Switching motherboard and cpu

[PotisMan]

Yo.
I'm buying a Asus z97- A motherboard and a I7 4790K. And i was wondering if i have to reinstall windows 7 or if i just can remove the old ethernet, usb and audio drivers?

My current motherboard is a MSI 970A-G46 with a amd fx 8350 cpu.

 

[mbarnes86]

Hi

Is the Windows 7 Retail or OEM?
If OEM you will have problems preventing re activation unless it is a OEM Windows 8 which you purchased your self
(not earlier Windows or 8.1)

A fresh installation would be best unless the new motherboard had same chipset as the old motherboard

Going from AMD to Intel chipset is not a good idea

There is a high risk of a 0x0000007B BSOD due to incompatible SATA controller driver
unless the sata driver is ripped out of the Windows registry before transfering the hard drive to the new motherboard

There is a program Fix hdc on Hirens Boot CD or in ubcd4win project designed for XP but usually also works on Vista & 7

Google .fix hdc' for more information

regards
Mike Barnes

 

[turbopixel]

I made a motherboard change without Reinstalling Windows 7. But the CPU is the same.

I upgraded from (defective) Gigabyte H87-D3H to ASRock Z97 Extreme6.

First, I made markers on any SATA cable which SATA connection it used. Important is, if you had AHCI on while installing Windows, then you should turn it on too in UEFI (or just don't turn it off, unless it was off before). After connecting all cables (and the CPU), I could start Windows. But it hang on login screen. I had to use an old keyboard with PS/2 connection (luckily I had one around), because the USB driver of new motherboard aren't installed. Then I could navigate and used the CD with the drivers, installed them and deinstalled some software and driver and thats it for me.

Hope this helps, in case you get similar problems.

Edit: Ah and I almost forgot. While in the installing progress before starting Windows, I did an UEFI upgrade within the BIOS menu. That failed and luckily I have a dual UEFI system, where I can recover the UEFI. Otherwise, I had to send it back. So, unless you can recover your UEFI or is needed for CPU support or other important area, I strongly discourage you to upgrade the BIOS/UEFI.

In your case, you probably have to reinstall Windows, as you change from AMD to Intel. Don't forget to backup important data before upgrading.

 

[PotisMan]

Hi

Is the Windows 7 Retail or OEM?
If OEM you will have problems preventing re activation unless it is a OEM Windows 8 which you purchased your self
(not earlier Windows or 8.1)

A fresh installation would be best unless the new motherboard had same chipset as the old motherboard

Going from AMD to Intel chipset is not a good idea

There is a high risk of a 0x0000007B BSOD due to incompatible SATA controller driver
unless the sata driver is ripped out of the Windows registry before transfering the hard drive to the new motherboard

There is a program Fix hdc on Hirens Boot CD or in ubcd4win project designed for XP but usually also works on Vista & 7

Google .fix hdc' for more information

regards
Mike Barnes

My windows is retail so i guess i'll just do a clean install of windows so i don't run into any troubles. Kinda annoying though because i will upgrade to windows 10 when that comes out 😛.
Is there anything i should think of while reinstalling windows on a new motherboard? Just in case

 

[mbarnes86]

Hi

If you have good backups of your data you can try preparing in advance and transferring the windows & hard disk to the new PC

If it fails you can then do a fresh install formatting c: as you do so

You mentioned uninstalling all drivers from programs & features
Then use fix hdd or get sysprep to remove drivers
There are a few other programs which can remove drivers (usually not free)

Since you are using a new motherboard and new CPU you should not have to worry about flashing the bios as long as the CPU is on the list of supported CPU's

Start simply with :-
motherboard , CPU & heat sink / fan , RAM, psu and screen & keyboard
And ensure that is working well before adding graphics card
Then add hdd and DVD drive

Regards

Mike Barnes