Swap similar motherboards

[JD]

I want to swap the motherboard that's in my server with the one that's in my HTPC. My server has a A8N-E (nForce 4 Ultra) and my HTPC has a A8N32-SLI Deluxe (nForce 4 SLI x16). IMO my HTPC doesn't need such a high-end board plus I'd rather have dual gigabit NICs in my server. However at the time, it's just the way things ended up, but I want to change it now.

Now the issue is, I really, really, don't want to have to reinstall Server 2003 and hopefully not have to reactivate but I'm guessing I most likely will have to. Now, do I need to uninstall any drivers/remove any hardware from device manager before swapping motherboards?

Also would my software RAID (done in Server 2003) be lost too? It's just RAID1 though so I don't see how it would be an issue.

[Squeetard]

No problems. Same chipset. I swapped my p5k with an evga x58 and had no troubles with any of the 5 OS's on my raid stripe.

I've even swapped mobo's with nvidia chipsets for Via etc...

Windows checks on startup and loads the correct drivers.

[KaptCrunch]

just boot in safe mode an remove old drivers for hardware on the first boot up on new stuff

[ipaine]

I just switched from a Asus P5N-E with Nvidia chipset to a Gigabyte with a P45 Intel chipset and I didn't have to reinstall at all. I did have to reactivate Vista 64bit ultimate though, other wise it was pretty seamless.

I did have to boot into safe mode to remove the old chipset drivers, but I doubt you will have to do that since you are not changing chipsets.

[anthonee1230]

I'm going to be going from P35 to P45 soon; would I encounter the same problem of having to reinstall / reactivate Windows? Or can I just uninstall all drivers in safe mode + reinstall?

[JD]

Originally Posted by ipaine

I did have to boot into safe mode to remove the old chipset drivers, but I doubt you will have to do that since you are not changing chipsets.

Yeah that's what I was thinking. Still uses the same nForce 4 drivers so hopefully no issues arise.

My Server 2003 is from MSNDAA though so hopefully I can do more than one activation. If not I guess I'll just request another key.

[ipaine]

Originally Posted by anthonee1230

I'm going to be going from P35 to P45 soon; would I encounter the same problem of having to reinstall / reactivate Windows? Or can I just uninstall all drivers in safe mode + reinstall?

Most likely you will only need to uninstall drivers and then reinstall. But if you have Vista it is designed to need reactivation after major hardware changes. It isn't a big deal if you have to reactivate.

That said mine did not activate properly over the internet (a first for me), so I just activated over the phone which was relatively painless and only took a few minutes.

[tyreman]

Did a P5B to P5Q no trouble....I deleted the stuff in safe 1st.
"only" had activate again.

[JD]

Great Success!

Server is up and running happily though of course I had to re-activate. No biggie.