Reinstalling with a new motherboard.

[Ultragames]

Must you reinstall WinXP when you get a new motherboard? And why?

Thanks guys.

[JohnnyPotseed]

If it is a manufactured PC you may not have the option of replacing the mobo without a full installation disc. Many computer manufacturers such as Dell and HP have a serial number burnt into the MB and on boot the system looks for this serial. Repair wont work either. It must be from a full installation disc. This is a safeguard against Windows OS piracy and a royal pain in the rump. If you have a self built PC then it is possible to replace the mobo without a reinstall but the possible pitfalls with drive control issues outweigh a good old fashioned backup of important data and fresh install. JMHO. :)

[Ultragames]

I have all my program info on another partition. Could i just swap out mobos, and reinstall windows over its self? Or do i need to do a full reformat-reinstall?

[oracleguy]

Depends as JohnnyPotseed pointed out, is it a manufactured system or not. Manufactured PCs have the OS copy BIOS locked to only work with their stuff because of Microsoft licensing issues.

If it is custom built, I'd re-install just to be safe. It is just easier that way.

[Roy Sinclair]

For a self built computer re-installing Windows ocer itself will do nicely. For an OEM system, you probably don't have the right CD to perform that kind of fixup.

[liorean]

Windows XP will require a reactivation and a new licence if you do too sweeping hardware upgrades. And I'm fairly sure a motherboard+processor upgrade classifies as such...

[oracleguy]

Nope, not if he keeps his NIC, audio, graphics card, and hard drive the same. But the problem is that XP won't boot on a different mobo, so he has to re-install, which will cause the re-activation to come up regardless. But that isn't a big deal, you can activate it as many times as you'd like, just not like once everyday, I think the time span is 90 days over the internet. If you for some reason need to do it sooner than that, you have to call the 1-800 number.

[liorean]

That's funny. One of my friends got absolutely furious about that they wouldn't let him upgrade his memory. He inserted 512 MB more into it and it required reactivation...