MoBo/CPU swap – system seems stable – now what?

Factual Questions
1

Hi all,

I had to replace an Epox 9PNA+ Ultra, AMD 3700+ 939, and one G of Kingston Value RAM withan Asus M2N4-SLI, AMD 64X2 4800+, and two G Of Kingston’s Value Ram.

Wise or not, here’s what I did: I went through control panel’s add/remove to get rid of any device drivers I could find that would not be replaced (e.g., I had to add a sound card when the Epox board’s sound went south), and used Windows device manager to roll back every driver I could find to the Windows Standard. I then swapped out the hardware (sans sound card, the Asus has that onboard), and booted up. Beyond my wildest hopes, Windows XP (Professional, SP2) came right up without even a hiccup. All data, programs, and settings were as they were before I started.

If everything is all hunky-dory, why the heck am I posting? Glad you asked.

In prepping for this swap (which was done under emergency need-it-within-24-hours conditions), I came across several sites saying that to switch the mobo/processor I’d have to do a clean install to get things running, and several sites that suggested Windows wouldn’t completely forget the old mobo and I can run into problems. The system has been up for several days now, restarts and scans fine, and hasn’t given me anything to worry about—yet.

First area of concern: trying to install AsusUpdate, I get a “Warning: No ASUS motherboard. Installation will be abooted [sic] now.” Any thoughts? Procedures?

Thanks,

Rhythm

2

Did you not get a driver disc with the motherboard? If so, run it and install the Asus dedicated motherboard drivers.
Create a restore point first in case it doesn’t work as well as it might.

3

I got a disc with the new motherboard–the chipset drivers appeared to load fine. AsusUpdate is also on the disc, but its install program doesn’t seem to see the board.

4

I’ve done several motherboard/CPU swaps under XP, and most of them have worked without a clean install.

Several times I’ve had the same experience you had, I just had to load the new motherboard drivers and all was well. Several times I’ve had to load XP again, but loaded on top of the existing version (this only seems to work well with XP Pro). And a few times I’ve had to do a clean install.

I’d guess the last case (clean install) has only been needed about 30% of the time.

If the system is stable and working, I’d say go forward and don’t worry about it.

On the AsusUpdate, I don’t know. Have you checked to verify that the program is compatible with your specific motherboard and BIOS version? I’ve gotten drivers and utilities shipped with motherboards that were wrong for the board they were included with. Also look for BIOS updates for the board, or newer versions of the update program on the Asus website.