Motherboard Replacement and windows installation.

[Selbio]

Hi,


I have a Compaq Presario S6500NX pc with an Asus A7V8X-LA motherboard. THis board has the Via KM/KN 400 chipset.
Although I have never had any problems with this computer other than replacing the Micro ATX Case, I would like to know if in the near future I had to replace the motherboard and I choose another Asus with the same chipset I would still be able to use the same recovery disks that I'm currently using. It just reloads windows XP Home edition with a lot of program that I use and the best part is that there is no activation and this is what I like the most.

Thanks in advance

Selby

[MichaelH]

 

I have a Compaq Presario S6500NX pc with an Asus A7V8X-LA motherboard. THis board has the Via KM/KN 400 chipset.
Although I have never had any problems with this computer other than replacing the Micro ATX Case, I would like to know if in the near future I had to replace the motherboard and I choose another Asus with the same chipset I would still be able to use the same recovery disks that I'm currently using. It just reloads windows XP Home edition with a lot of program that I use and the best part is that there is no activation and this is what I like the most.

Probably not Selbio,

that board will have a special Compaq version of the BIOS on it and that's what will recognize those recovery disks..


But I wouldn't worry about it. The motherboard would be about the last thing to fail,  barring a power spike or lightning strike or something of that nature.

A good UPS is a nice thing to have.

[the_autopilot]

Expect the hard drive to fail first.

[Selbio]

Well that blows then....

But what if somehow I'm able to boot off the recovery disk, if formatting and file copying (which is what it actually does) goes through, will those drivers work?

the_autopilot,

I say a motherboard failure but I would not even wait that long since there are much nicer boards out there.
I'm after a SFF barebone, this one actually http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6856115014 that has the board configuration.

Thanks again,

Selby

[congo]

The restore disk sucks selbio, and your new mainboard will come with cables and a driver disk.

Don't get a via chipset for your socket A cpu, get an nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset, or a more modern variant, (I think 1 exists...).

The nForce2 is going to be a top performer for a while yet and will do fine until you go to 64bit.

nForce2 runs best if 2 similar ram sticks are used in dual channel mode, they take 400mhz XP3200+ cpu's and should be able to run overclocked semprons for cheap gaming power should you decide to stick with socket A for a while.

You really need a copy of WinXP and then you will finally be free from the compaq syndrome.

After you get it all set up and going good, make a disk image and VOILA! , you have your own custom restore disk if you want.

As for the via chipsets, they take the via 4 in 1 or whatever they are called now...... it's a "fit's all" driver for via chipsets.

The thing you are going to need is any drivers for hardware that came bundled with your compaq PC, such as scanners, printers, video card, sound card etc.

The original drivers may be able to be extracted from the setup disks, but you could probably find newer drivers seperately on the internet.

When a normal windows disk loads, it prompts you to enter some info and finishes up with a new default desktop. It will load any drivers automatically for your hardware that

[the_autopilot]

Next, get your firewall and internet security in place, disable automatic updates and you are ready to get online again. Don't let auto updates overwrite all your drivers and screw up your new install.

Never ever turn off auto update unless you visit windows update often.

BTW, the new windows update only installs security patchs by default. Other non-critical updates like windows component updates like windows media, etc. do not get updated. Drivers also do not get selected for update by default.

[congo]

Never ever turn off auto update unless you visit windows update often.

Could you give us one good reason why we should let an automated system modify our PC's operating system when it works perfectly "out of the box" since SP2 Autopilot? I'm bewildered as to why anyone would want to do that unless there was some specific problem.

I can see why a business organisation might want to comply out of "duty of care" but for the average home PC user, I really don't see the point.

Are there still any gaping security holes that MS want us to patch up? I for one don't think much at all about the MS firewall, the security center or any such automated hogwash and promptly replace all such nonsense with some decent freeware that gets the job done properly.

Is MS update really most beneficial to MS for marketing purposes after they read all of our configurations?

As long as the Op Sys is doing it's job and not causing any loss of performance or malfunction, I stand by my comments. But please, enlighten me if I've missed something relevant, as all I've seen in my experience, after SP2, is people having hassle after hassle with auto-updates.

I don't think there was or ever will be again a comparable op sys to SP2 as far as "out of the box" compatibility and functionality. It wouldn't pay MS to make that mistake again, and I suspect they are working very hard at this moment to remedy that situation.

Since installing SP2, my clients, friends and myself have enjoyed a rare reprieve from the paranoia of having all that "Critical" worry and bother hanging over our heads, so what are we missing out on that's so important and why should I rejoin the masses in total dependance to the MS website?

If MS gets back to the Bad Old Days of multiple critical updates all the time, (and they probably will) I'll then seriously consider using another op sys, (or possibly just keep using the perfect one I already have, unless they figure out some way to wreck it).

I'm sorry, I went overboard again.........

[MichaelH]

Are there still any gaping security holes that MS want us to patch up? I for one don't think much at all about the MS firewall, the security center or any such automated hogwash and promptly replace all such nonsense with some decent freeware that gets the job done properly.

I agree.

I turn all of that nonsense off.
I do not use Internet Explorer or Outlook Express.

There are far better free programs to accomplish all internet security, browsers, e-mail clients, etc than any of the MS stuff.

If I want to get critical updates, it is easy to go into Services and turn on the two that are needed, get the updates and then disable it all again.

[congo]

That's just the point though, are there any critical updates to SP2, and if so, why aren't they critical enough to have affected me in over 18 months of faultless SP2 usage?

I'm certainly exposed to security threats, with only basic knowledge of Internet Security, but so far I haven't had any events "that I am aware of". This is not a light statement, as I host an online flying server and voice comms on my dialup connection, every byte per second needs to be tweaked to make that possible. I would notice any bandwidth loss, not to mention that zonealarm firewall would put on a big song and dance should someone/something try to connect to my PC.

What the heck is so darn critical then? It's mass hysteria as far as I'm concerned and it's fueling a whole security industry, which is largely, as far as home PC owners are concerned, totally unnecessary.

90% of folks will get by fine on a freeware, software firewall alone as security.

Most people are boring, there is no need or glory in hacking into Joe Blogs PC. But if a hacker worms his way into

[the_autopilot]

Ok, that was long a speech and I'll give it a response.

I'm sorry about your horrible experiences with windows auto-update. I've never had any problem with it at all.

Auto-update downloads patches for exploits people have found in computers and it really does prevent virus (and other nasty) outbreaks. Take for example the blaster virus. A patch for that was released a week before the widespread outburst. Most people, however, followed your philosophy and didn't download it. Well, the blaster worm hit and you can see what happened.

Most people believe that if it works now, it'll work forever, which isn't true. People will always find ways to bypass security in software (or anything) and so the company must fix those holes. If you don't download those fixes, you are vunerable. And sooner or later, virues will target you.

We would NOT have some many virus attacks or worm attacks if people kept their software up to date. Many viruses out there right now don't target windows XP SP2, they target older OS's like win98 or XP w/o SP2. Its always a good idea to keep your computer up to date so that any new vulnerabilities don't affect you.

BTW, if you think going non-MS will cure your security woes, don't. Firefox, in fact, had more vulnerabilities found in it this year then IE did. I didn't make that up and if you doubt me, I can post sources.

I really don't agree with any of your philosophy. and in the end, its really about how valuable your data is to you. For the average home user, its not that important. For a corporation, it is. I've trained with the corporate mentaility, to stand ready to defend against as mnay threats as possible. Home users use obsecuirty in hopes that hackers won't target them. Well, hackers do. Home PC's may not have state secrets, but they can be very useful in launching attacks, like, for example, DoS attacks. So beware, sometimes, data isn't what hackers are after.

I still stand by my advice to let windows update do its thing. We'll just see who gets his computer wrecked first by a virus or worm or whatever new thing hackers can think up.

[MichaelH]

That's just the point though, are there any critical updates to SP2, and if so, why aren't they critical enough to have affected me in over 18 months of faultless SP2 usage?

Because people like us are a tiny tiny minority of the hundreds of millions of people using MS Windows.

The majority are totally clueless about internet security and in the case of these millions, the_ autopilot is quite right.
That's why Auto Updates, Security Centre, Windows Firewall are on by default.. If they weren't most people would be infected within five minutes of connecting to the internet and they would rapidly infect everyone else.

[congo]

Point taken onboard, I'll consider my position priviledged and lucky from now on.

[GunnerMan]

I use Custom feature of auto updates so I choose what I want t install like security fixes etc and just uncheck any drivers.

[Selbio]

Pk,

Got rif of that motherboard after I messed it up installing a new Heatsink.

I did replace the motherboard with a Gigabyte K8VM800M and a Sempron 2800 and a fresh windows XP installation.

Now,

How can I burn a bootable image of that hard drive that way I can just recovery it and that way I can avoid activation?

[congo]

You need some drive imaging software such as Norton Ghost; as far as avoiding activation, you better ask Microsoft if that's ok first.........  :P