pctechguide.com

  • Home
  • Guides
  • Tutorials
  • Articles
  • Reviews
  • Glossary
  • Contact

Motherboards and WinXP

Having looked at the installation of a new motherboard with Windows 98, at time of writing Windows XP was found to cope less well. In fact, the system refused to boot to the Windows XP environment, even in Safe Mode. This is not entirely unexpected, since Windows XP is known to have problems coping with a motherboard upgrade, especially if the new motherboard contains an embedded IDE controller that has a different chipset than the original.

Microsoft’s recommended solutions are to either reformat your hard drive and perform a clean installation of Windows or to perform an in-place upgrade (reinstallation) of Windows XP.

Since the procedure associated with the former has been covered in the:

  • HOW TO DO A CLEAN INSTALLATION OF WINDOWS 98
  • HOW TO DO A CLEAN INSTALLATION OF WINDOWS XP

tutorials, here we’re going to opt for an in-place upgrade.

Relevant Microsoft Knowledge Base links:

  • 316401: STOP 0x0000007B Error Message When You Restart Your Windows XP-Based Computer.
  • 315341: How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP.
  • 313348: HOW TO: Partition and Format a Hard Disk in Windows XP.

Since we can’t boot to the Windows XP environment at all, we’re going to have to do this by booting the system from the Windows XP CD-ROM. To do so, you may need to change the boot order in your system BIOS to ensure the CD boots before the hard drive.

Proceed as follows:

  1. You’ll be invited to Press any key to boot from CD. Do so.
  2. Setup inspects your system and loads files from the CD-ROM before presenting you with the following options:
    • To setup Windows XP, press ENTER
    • To repair a Windows XP installation using Recovery Console, press R
    • To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.
  3. Press ENTER.

  4. The Windows XP Licensing Agreement will be displayed.

    Press F8 to accept it.

  5. The system searches for previously installed versions of Windows before presenting you with the options:
    • To repair the selected Windows XP installation, press R
    • To continue installing a fresh copy of Windows XP without repairing, Press ESC.
  6. Press R.

  7. Setup examines your hard drives and copies files from the CD-ROM to the Windows installation folders and then initialises your Windows XP configuration.
  8. The computer restarts.

    Ignore any invitation to boot from CD, and Setup will continue as though it’s doing a clean install. Fear not, however, your applications and settings will be preserved!

  9. The system will again restart before booting to your repaired Windows XP environment.

    You’ll then be invited to register with Microsoft and to enter the names of the people who’ll be using the system.

  10. Before proceeding any further it’s worth checking Device Manager to see if everything looks OK.
  11. Windows

  12. Fortunately it does, even to the extent of the VIA AC’97 Audio Controller (WDM) driver being all present and correct!
  13.  

  14. That being the case, installing any drivers that came with your motherboard – the VIA 4in1 Service Pack Driver etc. in this case – is a matter of personal choice.
  15. Performing the Windows repair installation will, however, have lost any service packs and other updates installed via the Windows Update facility.
  16. The final step in the procedure is to reinstall these.

The chances are that having repaired your Windows system, it ought to be stable. However, if you start having difficulty with applications that had previously run without problem, it’s possible that your motherboard upgrade has, in fact, impaired your system’s integrity in some way. If this is the case, the only sure way of rectifying things is to perform a clean install of Windows.

Booting up your PC without a working copy of Windows.

  • Motherboard Upgrade Reasons
  • Motherboard Removal
  • Motherboard CPU
  • Motherboard Heatsinks
  • Motherboard Memory Identification
  • Motherboard Memory Installation
  • Motherboard Fit
  • Motherboard Power
  • Motherboard Panel
  • Motherboard Fan
  • Motherboard USB Ports
  • Motherboard FireWire Ports
  • Motherboard Audio
  • Motherboard Testing
  • Motherboard Floppy Connections
  • Motherboard IDE Connections
  • BIOS Settings
  • Motherboards and Win98
  • Motherboards and WinXP

Filed Under: How to Upgrade Your Motherboard

Latest Articles

Unleashing Sales Success: The Power of Data Analytics in Prospecting

Data analytics is changing the future of marketing in tremendous ways. Most experts estimate that the market size for analytics in the marketing sector will be worth over $12.58 billion by 2030. In today's competitive business landscape, leveraging data analytics has become imperative for … [Read More...]

AMD K6

For many years Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), like Cyrix, had made 286, 386 and 486 CPUs that were directly derived from Intel's designs. The K5 was the company's first independently created x86 processor, and one for which AMD had held high … [Read More...]

How to Develop Your Crypto Exchange Business

Cryptocurrencies have entered the mainstream, and even the most conservative governments are starting to realize that they are poised to affect the global economy in the future. The market for cryptocurrencies is projected to be worth $2.2 billion within the next five years. Growing adoption is a … [Read More...]

Gaming Laptop Security Guide: Protecting Your High-End Hardware Investment in 2025

Since Jacob took over PC Tech Guide, we’ve looked at how tech intersects with personal well-being and digital safety. Gaming laptops are now … [Read More...]

20 Cool Creative Commons Photographs About the Future of AI

AI technology is starting to have a huge impact on our lives. The market value for AI is estimated to have been worth $279.22 billion in 2024 and it … [Read More...]

13 Impressive Stats on the Future of AI

AI technology is starting to become much more important in our everyday lives. Many businesses are using it as well. While he has created a lot of … [Read More...]

Graphic Designers on Reddit Share their Views of AI

There are clearly a lot of positive things about AI. However, it is not a good thing for everyone. One of the things that many people are worried … [Read More...]

Redditors Talk About the Impact of AI on Freelance Writers

AI technology has had a huge impact on our lives. A 2023 survey by Pew Research found that 56% of people use AI at least once a day or once a week. … [Read More...]

11 Most Popular Books on Perl Programming

Perl is not the most popular programming language. It has only one million users, compared to 12 million that use Python. However, it has a lot of … [Read More...]

Guides

  • Computer Communications
  • Mobile Computing
  • PC Components
  • PC Data Storage
  • PC Input-Output
  • PC Multimedia
  • Processors (CPUs)

Recent Posts

How Can I Tell if My Computer Has a Virus?

As incredible as the personal computer has been for society and technology, it is also to blame for one of the most annoying and destructive … [Read More...]

LP to CD Equipment

The following equipment will be needed to produce a signal capable of being digitised in your PC: a turntable and pickup arm fitted with a good … [Read More...]

A Quick Overview of the Technology Behind Big Data

The information technologies have led to the development of Big Data and helped it grow at a large scale. Big data offers a number of promising … [Read More...]

[footer_backtotop]

Copyright © 2025 About | Privacy | Contact Information | Wrtie For Us | Disclaimer | Copyright License | Authors