[SOLVED] What should I do after I replace my motherboard?

Poroto

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I'm getting a new motherboard sometime next week since my previous one is now bricked due to a BIOS flash gone wrong.

Are there any steps to be done after installing everything? I suppose I will need to remove my previous motherboard drivers such as ethernet, sound, etc and replace them with the new ones, right? How is all of this done correctly? Or should I just wipe my drive and install the OS from scratch and start fresh?

Im moving from a Gigabyte Z170 UD3 to a Z270X Gaming 5.

thanks!
 
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I'm getting a new motherboard sometime next week since my previous one is now bricked due to a BIOS flash gone wrong.

Are there any steps to be done after installing everything? I suppose I will need to remove my previous motherboard drivers such as ethernet, sound, etc and replace them with the new ones, right? How is all of this done correctly? Or should I just wipe my drive and install the OS from scratch and start fresh?

Im moving from a Gigabyte Z170 UD3 to a Z270X Gaming 5.

thanks!
I agree just clean install Windows will assure you it's OK.

But if you've a really complex set up and hate the idea of loosing your settings and customizations and reinstalling everything you could try try this. The first thing to do, of...
I'm getting a new motherboard sometime next week since my previous one is now bricked due to a BIOS flash gone wrong.

Are there any steps to be done after installing everything? I suppose I will need to remove my previous motherboard drivers such as ethernet, sound, etc and replace them with the new ones, right? How is all of this done correctly? Or should I just wipe my drive and install the OS from scratch and start fresh?

Im moving from a Gigabyte Z170 UD3 to a Z270X Gaming 5.

thanks!
I agree just clean install Windows will assure you it's OK.

But if you've a really complex set up and hate the idea of loosing your settings and customizations and reinstalling everything you could try try this. The first thing to do, of course, is take a backup just as you would before doing a clean install. But after backing up, uninstall all motherboard related drivers. Then swap boards and if it comes up in Windows great, you're half way there. Be sure to mount all volumes at the same drive letters as previously.

Then install all motherboard drivers (chipset, audio, lan, etc) do a repair install of Windows. That should fix up Windows to recognize all your new hardware and operate OK but DOES NOT uninstall any of your apps or change settings. Now use it for a while, if it works OK you're gold.

I've done this so many times when upgrading and swapping motherboards and it's worked over half the time. If it doesn't work virtually nothing is lost: just reformat and do the clean install as you would have before. Then recover data from the backup as you would have before. Nothing lost but a little time and if you're like me you'll spend at least that much time restoring backups, reinstalling apps and figuring out just what settings and customizations you lost to get as productive as before.
 
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Poroto

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"Or should I just wipe my drive and install the OS from scratch and start fresh? "

That's the one.
I agree just clean install Windows will assure you it's OK.

But if you've a really complex set up and hate the idea of loosing your settings and customizations and reinstalling everything you could try try this. The first thing to do, of course, is take a backup just as you would before doing a clean install. But after backing up, uninstall all motherboard related drivers. Then swap boards and if it comes up in Windows great, you're half way there. Be sure to mount all volumes at the same drive letters as previously.

Then install all motherboard drivers (chipset, audio, lan, etc) do a repair install of Windows. That should fix up Windows to recognize all your new hardware and operate OK but DOES NOT uninstall any of your apps or change settings. Now use it for a while, if it works OK you're gold.

I've done this so many times when upgrading and swapping motherboards and it's worked over half the time. If it doesn't work virtually nothing is lost: just reformat and do the clean install as you would have before. Then recover data from the backup as you would have before. Nothing lost but a little time and if you're like me you'll spend at least that much time restoring backups, reinstalling apps and figuring out just what settings and customizations you lost to get as productive as before.

Thank you both for the responses!

I will reinstall Windows from scratch just to be safe.

One question though, theres no harm in trying to boot my current Windows install with the new mobo to see if I need something backed up, right? No chance the mobo gets harmed in any way, right?
 
Thank you both for the responses!

I will reinstall Windows from scratch just to be safe.

One question though, theres no harm in trying to boot my current Windows install with the new mobo to see if I need something backed up, right? No chance the mobo gets harmed in any way, right?
No chance of that. But it seems to be kind of late to be getting a backup then, isn't it? or is the current board completely dead?
 
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Poroto

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No chance of that. But it seems to be kind of late to be getting a backup then, isn't it? or is the current board completely dead?

I mean the current board is dead, as in not even signal on monitor, so I cant do nothing till the new board gets here. But I guess my HDD should be good so my plan is to boot the current windows install, backup to a pendrive or something and re install Windows fresh.
 
I mean the current board is dead, as in not even signal on monitor, so I cant do nothing till the new board gets here. But I guess my HDD should be good so my plan is to boot the current windows install, backup to a pendrive or something and re install Windows fresh.
Ahh....ok...i guess then it might be a good idea to at least try and boot to the drive with the new motherboard. If you can get in and take some backups, you're that much better off.

It will not harm the motherboard.

Also, if your HDD is a data-only drive you don't have to reformat it at all. Reformat only the system drive, install the OS, then connect the data drive later to protect it from over-writing. Any apps installed to it, of course, will have to be reinstalled. Same for games.
 

Poroto

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Ahh....ok...i guess then it might be a good idea to at least try and boot to the drive with the new motherboard. If you can get in and take some backups, you're that much better off.

It will not harm the motherboard.

Also, if your HDD is a data-only drive you don't have to reformat it at all. Reformat only the system drive, install the OS, then connect the data drive later to protect it from over-writing. Any apps installed to it, of course, will have to be reinstalled. Same for games.

Yeey gotchu! Ill give it a go if theres no chance of harming the mobo :).

And yeah I wasnt planning to format the storage HDD, Im formatting and clean installing the SDD that holds my OS.

Thank you!