Do I need to reinstall windows 7 with a Motherboard replacement?

Do I need to reinstall windows 7 with a Motherboard replacement? The Motherboard was replaced under warranty service. It is working, the only issue is duplicated entries in the device manager. No activation request from windows 7 at this time. The board used was almost identical except for the serial number.


If I did a reinstall, would I need to activate windows? Didn't have to, when I did a clean install before that was the old Motherboard.

With an exact replacement motherboard no reinstall should be necessary. A motherboard upgrade would be another matter.

fireberd said:

It should be OK with an exact same motherboard. I've done that for myself and clients and no problems. I don't know how you got double entries in the Device Manager. Uninstalling the Duplicates (make sure they are duplicates) should take care of that.

If activation was required you would have got a notice immediately.

I have 5 acpi fans, I think I only have one. Duplicates don't bug me, just as long as they don't cause a problem with the system. I am not going to do a reinstall unless I have problems.

If that motherboard is for the Dell listed in your system specs, it should have the same OEM BIOS SLIC table as the original. If it didn't you would be getting prompted to activate Windows. A clean install with your Dell branded install media should not be an issue, it will activate just like it does now.