you're sure everything worked out fine and don't tighten your hard drives down until you're sure all is well there too and you can boot up and see Windows again. It's really not too hard, but you need to be prepared in case your computer doesn't start. Other experts here can comment too. Good Luck and have fun!