Replacement Motherboard--Do I need to reinstall OS?

dMathers · 05 Jun 2012

I RMA'd the motherboard of a new system I am building because one of its' two banks of DIMM slots was defective.

Is it necessary for me to re-install of the OS once I have the same replacement motherboard installed? If it is necessary for me to re-install, am I going to have issues with my licensed copy of Windows 7, since in theory it is being installed on another system?

BTW, the OS installed fine and the system appears to be stable running off 16GB of memory. Nevertheless, I returned the mobo because I couldn't get my system to recognize the other 16GB of memory installed. I am a PC convert after having spent the last 15 years working with Macs so my knowledge of PC OSs is not terribly sophisticated. This is my second PC build (the first being a hybrid with a mac OS).

pebbly · 05 Jun 2012

Hi dMathers, Welcome to the forums, If you are replacing "like for like" then there should be no problem as long as you are using a retail copy of win7, if by chance you are using an OEM version then you may have issues where the mobo is tied to the OEM version these are not unsurmountable but may require a phone call to Microsoft to activate the OS

Petey7 · 05 Jun 2012

Pebby is correct. If its the same model motherboard, you should be fine.

bobkn · 05 Jun 2012

It should be OK.

It's likely that you'll have to reactivate Windows, though. The address of the ethernet controller must change, and that alone may be enough to trigger activation.

You may have to do it by phone, if you've previously activated that copy of Windows.

That's no problem, regardless of your license type. Repair by replacing with an identical motherboard is acceptable, even under the most restrictive OEM licenses.

dMathers · 19 Jun 2012

Just wanted to follow up and say that I installed the mobo--like for like--without and hitch and everything is running fine. I didn't reinstall the OS and didn't have to reactivate. Thanks to everyone for your feedback.