Semi-neophyte upgrade question

gbaustin · Post by **gbaustin** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 8:25 pm

I'm planning on upgrading my system which I built about 3 years ago (my one and only). I'm planning on sticking with the current HDD and OS (ME - I know, but I'll probably go to XP in the near future).
My question is: since I'm keeping the hard drive, do I need to reinitialize it or can I just plug up everything and go after setting the bios?

Bad ConNecTioN · Post by **Bad ConNecTioN** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 1:41 am

Honestly, its possible to not have to reinstall the OS. I am not sure what the activation procedure is for ME, but you may have to contact Microsoft.

You are probobly safer just reinstalling ME. I really do recommend you get XP however, but what ever floats your boat.

alglove · Post by **alglove** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 8:02 am

It usually depends on how well WinME can detect your new hardware. Sometimes it works pretty well, other times it makes a mess of things. Can you post your old system specs and your new system specs?

gbaustin · Post by **gbaustin** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 9:18 am

Thanks for the advice.
The current system:
ABIT KR7A-133R
AMD XP 1700+
2X256mb Crucial PC2100
ATI 8500 64mb
Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum ex
Maxtor 40g 7200
Yamaha CD burner
generic cd drive
Teac floppy
Linksys ethernet adapter

The main upgrades:

ABIT AV8
AMD 64 3000+

Depending on how much restraint I exert over my credit card - meaning how soon after the mobo/cpu upgrade, if not all at once, what will follow:

ATI 9800 256mb (Pro or XT)
Crucial PC3200 (1 or 2 gb worth)

I plan on keeping the HDD, sound card, opticals. Of course the ethernet card goes since the AV8 has it onboard.

alglove · Post by **alglove** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 12:36 pm

Since both motherboards use a VIA chipset, I would give a straight motherboard+CPU swap a decent chance of success.

I recommend installing the latest VIA Hyperion chipset drivers before you make the swap. That makes it less of a chore for Windows to correctly recognize the new motherboard. By prepared to reboot 3 or 4 times as WinME is loading all the new drivers after the swap.

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 6:41 pm

It's windows ME.

it doesnt do anything without dying miserably.

Xp would run fine on that system, by the way. id go for a copy of that and see.

hd is a bit small but doable.

gbaustin · Post by **gbaustin** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 7:11 pm

Thanks for the advice. I think I'll try and get XP sooner rather than later. But maybe I'll try and come up under ME first just to see what happens - an experiment - it'll only kill 30 minutes or so if it fails. I'll get back with the results.