When upgrading to a Core I7 rig, is it necessary to reinstall VISTA x64 ?

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Manon66

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hi.... I just installed my new setup last friday, I didn't do a fresh install but only install the chipset drivers. Well my PCI X-Fi soundcard didn't work anymore so I remove it and use the one onboard for now... but after a few days AVG is now giving me an error message at boot...

Unspecific error occured in AVG ?

So is it necessary to reinstall VISTA to avoid drivers conflicts or weird behavior when upgrading MB+CPU and memory ??

Also I got some problem with the memory, at boot the MB will only see 4gb instead of 6gb. I hope it's only a bios problem but it's a bit annoying to reset until it show 6gb.

thanks for any input.
 
Manon66 said:
So is it necessary to reinstall VISTA to avoid drivers conflicts or weird behavior when upgrading MB+CPU and memory ??
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Yup. You can also try a repair installation as well. New mobo = reinstall
 
The safe answer is yes. You can always try not reinstalling and see how it works. I did a swapout and it actually worked just fine in xp without conflicts...
 
Have you guys actually tried this, because people keep saying that you need to do it with Vista but since all I install are video drivers I just uninstall all video and sound drivers and put the new hardware in.
Boot vista and it'll detect everything and it's worked for me from P35 to 790i to X48 to X58, all with different CPU's.
 
what danny bui said. Always reinstall windows when you replace a mobo. Thats what I have been told.
 
some times vista will detect and boot onto the desktop but it'll take a long time. i went from a p45 ds3r to an x58 platinum and it eventually got to the desktop, but a lot of drivers were missing. i've also transitioned from a 650 sli to a 750 sli, and that rig also eventually got to the desktop. keep in mind that there is very little difference between 650 and 750 chipsets. in the end, i always end up installing a fresh os.
 
Uberbob102000 said:
Have you guys actually tried this, because people keep saying that you need to do it with Vista but since all I install are video drivers I just uninstall all video and sound drivers and put the new hardware in.
Boot vista and it'll detect everything and it's worked for me from P35 to 790i to X48 to X58, all with different CPU's.
Click to expand...

Same with me and my install of XP. I've swapped 3 mobos and 5 video cards all with different chipset/GPUs and have had 0 problems. I just uninstall the drivers (and make a backup image of the OS drive) beforehand and everything new gets detected just fine.

The time it takes to re-detect hardware and maybe install a couple of new drivers is nothing compared to reinstalling the whole OS and all the apps I have on it.
 
device manager -> delete everything
reboot, let it find everything all over.
May help.

Otherwise, Ill never do any major hardware upgrade without a clean install of windows.
 
I think a lot of you guys are way too quick to reinstall... I'm not the only one in here who has had a positive experience with not reinstalling. I heard the same thing... always reinstall but it worked fine without it. If nothing else at least try it before reinstalling... will take your less than an hour to boot in and try to run benchmarks.
 
Jared701 said:
I think a lot of you guys are way too quick to reinstall... I'm not the only one in here who has had a positive experience with not reinstalling. I heard the same thing... always reinstall but it worked fine without it. If nothing else at least try it before reinstalling... will take your less than an hour to boot in and try to run benchmarks.
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And why not reinstall? It's always better than having a strange problem turn up someday that you have absolutely no idea how to debug. Just start fresh and know that your stuff is working. It doesn't take very long to do a reinstall from scratch anyways, much less if it's an image.
 
What cyrilix said. Vista/2k8/7 are stupid fast to install. No reason not to.
(And I like that shiny fresh feeling)
 
I did my i7 upgrade earlier this week. I went from a Q6600 on a P965 board to a 920 on the Gigabyte X58 board. I missed the boot from CD prompt when I went to re-install and it booted Win2K8 64. I installed the chipset drivers and was up and running. The crazy thing is I have a RAID 10 setup and the Intel RAID controller picked up the settings automatically.

I've since re-installed.
 
Jared701 said:
I think a lot of you guys are way too quick to reinstall... I'm not the only one in here who has had a positive experience with not reinstalling. I heard the same thing... always reinstall but it worked fine without it. If nothing else at least try it before reinstalling... will take your less than an hour to boot in and try to run benchmarks.
Click to expand...

it takes me less then an hour to do a reinstall. 20mins to install the OS and the rest installing my apps and dirvers. easy

always reinstall :p
 
Seriously, why take the chance? As above poster stated, it'll take you just as much time or more trying to tidy up versus just a fresh install so why not just do the fresh install and have the peace of mind???
 
You don't have to, but it will certainly guarantee you won't see any problems.

Windows can be finicky with a new mobo.
 
Volcanon said:
You don't have to, but it will certainly guarantee you won't see any problems.

Windows can be finicky with a new mobo.
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well i'm planning on doing it, even though i'm only going from an E2180 to an E8400 onto a new Raptor RAID 0 array.

i would say yes.
 
1. Use a program to back up your drivers. Always good to have a backup of what your system was before you made changes. I recommend DoubleDriver for this.

2. I know in Windows XP, you can just use SysPrep off the Windows CD which will strip all hardware ID's from the known driver database and detect everything again. *Personally*, I'd just reinstall Windows because that's what I've always done. Use of SysPrep is only an option if you're using the same HAL from one system to another, so if you're using a single core and going to dual core and vice versa, this won't be an option.
 
GLSauron said:
device manager -> delete everything
reboot, let it find everything all over.
May help.

Otherwise, Ill never do any major hardware upgrade without a clean install of windows.
Click to expand...

now there's something I hadn't thought of... it might work.

I hate re-installing windows but usually do it when moving from chipset to chipset.. I guess if you can get to the desktop via safe mode or any means, you should be able to get the new drivers installed but the system might still be a little "off"...

I have heard of people wanting a fast install on new hardware installing windows on the old hardware with no chipset or other specific device drivers, then pulling the drive, building the new machine, and dropping that drive in, then installing the device drivers and stuff in the new env..
 
revenant said:
I have heard of people wanting a fast install on new hardware installing windows on the old hardware with no chipset or other specific device drivers, then pulling the drive, building the new machine, and dropping that drive in, then installing the device drivers and stuff in the new env..
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that can work if youre computer is generic and windows has basic drivers for it. if youre going from an Nforce 780i to an X58, i wouldn't dare try it.
 
I always do an OS reload (fresh install) with a new Motherboard. Not doing so is just pure laziness.
 
Kangg said:
I always do an OS reload (fresh install) with a new Motherboard. Not doing so is just pure laziness.
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when from the part in my htpc to my intel and didn't do a reinstall. Everything has been working fine for me for over a year. I would have reinstall if i ran into any issues but didnt.... guess I'm just lazy :p
 
In Win XP, you can do a repair install and Windows will re-evaluate/reinstall all your device drivers without messing with any of your data, including application installs.

In Vista, you can boot into your original install. The Vista kernel can handle reinstalling device drivers on the fly if you have the necessary registry entry edited before you shut down before upgrading (I cant be bothered to find it at this very second, I'll post it later tonight).
 
If you are going form Intel to Intel its probably worth giving it a try without reinstalling - the worst that can happen is that it is jacked up and you then have to re-install. You are going to install new Intel chipset drivers anyway, right, so why reinstall the core OS?

Sure, it is safer to reinstall fresh, but if you have a lot of apps and stuff it is such a pain in the ass, I'm all for trying it and see what happens. In your case, however, since you are having problems, might want to reinstall.
 
I went from an AMD Athlon X2 4400+, 7800GTX, and SB Live card to the setup in my sig. All I did was swap the MB, RAM, CPU, GPU, and SC and plugged in my drives and have been running fine without any problems. I run Vista 64 and have spent too much time getting the OS and all my programs setup the way I wanted them to bother with reinstalling the OS. All I did was boot up the system and update all the drivers and everything is running great.
 
I went from an Opti 165 to a Core2 system without reinstalling anything. Vista 64 handled it without issues.
 
If everything else is working a little AVG error is probably nothing to do with the new parts. unless its some paid version and it uses the motherboard or network MAC as a license key? i dont use AVG so im not sure about all that.
 
As mentioned - do a Repair install. What's the big deal? It will reconfigure all the motherboard resource and plus the programs, ect. are there.
 
jonneymendoza said:
it takes me less then an hour to do a reinstall. 20mins to install the OS and the rest installing my apps and dirvers. easy

always reinstall :p
Click to expand...

Depends how many and which applications you use. For me to reinstall and configure all the apps/games/drivers I use it takes nearly 5 hours (one program in particular can take up to an hour to get all the plugins and packs installed correctly). If you don't streamline the service packs/patches that can add a lot of time too.

Not that 5 hours is a huge deal. It's certainly worth the time to be sure you have a clean/stable install. It's good to reinstall windows every now and then anyway, it tends to get bloated no matter how much maintenance you do.
 
The only time I reinstall an OS after a new mobo is if it keep reboots when it starts loading the OS. Other than that, I rarely reinstall. The first few boots after a new mobo may take a little bit longer because of detecting new hardware, but after that I don't notice any difference. If there is any problem, it usually happens when it start loading the OS and that's when I know whether to reinstall or not to.
 
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