Motherboard Swap BIOS Version Matching

[BlueCat57]

I am going to swap motherboards between two systems that I've built. I would prefer NOT to reinstall Windows 7 (64-bit) on either system right now. I will do a fresh install on one of them in a month or so but don't want to wait to do the swap. (Longer story, Spring Break, etc) Yes the systems are ancient but they run fine. I need two PCIe slots in my HTPC for an upgrade. The HTPC has an SSD for its system disk and I will be adding a SATA 3 card for it and a new hard drive and need the second PCIe slot for the existing TV tuner. I will eventually go with an external TV tuner and when I do that I will put a USB 3.0 card in the freed up PCIe slot. I hope to get another 2 or 3 years out of these systems.

mobo #1 is an ECS G41T-M (v1.0) and is currently in a desktop for my kid. The BIOS is American Megatrends 080015 which from my research can be updated to version 100517

mobo #2 is an ASUSTeK P5N7A-VM Rev 1.xx and is currently my HTPC. The BIOS is American Megatrends 0519 and that is the latest version for that mobo.

In doing research it is recommended that if you are going to use a different mobo with an existing system drive you should try to make sure that the BIOS on the new mobo is the same as the old board's.

1. How important is this?

2. Is close good enough? It looks like 100517 and 0519 were published in May/April 2010. There is not a 0517 version for the ASUS board. 080015 wash published in May 2009.
---Side question: Is the BIOS for different board makers significantly different even if published by the same BIOS company?
---Side question: Is the BIOS more dependent on the chipset (G41T-M vs P5N7A-VM) or the motherboard manufacturer?

3. If close is good enough should I wait until after I've swapped the boards to update the BIOS on #1?

4. It looks like I can use AFUWIN to update the BIOS on #1. Is that a good way to do the update?

Thanks for your help.

 

[mbarnes86]

Hi
Have never heard of having same bios type or revision in different motherboards being important or possible

There are always risks in upgrading motherboards bios,
Usefull if you want to upgrade graphics card or cpu and upgraded bios required
Sometimes usefull when upgrading windows say going from XP to 7 or 8


What is important is either having same or similar motherboard chipset
And removing any drivers which have un install programs

And if different motherboard chipsets removing the mass storage (hard disk controller drivers ) from the registry
Look up fix hdc For win 7

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=20464

Regards
Mike barnes

 

[BlueCat57]

5 min to reply!!! What took so long???? (all sorts of smiley faces go here) Thanks for the answer. I'm heading out but will follow your leads when I get back. I think I saw reference to removing drivers so will be cautious of that.

 

[boosted1g]

Never heard of windows caring what bios version, where did you get that info? yahoo answers?

Ideally you want the chipsets (northbridge/southbridge) to be the same from board to board. In all reality if you are not swapping from amd to intel and not doing a large change (like a socket 775 mobo to a modern socket 1150) then more times then not you can just install the new drivers and windows will be fine.

 

[BlueCat57]

Well I've got everything running but Windows 7 Enterprise 64-bit won't start.

I checked with the local computer store and the tech I spoke with said that Windows is looking for a particular hardware ID or combination to prevent piracy and that I would most likely need to do a clean OS install.

Is he correct in his evaluation?

This doesn't seem quite right since I am using the same system disk.

The error message I get is:
Root cause found
Unspecified changes to system configuration might have caused the problem.

This seems to support the tech's answer.

I then inserted the System Repair Disk for that system with the old motherboard and did a Startup Repair which failed.

I tried a System Restore to a restore point from yesterday and that failed.

The next option is System Image Recovery which I doubt would work since what I have seen so far seems to support a hardware change preventing Windows from loading.

I am going to search to see if there are any workarounds but I'm guessing I need to put things back the way they were and see if the systems work.

I'm not feeling ambitious enough to try putting the other system together with the different motherboard. UPDATE: I did put the second system together and have the same issues. (See mbarnes86 comment about motherboards being too different and since this is sort of an OEM version it may not properly activate.)

I may just have to put the swap off until I'm ready to do a clean install of Windows.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[BlueCat57]

A ha. I think I may now understand mbarnes86 "And removing any drivers which have un install programs".

The questions I have now are:
1. How do I uninstall the old motherboard drivers before I install the new motherboard?
2. In Programs and Features there is a program called "Driver Install 64 bit", does that have anything to do with the motherboard?
3. Where do I get the drivers for the new motherboard if I can actually start Windows?

There are a couple of threads on "new motherboard, old system disk" (sometimes you need to enter the right search terms, when I was looking before I started this thread I must not have been entering the right terms).
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/42670-63-windows-boot-motherboard-bios
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/304001-30-bsod-motherboard I'm following two suggestions from this thread. First I'm trying to use the UBCD Fix HDC one. If that doesn't work I will try quenlin's method possibly using the instructions from the external link. UPDATE: I've tried both of these and neither worked.

I also found a couple from Microsoft:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_install/unspecified-changes-to-system-configuration-might/34f34556-e4d8-4db9-956e-a32b53d4209f
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-system/windows-wont-boot-startup-repair-failed-system/a399fe15-8309-4017-a167-2fa4bf937280

These seem to imply that if I boot with my installation disk and do something to the MBR that that might solve my problem. I'm still researching but will update whether I try this or not.

I'm going to try booting into Safe Mode but I doubt that will work but it was one of the suggestions I found. UPDATE: This did not work.

 

[mbarnes86]

Hi

I forgot to say if your Windows 7 on the hard drive is a OEM version (system builder etc) you wont be able to get it activated again so it would only work for a short time.

If it is a retail product then you can transfer Windows to a different PC and get it activated again.

But there is no guarantee it will work on a different motherboard with a different chipset and the recommendation is to re install Windows from scratch .

This assumes you still have the Windows & MS Office cd or DVD and all the other programs and spare time, which is why some people try to avoid re installing.

I would suggest you put the hard drive back in the original PC and see if you can start in safe mode, then if that works start normally.

ECS G41T-M Intel G41 chipset socket 775

ASUS P5N7A-VM - NVIDIA GF 9300 / nForce 730i chipset socket 775

It seems these chipsets and device drivers are too different to allow Windows to start up


best of luck
Mike Barnes

 

[BlueCat57]

I guess it is back to square one. I'll put both systems back to where I started from and see if I can get them running.

Then I'll do another inventory of the system drives for programs I'll need to reinstall. Fortunately I was planning a clean install on one of the systems anyway and the other system has an SSD which only has the OS and applications. All the data is stored on separate drives. So other than the long process of a clean install I don't have to worry about the data. I believe Windows Transfer does a good job of keeping the system settings so that should keep the graying to a minimum.

I hope this is all worth it since not only do I have this hassle I have the hassle of returning the SATA 3 card. It apparently is a PCIe x2 card (yeah, no one else has ever heard of that either) so I need to return that card and since I got a freebie with it I might need to return that too. Can anyone say RMA hell?

 

[BlueCat57]

Well I've got both systems up and running. I've added a 2TB drive to my HTPC and an old 320GB to the other.

I've decided to just stop while I'm ahead and not try to swap the boards since it appears that the G41T-M (v1.0) board does NOT support ACHI which would improve performance with an SSD. I'm still researching and it looks like I can use SATA mode but that is not as good as ACHI. Always learning. Since SSD performance was the primary reason for doing the swap I'm lucky it didn't work.

I have learned a lot through the process. I just wish I could monetize it. The best part is that my son has FINALLY shown interest in the hardware part of computing. I've always tried to include the kids in building and modifying their computers but they haven't really shown an interest. My son spotted the packaging of some high-end graphics cards at the computer store and that seemed to pique his interest. This is a very good reward for spending a day and a half working my way back around to square one.

Whoa! I almost made the same mistake again with another SATA 3 card. I spotted one while looking for another USB 3.0 card. This SATA 3 card also has USB 3.0 ports so I thought I could use it when I replaced my TV Tuner card. BUT it needs an x4 slot which I don't have. Oh well. I guess I just have to look forward to my complete system makeover in a couple of years.

Thanks again for the help.

 

[spooky2th]

You can try a sysprep before you switch.

To do this, go to C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\sysprep.exe, check 'generalize', select 'OOBE' on drop down menu, and 'Shut down'.

Then switch and boot, you'll get the 'out of box experience' screen, asking you to create new user account. Just call it anything and after that's done, you can log off and switch to your main user account.

Once you're logged in with your main account, you can safely proceed with deleting the newly made account in Control Panel > User Accounts applet

To clarify what sysprep does, it basicly gets rid of all platform specific data such as drivers and configuration files.


You will need to install the current MB drivers and etc again.