New motherboards & Windows

One of my friends told me that if I unplug everything from my old motherboard, uninstall it, and replace it with my new motherboard (and assume that everything is compatible), that Windows will not run properly. Can anyone verify this and tell me if there is anyway around it (other than reinstalling) if it's true? Any help would be great

-symband

symband,

Your friend is basically correct. You need to install the drivers for your new motherboard before windows will work properly. As Arrow stated, sometimes it's easier to just
backup all your data, reformat your hard drive, and start with a nice clean install of your chosen OS.

You can however leave your system the way it is, install your mobo, and then install the new drivers for it. Usually though, you end up with many device conflicts afterward.

The easiest way around this is to delete any and all devices with multiple listings in the device manager.

This can be tricky to the novice, but then again so can doing it all from scratch after a reformat. Do your homework first, and download all the latest drivers for every piece of your hardware. Backup all your data. Then, get your buddies with experience to help guide you through it.
Otherwise this can be a frustrating learning experience. Trust me, I learned the hard way.

"This was no boating accident"

I had done it with my Abit KT7-RAID (KT133 chipset) with the new Asus A7V133 (KT133<b><font color=red>A</b></font color=red> chipset), and Windows runs OK. After first start, Windows reinstalled all chipsets and peripherals in my comp. When it asked for drivers, I directed it to Windows\INF folder since I wasn't be able to use CD-ROM (it didn't load driver for IDE controller yet). Both of my motherboards are basically use the same chipset, but others I don't know and wouldn't recommend to do that.

Good or Bad have no meaning at all, depends on what your point of view is.