mobo and processor upgrade advice please

[HollyBerri]

Re: Question 3---

You don't need to wipe your entire hard drive when you install a new mobo (no matter what mobo you choose), but you <font size=4><u>absolutely</font> must</u> remove all the system devices from the Device Manager <u>in Safe Mode</u> (preferably right before shutting down and removing/replacing the old mobo).

If you don't do so, you will get about a million errors as Windows tries to read your new devices (such as the IDE controllers, the PCI bridge, and the hateful Power Management Controller), and cannot reconcile them with what it has in the Registry.

No need to disturb your installed programs or anything like that, but do yourself a favor and delete all those motherboard-based devices before you do the upgrade-- unless you're a big fan of Safe Mode (which is all you'll likely be able to boot into until you do).

------------------------
Holly

[This message has been edited by HollyBerri (edited 04 February 2001).]

[deejay]

Thanks folks,

Just got back from a weekend away, you have been busy.

I'm not a happy bunny at the moment, had serious powercut while I was away. Power came back on with a massive surge and despite the surge protection my power supply has been zapped. Hope nothing else has gone the same way (on my work pc at the moment)
Hollie, thanks for the tip on the system devices, never thought of that one.
Thanks to all about the via versus intel certainly some hard thinking to be done.
I shall certainly be going the 133mhz route and purchasing new memory (thanks Paul)
My system being zapped has certainly slowed me down and induced a serious tremble of the wallet.
Oh I'm also in the market for a good reliable power stabliser (that works)any ideas anyone (uk 240v)
Cheers for now.

Dave.

[Wombat]

I just did the MB swap thing. All you need to do is go into the registry, and delete the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum directory.

[deejay]

Hi wombat,

By doing the registry edit, I assume I don't need to remove the system devices from windows 98 as Holly suggested, or do I??

Pardon me for my ignorance but this is a seriously new venture for me.

Thanks.

Dave.

[paulcs]

Take a look at, Dave. Half a dozen of one, six of the other. Everything seems to be in there.

I'm a reformat/reinstall proponent myself. I keep all my device drivers, Windows updates, backed up mail and bookmarks, and a lot of software on a hard drive on their own partition. I've also made text files with system and network settings, software registration numbers, etc., so I can get up and running as soon as possible.

Sorry to hear about the power surge. That's just awful. I guess you're lucky it only took out your power supply.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Vic20]

I've just upgraded with a KT7A+Duron800+Globalwin FOP32 fan at just over £200 from www.overclockers.co.uk. Ordered on the Monday and the goods arrived Tuesday. The Duron has it's multipliers enabled and OCUK have pre tested it to clock 1GHZ.

One Happy Bunny

Vic

[Taz]

I can recommend the Overclockers bundles having just built a PC for a friend based around an Abit KT7A-RAID, Athlon 850, GlobalWin FOP32-1. Wacked the FSB up to 140Mhz and the multiplier down to 7.5 to run at steady 1050Mhz Needs better memory to push it any further but he's happy enough.

[Wombat]

deejay,
That's correct. If you do the registry deletion you do not have to do a re-format or re-installation.
One thing I do recommend though (assuming you're running '98) is copying the "win98" directory from the Windows CD onto your HD. It's about 120MB, and you will be glad you did it when windows starts detecting the new hardware.


------------------
Epox 8KTA3 w/ Duron 850@7*133 with Alpha 6035, 256MB Crucial 7E, G400MAX,SBLive!-MP3,Pioneer 10x DVD, Plextor 12/10/32A, IBM 45GB 75gxp, and a Sony 420GS. Running RH7.0 (2.4.0-final), and Win98 (when I have to).

[deejay]

Thanks for the commiserations re the power supply Paul, unfortunately I shan't know if the damage is restricted to just that until I get the new PS tomorrow.....fingers crossed.
If Iam understanding your reply correctly ,I will probably have success employing the above suggestions, however the only sure fire way is to format?
If I do format is it only necessary to format the partition with the operating system on, would this cause any problems when setting the bios on the new board to automatically configure the hard drive bearing in mind my other partition contains data.
I'am tempted to try one of the other suggestions initially as they involve less reinstallation after update, however if all goes hideously wrong, then I would have to format. Can you see any pitfalls with this approach?
Thanks for your help

Nice going vic20

Would somebody please ZAP THAT MONKEY.

Dave.

[paulcs]

I would just like to allay some fears about VIA chipsets. What I'm sure Wombat and Taz already know, and Vic20 will soon find out, that the KT133A chipset is mature, stable, very flexible, and very fast.

I emphasize flexible because VIA fully supports the asynchronous front side bus: very handy if you have a 100 MHz FSB CPU and PC133 RAM. With the KT133A chipset, AMD's and VIA's little bomb that prevented you from clocking your CPU bus above 117 MHz has been abandoned and 133 MHz is there for the trying. On the more popular motherboards, you can specify 1/2 AGP and 1/4 PCI dividers at ~124 MHz: a real plus for people with CPU's that can't quite make it to 133 MHz.

And you just wouldn't believe how fast motherboards based on the KT133A boot.

Don't get me wrong. I think the i815E/EP is in some ways a remarkable chipset. It wasn't designed as solution for the power user, and the fact that it can fit that role in many circumstances says a lot.

But don't expect the "no muss/no fuss" experience of the i440BX. The BX chipset was a remarkable, and possibly a one of a kind, feat of engineering. The fact that the native Windows drivers were damn near perfect made everyone's life a lot easier. I honestly think we were spoiled. What we thought was the norm turned out to be an exception.

Those days are over. Now we have to deal motherboard drivers installs with all the newer chipsets, and frankly, Intel has been known to release the occasional wonkie driver update.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 06 February 2001).]

[Paddy]

Dave, if you are in need of any immediate help (ie software/testing components) I am just around the corner

[deejay]

Hi folks,

Thanks again for the replies, looks like the consensus of opinion is definately edging away from intel.Paul and Taz certainly put the case very well indeed ,its much appreciated.
Wombat, I assume copying the win 98 directory from the cd just facillitates speedier reinstallation, in other words not having to access the cd all the time.

Paddy, I'am intrigued. "just round the corner" can you be a little more specific?
Very mysterious.

Thanks again to you all for spending the time to share your experience.

Dave.

[Wombat]

deejay,
No, this is to protect windows from itself. It is likely (assuming that these are IDE drives) that it will not have the proper drivers to see your CD-ROM. Windows, in its brilliance, will ask you to insert the CD in order to install the CD-ROM. Catch 22. I was lucky, I just booted into Linux (which had no trouble with the new hardware, btw), copied the CD over onto the HD, and went back to windows.

[deejay]

Thanks Wombat for the explanation.

Dave

[Paddy]

I live on Jarrom Street: Le 27df (by the LRI)

If you need anything just email me