Upgrading CPU/MB/RAM on XP Home system

[radtz]

I recently upgraded the motherboard, processor, and ram
on a computer that I have WIndows XP installed on. When I
tried to boot the computer, XP kept stopping and saying
something about hardware errors. I ended up having to
reformate my boot drive and do a clean install of windows
and reinstall all of my hardware and software. I have to
change the new motherboard out in the same computer. Can
this be done with XP without having to reinstall the OS,
and still have a stable system? I have done this with Win
98 several times without issues. It would be great to know
this can be a on night process instead of a week long one.

[Bob Knowlden]

A format/reinstall is supposed to be the most reliable way, but I've had
good luck with a repair installation:

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315341

"How to Perform an In-Place Upgrade (Reinstallation) of Windows XP"

In short: change your BIOS settings to boot from the CD. Choose an
installation rather than going to the repair console. Under install, choose
repair rather than a new installation.

Things to consider: a repair install ought to preserve your installed
applications and settings, but back up the c: partition just in case. You
will lose most or all of the stuff installed through Windows Update,
including SP1. (I recommend preparing an installation CD with SP1
"slipstreamed" onto it, if you don't have an SP1 CD. One recipe for doing
this is at http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?object=article.cfm&id=160 .)
You will probably have to re-activate XP.

The process seems to take less than an hour, excluding re-downloading
Windows Updates.

HTH.

Bob Knowlden

Spam dodger may be in use. Replace nkbob with bobkn.

"radtz" > wrote in message
...
> I recently upgraded the motherboard, processor, and ram
> on a computer that I have WIndows XP installed on. When I
> tried to boot the computer, XP kept stopping and saying
> something about hardware errors. I ended up having to
> reformate my boot drive and do a clean install of windows
> and reinstall all of my hardware and software. I have to
> change the new motherboard out in the same computer. Can
> this be done with XP without having to reinstall the OS,
> and still have a stable system? I have done this with Win
> 98 several times without issues. It would be great to know
> this can be a on night process instead of a week long one.
>