Motherboard Upgrade - should I reinstall?

[chaosmstr]

Here I sit on 100+gigs of various software that I don't really want to reinstall..
And normally I have been able to just move the drive to the new motherboard and it installs drivers and we're off and running.

Now, though, I'm going from Athlon 2500+ to an X2 4800+...
New MB, New processor, dual core.. etc.

Is this much of a change in core hardware going to cause XP to gag and I'll have to reinstall anyway, or is it robust enough to deal with a change to dual core and whatnot?

Conversely, if I do have to reinstall, how can I copy my drive over without overwriting the core OS files, yet not have to reinstall 20+ games and whatnot? Most of them have some sort of Registry entry and I can't just backup/restore the registry, cause then it will kill alot of the OS driver and hardware info.. won't it?

 

[edklite]

this method might work

The non-ACPI routine.

After you've cloned (not just installed XP) the old drive onto the new hd, install it in the old rig as the primary boot device; unplug the old. Then:

Find out if the new mobo supports non-ACPI operation. Check its' specs; almost all do.

If so, print this out - and good luck!

OLD SYSTEM
Remove and uninstall all the current drivers (video, sound, chipset, ide) from Control Panel - Add/Remove.

Find Device Manager (Start - Run - (type in)devmgmt.msc - Enter). Expand the Computer value - double-click ACPI Uniprocessor PC - driver tab - Update driver.
Choose to "Install from a list or specific location (Advanced) - Don't Search.
UNCHECK THE BOX "Show compatible hardware". Select "Standard PC". Click Next & OK. You will get a Restart prompt. NO! "DO NOT RESTART".
While still in D/M (Device Manager), delete the rest of the hardware whose drivers you didn't find in C/P relating to the above list only.
Shut down and do not turn it on until you've completed ALL the hardware swapping in the old rig; or installed the drive in a new machine.

NEW SYSTEM
Turn on and bootup. XP will load & redetect the entire hardware config. Probably will reboot a couple of times.

After you get a quiet desktop, Start - Run - (type in)cmd.exe - Enter

Type this in: set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1

Type: devmgmt.msc

View tab - Show hidden devices. The old stuff will have transparent icons.
Select, right-click and Uninstall all of these EXCEPT the ones inside "Non-Plug and Play Drivers" and "Sound, video and game controllers". Reboot.

Back into D/M - expand the Computer value. Double-click the first Standard PC - driver tab - Update driver. Choose "Install from a list...." - "Don't search....". Uncheck "Show compatible hardware - Select "Advanced....(ACPI) PC". Next - OK - Restart.

XP will now detect again. When done, reboot. Back into D/M - expand Computer - right-click Standard PC - uninstall. Reboot.

Back into D/M and get rid of the transparent icons again, as per three paragraphs above. Reboot.

Check the new mobo cd documentation. You may want to install all the NEW drivers again if that is part of their instruction for XP operating system.