Replacing MB...reinstall Win?

A

Antonius

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 9, 2004
Messages
301
I know this seems stupid, but I have never had a board go out on me in 20 years, so I am not sure. If I replace my defective Asus board (fuck you Asus support/RMA), with a different board, will I have to format and reinstall everything on my drive? Or is there a way to get my HD to plug into the new board and continue working just fine?

I assume if I buy or replace it with the exact same brand of board it should work?
 
It will work without too many issues, but you will have to reactivate windows. However, The best practice is to do a clean install and start fresh. You can do it without a clean reinstall if you really don't want to do it and see how it goes. If it gives you problems then do a fresh install then.
 
Not necessary. It's recommended, but Windows 7 is very forgiving about swapping components. Only issue you might have, as stated, is reactivating windows. I personally have not seen any performance decrease from swapping motherboards.
 
Excellent. Thanks. The board is under warranty, but getting a hold of Asus is impossible, so I imagine getting an RMA is almost going to be more hassle than it is worth. Anticipating needing to just buy a new board.
 
That's odd, I'd usually heard good things about Asus. I had to RMA an MSI board, and the whole process took me like a week, and MSI is usually not considered as good as asus even on such matters.

If you swap the board with the same board it will be the easiest, but if you really don't want to wait then new board shouldn't be too bad.
 
I had no trouble without reinstalling. My installation is complex and it would have been days of work to rebuild if I had to uninstall. I went from an Asus P5B-E w/ Q6600 to an Asus P8P67Pro + i5-2500k. Things needed to reactivate (including Photoshop, and a couple of games but not all) but there have been no issues in a month.

Best results will be obtained by taking a couple of precautions, IMO. I posted and chronicled what I was doing here: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1604720
 
I went from am X-48/Q9650 to a 2600K/P67 board without problems.
 
I cannot even get a hold of Asus RMA. After calling a few numbers I finally got a hold of one where they told me they were busy and would call me in 1-2 hours. That was 2 days ago.
 
as long as you dont change chipset brands you can usually get away with it. ie intel to intel, amd to amd, nvidia to nvidia, via to via (anyone still use via?). when you start changing from intel to amd, or intel to nivdia (you get the picture) you will run into problems.
 
I sent the stupid board to Asus RMA after finally getting a hold of them and they now send me an email telling me the board is physically damaged and they will not fix it and want $250 to fix it. They attached some picture with a little orange tab pointing to the very edge of the board and it is pointing at nothing, at least nothing I can see. Supposedly there is some massive damage they are claiming, which is there is not. The board works FINE except for the top PCI slot, but the picture shows them pointing at literally a black section at the very edge of the board that shows absolutely NOTHING. That is the supposed proof of why they won't honor the warranty. After 15 years of ALL Asus boards and buying them for friends and relatives, FUCK YOU Asus. No more. I tried to call them and inquire about it and I got "we are busy, call back in an hour." Fuck you guys. I am done. Evga or Gigabyte, here I come. Give me some BS about non existant physical damage (there is no physical damage I promise you..I baby the damn things), and then try and tell me to give you more money than the board is worth, after I already spent $30 to ship it to you. Unreal.
 
if the chipsets are similar enough, and specifically the disk controller is compatible with the installed controller drivers, then it will work. you may get some ghosted network adapters, or devices requiring driver updates, and have to do a few reboots, but you should come out okay. that being said, I'd recommend reinstalling.
 
Yeah going to replace it with an Evga X58 board most likely...probably the FTW3 from the Asus P6T deluxe. Hopefully I won't have too many issues...other than the $$$ I am out.
 
I've done a board swap to an entirely different board in Windows 7 and had no issues. My experience with XP was not nearly as smooth. What version of windows are you using?
 
the major issue will be the storage device drivers.

Ever since Vista, MS changed the the dependency on HAL. you should be fine. this makes mobo swaps and imaging only about 1000x simpler and more successful.

even on XP, if you go with a similar chipset everything is usually ok.
if you go from 1 X58 board to another X58 board, and used the Intel ICH10 for storage, i dont forsee a single problem.

if you need help PM me. ive probably imaged 250+ computers in my lifetime.
 
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My experience regarding this board has been unreal. This is the review I posted on Resellerratings for them for this experience.

ABYSMAL. The ABSOLUTE WORST customer service EVER. After buying high end Asus motherboards for 15 years, I finally needed RMA service and I cannot even begin to describe the experience. I will NEVER EVER buy another Asus product of any sort.

I had a motherboard that the top PCI-E slot went out in, but the board worked fine with the other PCI-E slot. I finally tried to RMA it, and after spending HOURS trying to even find a functional phone number to get in touch with Asus RMA, I called. First a guy answers and immediately says "we are very busy and you can call back in 1 hr" and hangs up. I then call again and they take my name and say they will call me back within 2 hrs. 2 days pass and no one calls. I call again and finally get an RMA number. I spend $30 shipping them the motherboard to have them fix the PCI-E slot.

I get an email back from them a week later saying they will not fix it because there is "trace damage" and they include a picture with a little orange arrow pointing at the very very edge of the board. The arrow is pointing at nothing. I call Asus and I get the same "call back in an hour." I call 2 more times and get the same answer every hour, until I cut the guy off and tell him "you keep saying that, I want to know what is going on with my RMA." He huffs and puffs and tells me "well, we are a very busy company". I tell him "yeah too busy for customers apparently" so he sighs and tells me to give him the number. He looks it up and I ask him what the picture is supposed to be showing me regarding "damage." The Asus rep has no idea he says after looking at it, so he asks me to hold on. He comes back in a few minutes and rereads me the email that says "trace damage." I tell him that is a lie, because A) the board works fine other than the 1 PCI-E slot, and B) I baby the damn boards. He cuts me off rudely and says he will forward it to a supervisor and they will call me by the next day.

Four days later, NO ONE calls me, and I call back, and again get "call back in an hour." I try again 2 more times and finally I cut the lady off who answers and tell her "you tell me that EVERY time I call." She says 'oh we have no systems now and we cannot do anything." I tell her "you have been saying that to people for 5 straight days, maybe longer...you are lying to people." She just says "sorry thats what they are telling me to say." I tell her to send back my motherboard and she says they cannot do anything related to RMAs and have no idea when they will be able to. I have spent 3 days now trying to get them to return MY PROPERTY but they keep giving the same BS lie. Already ordered a new board but I want my old one back. Asus is a ****ing joke. NEVER EVER EVER again will I touch ANYTHING Asus related and I will tell everyone I know to avoid them like the disgusting plague they are."
 
Well, got my new Evga Classified3 X58 board and reconnected everything and it booted up the first time with no issues. Reinstalled the motherboard drivers, and reactivated Windows and done. Perfect. It has been stable and I was SHOCKED at how easily I got it working again. Bye bye Asus.
 
Well I reused my windows 7 install through 3 motherboards I think, 2 or 3 changes anyways. Most stuff worked, but some games(L4D 1 and 2) did not work. But yeah it should be fine :)

And awesome, another classified user :)
 
tricky0502 said:
as long as you dont change chipset brands you can usually get away with it. ie intel to intel, amd to amd, nvidia to nvidia, via to via (anyone still use via?). when you start changing from intel to amd, or intel to nivdia (you get the picture) you will run into problems.
Click to expand...

I went from an AMD Opteron 180 in an Asus A8N-SLI to a Core2Duo E6850 in a Gigabyte P43 board without any issues, back in June of 2007. So, it is possible :D
 
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