windows xp?

Apium · Post by **Apium** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 3:56 pm

okay so once my new motherboard is in, how do i reinstall windows xp? I don't have a cd because windows just came installed on the computer. As a legal owner of windows xp I'm going to be fucking pissed if I have to spend 90 dollars on a new windows xp cd.

Dragonus · Post by **Dragonus** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 4:51 pm

-_-' i do believe windows is installed on ur HD not motherboard
ur gonna have to change some of the bios settings i think and dat is all

Apium · Post by **Apium** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 4:55 pm

Dragonus wrote:-_-' i do believe windows is installed on ur HD not motherboard
ur gonna have to change some of the bios settings i think and dat is all

i know ive just seen it suggested several times that windows needs to be reinstalled with the new motherboard. Something about windows not liking the motherboard being changed or some such thing. Using windows repair/reconfigure thing seems much better than me attempting to change BIOS settings.

Dragonus · Post by **Dragonus** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 5:05 pm

hmm never heard of that.. but it is annoying wen the pc comp doesnt give u the windows cd which i do believe they HAVE! to. guess ul have to wait for monthigos to post.

lol is windows the only "legal" thing u have =D

any idea how much vista is going to cost? since i am a illegal xp user i will just get vista instead of wasting $ on xp

Kurke_Aumea · Post by **Kurke_Aumea** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 5:37 pm

Apium wrote:
Dragonus wrote:-_-' i do believe windows is installed on ur HD not motherboard
ur gonna have to change some of the bios settings i think and dat is all

i know ive just seen it suggested several times that windows needs to be reinstalled with the new motherboard. Something about windows not liking the motherboard being changed or some such thing. Using windows repair/reconfigure thing seems much better than me attempting to change BIOS settings.

You are kind of correct in your assumption. Windows XP doesn't like anymore than five major hardware changes (I think it is five). Basically, you can only swap a hard drive with XP on it onto five different motherboards before you have to reactivate it. I ran into this when I was swapping my one hard drive between boxes a few times. I swapped it five times and immediately I received an error stating that I had to reactivate Windows. It was pretty painless. If I recall correctly, all I had to do was call MS support and supply the automated system with my product key. Since your copy of windows came pre-installed, then you should have the product key. In most cases, it is on a sticker on the side of your computer's case.

Now, if this is the first time you have moved your hard drive out of the PC it originally came in, I wouldn't worry. Just hook it up and see what happens. You shouldn't need to make any BIOS tweaks unless your hard drive is SATA instead of IDE. Just boot it up and you should be good to go.

I say should as in this line of work, I can promise nothing...

Apium · Post by **Apium** » Thu Jan 04, 2007 6:16 pm

I don't think I've ever had anything computer related work the first time, so most likely im going to run into some problems. Many of them im guessing.

and yes i found the product key.

If something goes horribly wrong then I'm assuming the MS can send me a cd, I think, I hope?

Leviathen · Post by **Leviathen** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 1:06 am

demand ALWAYS that whoever you get your computer from gives you the windows CDs and the driver CDs for all the hardwear on your computer >_< Nothing frustrates me more than people who want me to format their computer then say "CDs? what CDs?"

Kurke_Aumea · Post by **Kurke_Aumea** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 1:32 am

Leviathen wrote:demand ALWAYS that whoever you get your computer from gives you the windows CDs and the driver CDs for all the hardwear on your computer >_< Nothing frustrates me more than people who want me to format their computer then say "CDs? what CDs?"

Tell me about it...

And whatever you do, never buy an Acer computer... If you format an Acer, trying to find drivers for it sucks...

Monthigos · Post by **Monthigos** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 9:08 am

That's interesting. I've never been able to get a copy of Windows to work properly on a motherboard other than the one it was installed to originally. I personally would reformat and do a fresh install, to make sure there are no registry settings, driver files, and other junk that would cause problems later down the road, but that's just me.

Ironically it only took one motherboard change before it told me my key was expired (from a brand new copy of windows, never used on any other computer but my own). I ended up having to talk to somebody over the phone to get a new activation key.

Kurke_Aumea · Post by **Kurke_Aumea** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 11:08 am

Monthigos wrote:That's interesting. I've never been able to get a copy of Windows to work properly on a motherboard other than the one it was installed to originally. I personally would reformat and do a fresh install, to make sure there are no registry settings, driver files, and other junk that would cause problems later down the road, but that's just me.

Ironically it only took one motherboard change before it told me my key was expired (from a brand new copy of windows, never used on any other computer but my own). I ended up having to talk to somebody over the phone to get a new activation key.

That's strange. I took the hard drive out of my old Dell (which was already an upgraded hard drive) and stuck in my newer home-built PC with no troubles at all. There's no reason it shouldn't work, as long as XP has proper drivers for the motherboard and processor. I have an Albatron motherboard stuck in there and there were no issues with my IDE hard drives.

ogewa · Post by **ogewa** » Fri Jan 05, 2007 6:05 pm

ya i just had to do something similar after my gpu faild , i switch to an old gpu i had and after a few weeks i had to reactivate windows, if u have an internet connection you can activate it over the net saves alot of hassle.

Kurke_Aumea · Post by **Kurke_Aumea** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 6:03 pm

ogewa wrote:ya i just had to do something similar after my gpu faild , i switch to an old gpu i had and after a few weeks i had to reactivate windows, if u have an internet connection you can activate it over the net saves alot of hassle.

Yes, you are correct. However, when I had to do it, I didn't have valid drivers for the network card in the PC I was working on. But yes, doing it over the internet saves a lot of hassle.