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My sons computer is about 4 years old. This last year I have replaced the power supply, hard drive ,and cd rom drive.
I would like to up grade his mobo (one with a pci-e slot) and cpu (intel dual core) but keep everything else.
Once I connect everything up and turn it on, will the computer boot off of the hard drive? Will the new mobo recognize the hardrive? I realize that I still have to install all the mobo drivers but will the computer function so that I can load the mobo drivers. The old hardrive has window xp on it so I won't have to reload windows, correct?
Thanks in advance.
If the old/new motherboards are similar it just might boot up--into Windows--without you needing to do anything else. Otherwise, expect at least a repair install after reconnecting the components.
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"This last year I have replaced the power supply, hard drive ,and cd rom drive."
What was the reason(s) for replacing all these items? Did they go bad or did you just wanna upgrade? If you didn't buy a decent PSU that can handle the requirements of a new board/CPU & PCIe video card, you *may* have to replace it again. A good quality PSU goes for at least $50, but $75-100 (before rebate) is more likely.
"The old hardrive has window xp on it so I won't have to reload windows, correct?"
Sorry, you WILL have to reinstall XP. The old XP installation is configured for the old system. Once the board is changed, that's it...the old XP install will no longer boot. You *should* be able to perform a "repair" though. Just make sure you backup all your important files before doing the board swap.
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I orginally bought the computer from cyberpower, OK systems but crappy PSU's. I wanted a decent PSU for video card but this mobo only has AGP slot. The hardrive on the old just wore out. I have a good PSU (Antec 550watt, single rail)in there now and everything else works fine but I wanted a new mobo/cpu combo, one with a pci-e slot.
When you say that i have to do a "repair" install, does that just configure windows to the new mobo, or does that reformat the drive, removing everything else on there?
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A repare install keeps all your files but will make the os bootable.
Make sure that the ram is supported in the new board - dependent on its age, it could be pc3200 and i've scene newer boards that only take pc4200 upwards.
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If your computer came with WinXP pre-installed you may not get Windows to run with the new board at all.
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The type of upgrade you are now contemplating looks more like a completely new system. You may be able to keep the powersupply, CDROM, Floppy and harddrive. You would obviously be replacing motherboard, CPU, RAM and Graphics card. ( all the expensive bits)
It is guaranteed you will have to do at least a Repair instal of XP and you have to have an XP Instal CD ( Not a recovery disk) to do this. Note also that if your Son has installed any service pack ( SP2 or SP3) that was not incorporated in the instal disk, then you will need to create a slipstreamed instal disk in order to do the "Repair" instal. Otherwise you will get an error message that the version you are trying to instal is older than the one on file and you would be left with only an option to format.Goin' Fishin' (Some day)
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Othehill makes a good point, before purchasing your new board, you should try to find out if your xp disk is a oem or a retail disk; you want it to be retail.
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Good advice all the way around. When I replaced the hardrive a few months ago I used a recovery disk Cyberpower provided with the purchase, this reinstalled windows completly on the new hardrive. Am I correct in assuming that this disk would has a full version of windows on it, so i could use this for the repair install?
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That disk is most likely keyed to the Motherboard model. When you replace it the CD will not work anymore.
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