by icecube » Sun Dec 03, 2006 11:03 pm
If you have replaced the motherboard, I would recommend getting a new hard drive and do an new install. Then hook up the old drive as a slave and pick the data off that you want.
What Gecko's saying, is that you need to install windows over the top to get your system running. This is where you do a new install to the same directory. At that point windows finds the old install and gives you the option to repair. What this does, is re enumerate all of the drivers on your system. That needs to be done or your system is going nowhere.
This sounds straight forward unless your XP cd has Service pack 1 on it and the hard drive has been updated to service pack 2. Installing windows over the top in this case will fail. You need to get a copy of XP that has service pack 2 slip streamed into it. Add to that, the fact that there are 6 different versions of XP, this can turn into a real nightmare.
The biggest reason for doing a new install over a repair, is the added speed your system will have.
Any body thinking of replacing the motherboard needs to do a little advanced planning before you switch out the motherboard. Disconnect any secondary drives. Remove SP2 if you don't have XP with SP2 and remove or disable the virus scan software then install windows over the top.