Upgrading MOBO without reinstalling windows?

[mrzoltowski]

Hope this is in the right section.

 

Hello community. Has anyone tried upgrading MOBO, Processor and memory without re-installing windows?

A 2015 Lenovo Board, I7 4790, DDR3 to -------> ASUS Maximus IV Hero, i7 7700K and DDR4 Ram,   

 

everything else staying the same, its my production machine and I have like a zillion apps with plugins installed so i would rather not reinstall windows from scratch.
 

Some say it works some say it doesnt and it depends on the age of hardware

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

Slim chance of it ever booting up successfully on the new board. Even if you do get it working, you're gonna have to phone up Microsoft to see if they would activate your copy of Windows for you on your new board. OEM licenses are tied to the board unlike retail copies of Windows.

[Verrierr]

Even if it does boot, you're gonna run into issues sooner or later.

[mrzoltowski]

Just now, Verrierr said:

Even if it does boot, you're gonna run into issues sooner or later.

Grr so annoying, I have everything backed up to a NAS and the cloud (all 13 TB of it). Looks like at least 2 days of reinstalling everything ... sigh.

[WMGroomAK]

Depending on the version of Windows, it should be able to boot up, although you will probably need to update several drivers as well.  The licensing issue is where you'll have a headache.  I think if you got a Non-OEM version of Windows or Windows Pro, you should be able to transfer the license across (although you will either need the digital signature associated with a Windows account or Key).  Otherwise, you will probably be spending for a new license.

[HelplmChoking]

I replaced my motherboard + CPU, and it booted first time no problem. Just needed to grab the right audio drivers and I was set. It did screw up my Windows license but I fixed that easy.

[mrzoltowski]

1 minute ago, WMGroomAK said:

Depending on the version of Windows, it should be able to boot up, although you will probably need to update several drivers as well.  The licensing issue is where you'll have a headache.  I think if you got a Non-OEM version of Windows or Windows Pro, you should be able to transfer the license across (although you will either need the digital signature associated with a Windows account or Key).  Otherwise, you will probably be spending for a new license.

I am actually not worried about the Windows Licence, I own a business and have a Volume Licence Service agreement via a third party. I also have a tool that re-scans your hardware and updates drivers accordingly. We shall see, ill have to do it anyway either way.

Thanks for your input! 

[mrzoltowski]

1 minute ago, Rangaman42 said:

I replaced my motherboard + CPU, and it booted first time no problem. Just needed to grab the right audio drivers and I was set. It did screw up my Windows license but I fixed that easy.

Thanks for sharing! From what I read on other forums its hit and miss, hopefully it wont be too crazy.

[HelplmChoking]

Just now, mrzoltowski said:

Thanks for sharing! From what I read on other forums its hit and miss, hopefully it wont be too crazy.

Yeah the only issue I've ever had is sometimes it gets hung up on the RAM when I boot up, but it's occasional and rebooting fixes it. Pretty sure my memory controller is a bit iffy.

But it worked fine going from AMD to an old Intel chip, so I can't see why it wouldn't work. The CPU itself doesn't need drivers to work, you just may have issues with sound or USB devices acting up until those drivers are in.

[mrzoltowski]

2 minutes ago, Rangaman42 said:

Yeah the only issue I've ever had is sometimes it gets hung up on the RAM when I boot up, but it's occasional and rebooting fixes it. Pretty sure my memory controller is a bit iffy.

But it worked fine going from AMD to an old Intel chip, so I can't see why it wouldn't work. The CPU itself doesn't need drivers to work, you just may have issues with sound or USB devices acting up until those drivers are in.

Yeah I was thinking that, plus both boards are UEFI based, at the same level. And I don't use onboard audio, I use an external Pro DAC

[HelplmChoking]

Just now, mrzoltowski said:

Yeah I was thinking that, plus both boards are UEFI based, at the same level 

It should work, as with anything there's no guarantee. My Windows install is screwy as hell, I cloned it from a hard drive to an SSD, and since then every component apart from the drives and power supply has changed and it's fine. Apart from weird RAM and it seems like there's a ghost of Windows 8.1 somewhere, it asks which OS I want on startup..

[mrzoltowski]

1 minute ago, Rangaman42 said:

It should work, as with anything there's no guarantee. My Windows install is screwy as hell, I cloned it from a hard drive to an SSD, and since then every component apart from the drives and power supply has changed and it's fine. Apart from weird RAM and it seems like there's a ghost of Windows 8.1 somewhere, it asks which OS I want on startup..

Thanks man

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

14 minutes ago, Rangaman42 said:

It should work, as with anything there's no guarantee. My Windows install is screwy as hell, I cloned it from a hard drive to an SSD, and since then every component apart from the drives and power supply has changed and it's fine. Apart from weird RAM and it seems like there's a ghost of Windows 8.1 somewhere, it asks which OS I want on startup..

Which is why I always recommend people not to even attempt it. The symptoms you're gonna experience in the long run are going to be unpredictable if it does boot back up. It's better to tell someone it's not going to work than giving them the hope it is, and then having them come back a week later with a list of issues for us to solve.

[HelplmChoking]

3 minutes ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

Which is why I always recommend people not to even attempt it. The symptoms you're gonna experience in the long run are going to be unpredictable if it does boot back up. It's better to tell someone it's not going to work than giving them the hope it is, and then having them come back a week later with a list of issues for us to solve.

 

No no it works perfectly, I was explaining that my issues were nothing to do with the hardware changes, the ghost install is registry crap leftover from the old Windows install on the HDD and my memory controller is weak, the hardware change was smooth as anything. You can move OS drives between PCs easily, that's usually how a test bench is used.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

4 minutes ago, Rangaman42 said:

No no it works perfectly, I was explaining that my issues were nothing to do with the hardware changes, the ghost install is registry crap leftover from the old Windows install on the HDD and my memory controller is weak, the hardware change was smooth as anything. You can move OS drives between PCs easily, that's usually how a test bench is used.

You said "no guarantee"

 

I have first hand experience of this cocking up. Placed my old 750GB HDD from my Lenovo P580 (leftover from a SSD upgrade) into my friend's G570. Forgot there was an install of Windows 10 already on there, constant bluescreens every time it tried to start Windows. So it is hit or miss. Hence why, I rather tell people to do a proper fresh install so they don't' come back with a bucket of new problems for us to sort out.

[HelplmChoking]

Just now, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

You said "no guarantee"

 

I have first hand experience of this cocking up. Placed my old 750GB HDD from my Lenovo P580 (leftover from a SSD upgrade) into my friend's G570. Forgot there was an install of Windows 10 already on there, constant bluescreens every time it tried to start Windows.

 

There's no guarantee because computers screw up for all sorts of weird reasons, and there's never a guarantee that anything will work the way it should. Laptops can be different, they need all sorts of drivers for the specific hardware inside them.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

Just now, Rangaman42 said:

There's no guarantee because computers screw up for all sorts of weird reasons, and there's never a guarantee that anything will work the way it should. Laptops can be different, they need all sorts of drivers for the specific hardware inside them.

Hence you give them the solution that would produce the least amount of problems rather than giving them hope on a method that is hit or miss.