Windows: MoBo upgrade, same hard drive

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It is possible i think to take a disk image of your old drive using Aconis True Image home, then clone to another drive without the drivers, this would solve your problem i think, as win7 will install its own so it will work, then install the proper drivers for your  motherboard. Not as complex as it sounds, but would save you buying any other software again. 

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(* First warning, be sure the HD settings are the same, if you used AHCI, use the same or default settings. If you did not use AHCI on the first mobo then DO NOT USE AHCI on the new one *)
Upon first try the system appeared to load but then locked on the Windows splash screen. Tried to boot into safe mode, but the same outcome. Booted safemode/command prompt and saw that the ATI PCIE video driver was trying to load. Since the new mobo was Nvidia based, this was problematic.

Fix was quick for me.
1. Wrote down the video driver name - (something like atipcie.sys)
2, Booted with Bartpc (or anyother utility that will let you boot and edit the NTFS partition)
3. Deleted the ati driver
4. Booted the drives on the new mobo.
5. installed new chipset drivers for the Asus.
This worked for me. I also had an MSI mobo but I had to copy vga.sys to the ATIpcie.sys to get this to work. Either way, Windows 7 was flexible enough to allow the new drivers to be loaded for the new mobo.

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If anyone else is looking for a solution to this issue,
1. get a Hirens boot cd
2. boot into the mini xp Provided on Hirens
3. In the hirens utilities, Find registry tools, and click on FIX hdd controller
It launches a dos window, where you select your target root, and choose repair.
It seems to delete the old driver out of current control set 00 from your registry, and replace it with generic version.

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You will have to do what's known as a "repair installation". All your files & programs *should* remain intact, but you will have to reinstall all the Windows Updates plus the drivers for your new board.

http://www.dougknox.com/xp/tips/xp_...

Be sure to back up any important files, documents, pics, etc before swapping boards, just in case something goes wrong. And depending on what you're upgrading from & to, you *may* have to replace more than just the board/CPU/RAM.

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Two possibilities you can hear:

1. “I just always reinstall the OS.”
2. “I upgraded once and I didn’t have to do anything to the OS, so that’s what I’m going to try this time.”

Well, Option #1 will certainly work all the time, no matter what. As for Option #2, whether or not the OS will boot depends on the hard disk controller driver. So, just because #2 worked for one upgrade doesn’t mean it will work for another.

Fortunately, whether you use Windows or Linux, there is a very easy way to prepare for a motherboard upgrade.

Now, I’m going to assume that if you think you can upgrade a motherboard, that means you kind of know what you are doing and you can find your away around Windows. If you don’t know how to get to Device Manager in Windows, well, stop right there and either get somebody to help you, or edumacate yourself right quick!

So, to start with, I will assume you are using Windows. For Linux users, see below.

Whether you have Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7, the process for prepping your puter for a motherboard upgrade is exactly the same. What you need to do is to set the hard disk controller driver in Windows to the standard, plain vanilla Windows version. The reason for this is quite simple, and is illustrated in the following example:

• You have an AMD processor and VIA chipset in your current machine
• You want to upgrade to an Intel-based system
• When you swap out the hardware and try to boot, Windows will use the hard disk controller driver for your old chipset, and thus you will get a blue screen because it can’t load the OS. Oops.

The same can be true if you are moving from Intel to AMD, or even from AMD to AMD or Intel to Intel. It’s also possible that you are already using the default Windows hard disk controller, which means you don’t have to change anything. But just in case, do the following:

1. Go to Device Manager
2. Expand the “IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers“
3. If you have an entry like “Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller” or “Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller“, you’re all set. Just stop and upgrade your hardware, and you should be fine 99% of the time. If not, carry on to #4.
4. Right-click the non-standard disk controller entry and choose Properties -> Driver tab -> Update Driver. I’m talking controller entry here, not “ATA Channel o“, “Primary IDE Channel“, etc.
5. Choose the “Browse your computer/Let me pick” options until you get a list of compatible drivers. Select the default “Standard” driver:
   - For a SATA drive: Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller
   - For an IDE drive: Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
6. Click OK, and don’t reboot – shut down your computer and perform your hardware upgrade. If you reboot before your upgrade, Windows may automatically replace the standard driver with the custom one that you just tried to replace!

Before firing up your upgraded puter, be sure to connect your primary boot drive up properly and configure the BIOS with that drive as the first boot hard disk. Normally, I try to connect all the drives in the computer and configure the BIOS boot order and such exactly as it all was in the old computer.

When you turn on your new monster, Windows should load and be able to access the boot hard drive just fine. It may take a bit longer than usual since Windows will be detecting your new hardware and trying to install drivers. Don’t freak out if everything doesn’t work at first – the important thing is to get the OS booted so you can install drivers and get the rest of your hardware configured and functioning properly.

That’s pretty much it. I have found this works 99% of the time. For the 1% of the time that it does NOT work for whatever reason, you can always throw the Windows disc into the optical drive, boot from it, and select a “Repair Install”. This will probably overwrite all your Windows files, and you’ll have to reapply all your Windows updates and such, but at least your data will remain intact. Just be sure not to accidentally wipe the drive. That would be bad, especially if you don’t have a backup. But, you DID make a backup first, right??

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My old motherboard died without my having the ability to delete the old drivers off of the hard drive. I have installed a new motherboard and am attempting to boot into the old hard drive, however, Windows 7 will simply start up, try to load the files, and then enter a restart loop.
I know why this is happening. It cannot find the appropiate files to boot off the hard drive because the new motherboard is conflicting with the old drivers on the old hard drive.
I have attempted to boot off the Windows 7 disc and do a repair, however, it does not work. Right now I am dual-booting from a secondary hard drive, and I have full access to the old hard drive.
Basically, I need to manually delete the old drivers from the old hard drive, or find some way to install the new drivers on it whilst booting from the secondary drive. (In other words, I'm booting off D:\ and I'd like to install drivers whilst on D:\ to C:\)
How can I do this?
Things I will NOT do, and will not even consider, so please don't tell me to:
I will not wipe my old hard drive. The programs and data on it are too valuable. And while the data is easily saved, the programs are not and I'd have to reinstall. Some of the programs were obtained when I was in college and my college distributed free programs by download. Now that I am no longer in college, I'd have to pay hundreds of dollars for replacements (for example, Adobe Photoshop CS4 and Symantec Antivirus).
So to repeat, I will NOT consider a hard drive format and fresh install.
I am, however, willing to do any steps to manually delete or install new drivers, no matter how complex or time consuming the steps are. It is worth it to me. All I need to do is get rid of those old drivers. If someone could tell me how, I'd be greatful.

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you should be able to connect them and use their data. Some items to watch for:
1. If these are IDE units, review how to set their jumpers for Master and Slave roles and how to connect. If they are SATA, do NOT change any jumpers - there is NO Master or Slave in SATA units.
2. When they are installed, check in your BIOS Setup screens where you set Boot Priority Sequence. Make sure neither of these units is part of your boot possibilities.
3. I am not sure how a Windows OS will read or deal with a HDD that contains LINUX OS and data, presumably in a File System that is not what Windows is used to handling. I'm kind of assuming you've already familiar with this issue.
4. Although some people have set up systems that can boot either from one HDD containing Linux or from another containing Windows, I doubt you could simply tell your new machine to boot from that old Linux HDD. I would expect you'd have the same problem as trying to use a Windows OS from another machine - the OS installed on the HDD contains just the right drivers for the devices in the OLD machine, and not the ones for the new machine. In the Windows world there is a procedure called a Repair Install you can do from a Windows Install CD to fix this (sometimes). I don't know how it is handled in Linux.
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www.daniweb.com/forums/thread142082.html

most if not all info in that link is about winxp and not win7 ,and most of the help in the thread or links in the thread are not info releated to when your orignal board is a dead board ,like in the situation !
having said that i don't recall ever getting it to work for me with a broken MB,maybe once when the new boards chipset was the same as broken one .
i would think it may be possible with the lates UBCD/or hirens bootcd .i have one here somewhere that has winxp lite on it that may get you in to where you could uninstall chipset drivers and stuff .but only used it once and not sure even what one it is that can boot to live winxp lite ,

hirens= http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd
ubcd= http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/
or live linux cd .= http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html
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The only problem with buying a new PC ““ one that has existed for years and that hardware technology can’t solve ““ is when you want to move the operating system to your new hard drive. Simply copying your operating system from one hard drive to another doesn’t work, and trying to install your old hard disk into your new PC may result in issues as well. There is a solution to this issue, however.

Making Your Clone

Operating systems are finicky beasts. They don’t like to be copied directly over to a new hard drive, and the operating system on your new PC will most certainly won’t let you copy over it (at least as long as it’s running). There’s good reason for this, in terms of curtailing security threats and preventing accidental operating system damage, but it certainly makes moving a full operating system more difficult.

Since copying operating system files the old-fashioned way doesn’t result in a bootable operating system being transferred over, you’ll need to rely on a process called cloning. Cloning a hard drive replicates all or some of the files on it and also replicates the file structure of the hard drive. This creates a perfect bootable copy. Other MakeUseOf authors have discussed this topic already, so check out Tina’s post about popular freeware cloning software and Benjamin’s post about how to clone a hard drive with Clonezilla.

Cloning Problems

Unfortunately, while cloning does create a perfect copy of your hard drive and the operating system on it, it isn’t always the best solution. The process of cloning is itself a bit complex, and it will presumably require that you at some point have an extra hard drive, since directly cloning your existing drive to the drive on your new PC would wipe out the new PC’s drive entirely.

The other issue with cloning is that creating a perfect copy does not guarantee that your old operating system will work with your new PC. When an operating system installs itself on a PC, it also installs a plethora of drivers relating to your PC’s hardware. If you transfer your existing OS to a new PC, much of that hardware is going to be different ““ and that can be a shock to your OS. It will have drivers for certain hardware, but that hardware is gone. It will try to compensate by installing new drivers automatically, but if it can’t find the right drivers it will likely crash.

You may be able to repair the operating system if you still have the install disc around, or can load the installer onto another bootable device, but this can be a frustrating process.

Transferring Files

If cloning sounds like too much work, or you’ve tried it and found that it failed, you can forgo trying to transfer the entire operating system and instead transfer only your files and system settings.

Windows has a utility for this called Windows Easy Transfer. As the name implies, the goal of the software is to transfer everything from your old PC to your new PC that could easily be lost. It doesn’t transfer software, but it does transfer documents, photos, music, program settings, etc. Once the process is complete, your new PC should behave much as the old one did, and should have all of your personal files as well.

The Windows Easy Transfer software is free, but a direct USB connection between computers requires that you buy a Windows Easy Transfer Cable. You can skip this, however, by connecting two computers via a network and transferring files that way. A direct Ethernet connection is usually quickest.

Linux users can accomplish this same task by using a utility called Rsync. 

Apple users aren’t left out in the cold, either ““ OS X comes with a utility called Migration Assistant that will help you transfer files to your new Mac from an old one.

Conclusion

Personally, I don’t recommend that most users go with cloning, although it is the only option that results in a true full operating system transfer. Utilities that transfer all critical system information and your personal files usually give you a better result ““ they transfer important data, but don’t leave room for driver compatibility issues that could cause crashes.

Let us know if you have done this, and if so, what method you chose to go with.