Replacing Defective Mobo

[WhoIsSEV7N]

Hey y'all

 

So I recently put my first build together. When the time came to connect my PC to the internet via Ethernet, I found out that my motherboard's Ethernet chip was dead. Not sure how this happened honestly.

 

I tried installing the chipset and LAN drivers. When I tried installing the board's LAN drivers, I got a message that said "the realtek ethernet controller was not found. If deep sleep mode is enabled please plug the cable". I tried to disable and re enable the Onboard LAN Controller in the bios and that didn't work either. I also checked the device manager for the ethernet controller and it wasn't there. I asked on a few different forums and the general consensus seams to be that my mobo's Ethernet chip just isn't working

 

I plan on replacing the motherboard (MSI B450 A Pro Max) with a new Asrock b450m steel legend, and I have a few questions.

 

1. When I remove my CPU (ryzen 5 3600) and cooler (stock cooler) will I have to wipe off the current thermal paste and re apply some new stuff? If so how would I go about doing that? Can I even replace the old thermal paste that comes with the stock cooler?

 

2. Can I transfer windows over? I bought a windows key when I put this build together but I have read that your windows key is tied to your motherboard. Can I activate my same key when I go to freshly install windows after replacing my motherboard? Will I have to wipe the ssd that I have it installed on?

 

3. Is there anything else I need to know or do when replacing my motherboard?

 

Any help is appreciated, thanks so much

[Digideath]

1. Yes you need to wipe off the old paste and re apply new stuff. You can change the paste that comes with the cooler.
2. Your key is attached to your microsoft account. You can check this with the activation settings in windows. It should say it's attached to a digital account. You can swap windows over, as long as you use the same windows account. You would get away with using your old windows install but it may blue screen and glitch. If it does, reinstall windows.
3. Yes. When removing the stock cooler from your cpu. When you first pop the retention clips. Give the cooler a little twist back and forth. Break the seal on the thermal paste. You don't want to pull your cpu out with your cooler.

[ChrisLoudon]

Hi buddy,

 

to try and answer your questions see below:

 

1. No, you don't need to remove the old thermal paste bust it is recommended. Its easy to get off with a some blue / kitchen roll or some cotton buds and if you want to go the extra mile to shine it all back up some isopropyl alcohol is what any good pc DIYer should have in their tool box. Thermal paste is pretty cheap and won't cost you much on Amazon.

 

2. This is where things can get a little tricky. You can either put the old hard disk in the new machine (with the old windows installed) and let it boot. It will take a little longer to fire up as it will be detecting new hardware but once booted it won't be activated as it will have detected a 'significant hardware change'. When trying to reactivate one of the options is to proceed with the 'telephone activation' option so this is where you will need to speak to someone and tell them the circumstances. Alternatively, I think you can manually remove the digital license from your computer allowing you to install on another PC.

 

For number 2, I'm not 100% sure on that so probably best do a little more research or post on the OS / Windows part of this forum to get better advice.

 

3. Not much more to add but a good tip when doing any significant hardware changes like mobo swaps is to build it outside of the case first to make sure it all works as it should. There's nothing worse that taking the time to get it all in the case, cabled tidies and only to find out the damn thing doesn't post.

 

Going back to point 2, If you do manage to get Windows activated on the new hardware, do a fresh install immediately after rather than let the current / old version of Windows remain. Just makes sure there are no old drivers or configs bunging up the works. 

[Digideath]

5 minutes ago, ChrisLoudon said:

2. This is where things can get a little tricky. You can either put the old hard disk in the new machine (with the old windows installed) and let it boot. It will take a little longer to fire up as it will be detecting new hardware but once booted it won't be activated as it will have detected a 'significant hardware change'. When trying to reactivate one of the options is to proceed with the 'telephone activation' option so this is where you will need to speak to someone and tell them the circumstances. Alternatively, I think you can manually remove the digital license from your computer allowing you to install on another PC.

It's actually not that complicated. Ive done it several times for myself and others. For example

I built an intel system. A new windows license was bought for the computer and activated on it. The license was linked to a digital account. However due to hardware failure, the system had its motherboard and cpu swapped out to an amd system. When windows was first boot up using the old install, it activated straight away. Since then, due to glitches, windows has been installed twice. Each time it activated.

When you attach your windows install to your microsoft account, you can change hardware and it is automatic. No need to talk to anyone or do anything other than use your microsoft account to log in to windows.

[WhoIsSEV7N]

3 minutes ago, Digideath said:

It's actually not that complicated. Ive done it several times for myself and others. For example

I built an intel system. A new windows license was bought for the computer and activated on it. The license was linked to a digital account. However due to hardware failure, the system had its motherboard and cpu swapped out to an amd system. When windows was first boot up using the old install, it activated straight away. Since then, due to glitches, windows has been installed twice. Each time it activated.

When you attach your windows install to your microsoft account, you can change hardware and it is automatic. No need to talk to anyone or do anything other than use your microsoft account to log in to windows.

Unfortunately I don't have it attached to a microsoft account. I couldn't sign in because I wasn't able to connect to the internet

[WhoIsSEV7N]

15 minutes ago, Digideath said:

1. Yes you need to wipe off the old paste and re apply new stuff. You can change the paste that comes with the cooler.
2. Your key is attached to your microsoft account. You can check this with the activation settings in windows. It should say it's attached to a digital account. You can swap windows over, as long as you use the same windows account. You would get away with using your old windows install but it may blue screen and glitch. If it does, reinstall windows.
3. Yes. When removing the stock cooler from your cpu. When you first pop the retention clips. Give the cooler a little twist back and forth. Break the seal on the thermal paste. You don't want to pull your cpu out with your cooler.

Thanks so much for the help!

[WhoIsSEV7N]

16 minutes ago, ChrisLoudon said:

Hi buddy,

 

to try and answer your questions see below:

 

1. No, you don't need to remove the old thermal paste bust it is recommended. Its easy to get off with a some blue / kitchen roll or some cotton buds and if you want to go the extra mile to shine it all back up some isopropyl alcohol is what any good pc DIYer should have in their tool box. Thermal paste is pretty cheap and won't cost you much on Amazon.

 

2. This is where things can get a little tricky. You can either put the old hard disk in the new machine (with the old windows installed) and let it boot. It will take a little longer to fire up as it will be detecting new hardware but once booted it won't be activated as it will have detected a 'significant hardware change'. When trying to reactivate one of the options is to proceed with the 'telephone activation' option so this is where you will need to speak to someone and tell them the circumstances. Alternatively, I think you can manually remove the digital license from your computer allowing you to install on another PC.

 

For number 2, I'm not 100% sure on that so probably best do a little more research or post on the OS / Windows part of this forum to get better advice.

 

3. Not much more to add but a good tip when doing any significant hardware changes like mobo swaps is to build it outside of the case first to make sure it all works as it should. There's nothing worse that taking the time to get it all in the case, cabled tidies and only to find out the damn thing doesn't post.

 

Going back to point 2, If you do manage to get Windows activated on the new hardware, do a fresh install immediately after rather than let the current / old version of Windows remain. Just makes sure there are no old drivers or configs bunging up the works. 

Thank you very much for the insight. To do a fresh install, will I need to wipe the SSD I have windows installed on now, and repeat the boot override process in the bios like I did originally?

[ChrisLoudon]

2 minutes ago, WhoIsSEV7N said:

To do a fresh install, will I need to wipe the SSD

Yes, but its part of the installation process.

 

Just download the media creation tool from MS's website and make sure you have a usb hard disk / pen drive of at least 8GB. Run the tool and it will download the latest version of Windows 10 and stick it on the USB stick and make it bootable.

 

Pop it in a USB port in your PC and restart. Here you will need to make sure your PC used the USB drive as the first boot device so either hit an F key when prompted to 'enter boot menu' or something like that or mash the 'delete' key until you get into the BIOS where you can manually change the boot order.

 

If all goes as it shoud, your PC should boot from the USB stick and start the Windows install where you will be given the open to select the destination drive / format / partition options

[ChrisLoudon]

Should have mentioned that yes, ideally you do want to wipe your main boot drive.

 

When you get the destination drive part of the installation process you will be presented with a window detailing the existing partitions on the available drives.

 

The drive you want should already have a few partitions and probably ALL labelled as disk 0

 

If you are happy that that disk is indeed the old Windows install disk and where you want the fresh install to go then you should delete ALL partitions on that disk until it shows the entirety of that disk as a single 'unpartitioned' volume.

 

 

 

[WhoIsSEV7N]

1 minute ago, ChrisLoudon said:

Should have mentioned that yes, ideally you do want to wipe your main boot drive.

 

When you get the destination drive part of the installation process you will be presented with a window detailing the existing partitions on the available drives.

 

The drive you want should already have a few partitions and probably ALL labelled as disk 0

 

If you are happy that that disk is indeed the old Windows install disk and where you want the fresh install to go then you should delete ALL partitions on that disk until it shows the entirety of that disk as a single 'unpartitioned' volume.

 

 

 

Awesome, thank you. And I can delete all partitions through the bios?

[ChrisLoudon]

1 minute ago, WhoIsSEV7N said:

And I can delete all partitions through the bios?

No, deleting the partitions is one of the initial steps of the Windows Install process.

 

In the snippet below you can see the user has 4 drives installed (0,1,2 and 3) although Drive 3 is the USB disk they are using to install Windows so that can be ignored.

 

The chances are that drive 0 will be YOUR boot disk but check the sizes match before deleting any partitions as this will destroy all data on the disk once done.

 

[WhoIsSEV7N]

1 minute ago, ChrisLoudon said:

No, deleting the partitions is one of the initial steps of the Windows Install process.

 

In the snippet below you can see the user has 4 drives installed (0,1,2 and 3) although Drive 3 is the USB disk they are using to install Windows so that can be ignored.

 

The chances are that drive 0 will be YOUR boot disk but check the sizes match before deleting any partitions as this will destroy all data on the disk once done.

 

Alright, understood. Thank you for all the help, sorry I had so many questions.

[ChrisLoudon]

no probs,

 

see below for what your current partition  layout should look like. Should be very similar or identical.

 

you are free to delete all of the partitions to create a single unpartitioned space then go ahead and install from there