HELP: Switching Motherboard and Processor

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illippinno

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Hi. I'm in the process of upgrading my XFX MACH 4 P4X4-ALH motherboard and P4 2.4 ghz processor, to an Asus P4P800 motherboard and P4 2.8 ghz w/ HT.

Now my question is, what's the process I should take?

I've asked a couple of my friends about it, and both told me different things. One of them told me that I would have to reformat my computer AFTER I switchout the motherboard because of different BIOS and driver settings. The other told me that I would need to reformat my drive BEFORE I switch it out.

Also, I have 2 hard drive ( 80 gb (partitioned in 2) / 120 gb (also partitioned in 2) - the 120 gb which I use as storage). Would I have to reformat both hard drives?

Please if you have any ideas, please post and help me out. My new parts should be coming in in a few days, so I have til then to figure out a plan =] Thanks guys.

Tim
 
In addition,

Would I be able to run my OS (windows xp pro) after the switch so I can reformat?

I was told by one of my friend, that once I switch it out, my OS should still boot and load Windows XP. From there, thats when he told me to reformat and reinstall windows. Is that correct?
 
your friends are giving you confusing information. it does not matter if you format after or before you install your new hardware because formatting takes place under another operating system entirely separate of winXP. usually through DOS or the OS that is used to load up the winXP/ win2000 setup utility on the winXP/ win2000 CD. you cannot use winXP to format because the drive you want to format is running winXP.

you do not have to format the partition that contains your storage data since it is not the partition that winXP will be reinstalled onto. it would make no sense to do that. there is a way to keep your old operating system , but it is required that you make changes to your operating system before you install the new hardware and this method may be too advanced for you.

the best way to do it is install your new hardware, make sure in CMOS setup that your cd drive boots up before the hard drive boots up, put your winXP CD in the cd drive and use it to delete and recreate the partition to install winXP back on it.

double check which partition you are deleting. make sure you delete the right partition and make sure that you back up any data on that partition if you need to save something before you start. deleting a partition wipes all data from it and it can be very hard to recover that data back. so check and double check before deleting them.
 
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