Changed my motherboard and im wondering if i can avoid format

darknight125 · 17 Nov 2011

Can i somehow install the drivers without formatting my pc?since windows wont start because of the hardware change.Maybe by installing a linux version so i can install the drivers?

DeaconFrost · 17 Nov 2011

There are steps to take, but not if you've already swapped the hardware. You're best, and quickest bet right now is to use a Live CD to access your data, so you can back it up, then wipe the drives and do a clean install.

kodi · 17 Nov 2011

More information needed.
Does it start to load?
What error message do you get?
I have changed the Motherboard in 3 systems so far and they all started without loading Drivers

darknight125 · 17 Nov 2011

kodi said:

More information needed.
Does it start to load?
What error message do you get?
I have changed the Motherboard in 3 systems so far and they all started without loading Drivers

I dont get any error message,but it always come up with the following message : windows failed to start a recent hardware change might be the cause and when i press the option start windows normally and it gets me to starting windows screen that when it stucks.

darknight125 · 17 Nov 2011

DeaconFrost said:

There are steps to take, but not if you've already swapped the hardware. You're best, and quickest bet right now is to use a Live CD to access your data, so you can back it up, then wipe the drives and do a clean install.

well the reason that i have swapped the hardware is because my old motherboard stopped working because it got burned so i cant swap it back and i really prefer not to format it since i had lot of program inside

DeaconFrost · 17 Nov 2011

A clean install never takes that long if you are properly organized ahead of time. That being said, you can always try to repair the current install using your Windows 7 media.

mrwearysinner · 17 Nov 2011

few days back my friend changed her motherboard and installed a brand new one

she din have to format or anything. it was like it never happened. i dont know wht she did later..but i guess just installed the few drivers that came with the motherboard.

gregrocker · 17 Nov 2011

You can sometimes change major hardware like mobo without having to SysPrep the HD first on old hardware and it will start up but you can't count on it. SysPrep to move HD to another computer

If you don't have the old hardware to run SysPrep then you can boot Paragon Adaptive Restore CD, point it at Win7 partition to remove all drivers, SID and HID's.

The problem isn't always drivers alone but a combination of drivers and SID/HID's conflicting. However this stall is normally at the boot animation screen. In your case I would boot into the Win7 DVD Repair console or Repair CD to run Startup Repair repeatedly as it sounds like you might need the boot repaired.

jsquareg · 17 Nov 2011

DeaconFrost said:

A clean install never takes that long if you are properly organized ahead of time. That being said, you can always try to repair the current install using your Windows 7 media.

I second all of the above and can verify that doing a repair from the Win 7 media should be tried. Have replaced several MB's over the years. Some went in with no problems. A few required running a repair from the media. Never, fortunately, have I had to do a clean install.

darknight125 · 24 Nov 2011

This becomes really annoying i format my pc using my windows dvd(since windows startup repair couldnt fix the problem)and it worked just fine for about a day then it installed about 90 windows updates and when i restarted it,again the same error! it say windows has failed to start and when i press start windows normally it will stuck at starting windows(note: i installed all the drivers of my hardware while my pc was working that one day)so any idea what is problem?