Major PC surgery

[JBird7986]

OK, so I'm about to undertake a major PC build process which is involving three current computers that the family is using and a brand new one ordered off of Newegg a couple of days ago.

Essentially what I'm doing amounts to a brain transplant. I'm moving my middle brother's CPU, mobo, RAM, etc. (everything except the hard drive and power supply) into my youngest brother's case, and then doing the same to my computer into my middle brother's case to make room for my new components. I'm just wondering if there will be any difficulties (other than video drivers if moving from ATI to nVidia and vice-versa) with motherboard drivers and the like. Thanks for your help!

 

[Acanthus]

Due to the difference in motherboard IDE/SATA controllers, a format of all drives is very likely.

Windows wont recognize the controller changes and will fail to load.

 

[ScrapSilicon]

edit your post and list the other system specs and versions of the OS ..gl

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Originally posted by: Acanthus
Due to the difference in motherboard IDE/SATA controllers, a format of all drives is very likely.

Windows wont recognize the controller changes and will fail to load.

Not true. I transplanted a system with IDE to SATA and it worked fine. If you have a board with an Intel chipset it should work. If he is transplanting from an IDE board to SATA board his OS is already on IDE it will load fine and install SATA after windows loads.

 

[razor2025]

Originally posted by: Acanthus
Due to the difference in motherboard IDE/SATA controllers, a format of all drives is very likely.

Windows wont recognize the controller changes and will fail to load.

Nope, not necessary to do drastic stuff like that. Formatting should always be last option.

Here's what he can do first:

http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/77909774/m/1400925745

The above linked method usually works if you have similar motherboard chipset. It might even work regardless. I would try this first, as it won't kill your data.

If the above method fails, simply do a repair install on your OS (I'm assuming Windows), you'll still keep your data around and all the installed program. It'll take sometime as it'll require install and patching of OS to its current status, but it's helluva lot better than formatting your drives.

 

[Acanthus]

Well from personal experience transplanting drives from Nforce 3 to Nforce 4 systems, and from I850 to I875 systems, you need to format, you get a BSOD on windows load for the unrecognized controller.

They may have improved windows and or the hardware to better handle this though.

(windows 2000 for both of those systems)

Edit: installing over the old OS isnt exactly optimal for stability and performance...

 

[VirtualLarry]

I get around the Windows' BSOD problem due to different/missing storage controller drivers, by using a PCI IDE controller (Promise Ultra133 TX2). That way I can migrate my Windows' installs from mobo to mobo and HD to HD, and they can still boot.

I'm about ready to do a similar transplant, from my KT400/XP 2000+ system, to an i865PE/C2D rig. Hopefully the OS installs (Win98se, W2K SP2, WinXP SP1) will handle the transition from Via to Intel acceptably.

(I also need to migrate to a 500GB Seagate IDE drive I purchased, but thanks to the amazing Norton Ghost 2003, that should be a snap.)

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
I get around the Windows' BSOD problem due to different/missing storage controller drivers, by using a PCI IDE controller (Promise Ultra133 TX2). That way I can migrate my Windows' installs from mobo to mobo and HD to HD, and they can still boot.

I'm about ready to do a similar transplant, from my KT400/XP 2000+ system, to an i865PE/C2D rig. Hopefully the OS installs (Win98se, W2K SP2, WinXP SP1) will handle the transition from Via to Intel acceptably.

(I also need to migrate to a 500GB Seagate IDE drive I purchased, but thanks to the amazing Norton Ghost 2003, that should be a snap.)

That is a good idea, you can use the cheap PCI controller for the transistion then install the appropriate mobo drivers and plug the windows HD into that. It should work fine as long as the old drivers are properly removed during the transition.