I'm trying to update my motherboard. Is it possible to move my current system drive to a new motherboard without having to re-install WinXP and all my programs? Thanks, Erik

It doesn't hurt to try it, but I've never had any success. If you’re replacing it with a motherboard that has the same chipset brand as the old one, you'll have a better chance of it working. Symbios

It is possible but can be problematic. The MBoard chipset and onboard hardware may be grossly different which can cause problems. There are two ways to address this issue. The first is to make a change to the registry. My mental block doesn't allow recall of what values to change. The second involves removing the devices related to the Mboard thru device manager prior to the last shutdown. Things to remove are all onboard hardware like Modems, Network, sound, video, USB and also most things listed under system devices. At some point in this process you may lose mouse function. Be prepared to exit via the keyboard. If you don't shutdown properly the removal process won't happen. Hopefully someone else can steer you to the registry key that needs to be deleted. If by chance the new MBoard has the same chipset or even just the same brand of chipset, you may not need to do all of that. If you switch from say Via to nVidia you will most likely have some isssues if you don't follow the above advise.

Don't forgot that this will result in your having to re-activate your copy of XP.

I've never been succesful doing it with an XP system. The registry Othehill mentioned is HKey_Local_Nachine/Enum deleting it remove all the drivers in the system. It works for win9X but has never worked in XP for me.

Bummer. I guess I'll just start fresh. That seems the safest thing to do. I'll just backup all the files. I need, and if programs need to be re-installed, so be it. Thanks.

Yeah, it's best to start over. It'll save you a lot of time in the end. Symbios