putting an e2160 where there was a celeron d 360...will i need to reformat?

9/13/2007 10:48:09 PM

meh, prepare for it.. but IMO i don't think you will

9/13/2007 10:49:04 PM

Not usually.

9/13/2007 10:50:28 PM

if you run sysprep on your windows installation, then shut it down, switch the proc, and boot back up you should be fine.

image the system first of course, but i predict success.

9/13/2007 11:03:22 PM

WTF is wrong with you guys.




You'll be fine. Replace your hardware and boot to the Windows XP CD.


Hit enter, then hit "R" to repair the selected operating system.



You'll have to activate it again, and install drivers for new hardware.



You wont have to reformat.

9/13/2007 11:20:12 PM

I swapped my AMD64 3500+ for a AMDX2 4800+ and I didn't have to do a damn thing.

9/14/2007 1:44:31 AM

no problems at all

9/14/2007 2:35:56 AM

if your new proc fits in the same slot as the old one, you don't need to do a damn thing

[Edited on September 14, 2007 at 8:35 AM. Reason : there isnt some magical amd or intel x86 driver, just chipset support]

9/14/2007 8:34:48 AM

^

That's not entirely true.





HAL will trip after a certain number of changes in hardware and require you to re-activate and possibly run repair.




I've seen it happen on rare occasions.

9/14/2007 8:44:42 AM

I fail to see how the hardware abstraction layer would change without adding a new instruction set (though SSE2, SSE3, MMX, etc are fairly trivial to windows) let alone without a new chipset and "trip" screwing the registry entry for your activation status.

9/14/2007 9:13:35 AM

A hardware change could trip the windows hash check and trigger a deactivation, happened to me once going from a P4 to a e4300.

9/14/2007 9:34:24 AM

deactivation is no big deal.. call the number, 5 minutes later you're back in business. annoying, but not overly so.

9/14/2007 10:02:34 AM

Quote :

"A hardware change could trip the windows hash check and trigger a deactivation"

9/14/2007 10:20:18 AM

yes

9/14/2007 10:24:30 AM

You're not going to have to reactive windows with just a processor change.

9/14/2007 10:51:04 AM

He might.


There's no definitive answer on that, that I can find.

9/14/2007 10:56:33 AM

if it's the only piece being swapped out since the previous activation, it wont trip

9/14/2007 11:01:10 AM

link?

9/14/2007 11:06:21 AM

Quote :

"A feature called Windows Product Activation (WPA) was implemented with Windows XP to combat software piracy—the use of unlicensed versions of Windows. With SP1, a change has been made to thwart the misuse of a particular volume license key (one that can be used an unlimited number of times) that has been widely distributed in the warez (illicit software) community. Users who have installed Windows XP using that key will not be able to install SP1, nor will they be able to install any future service packs or hotfixes from Microsoft. Another change to WPA removes an obstacle that sometimes impeded legitimate Windows users. With the original version of WPA, if you change a number of hardware components beyond a certain threshold, Windows requires you to activate your copy of Windows (via an Internet connection or by telephone) before it allows you to log on. (This is done because Windows presumes that a computer with that many different components must be a different machine.) This immediate lockout can be a great inconvenience if it happens to occur while you're unable to activate (for example, on an airplane with no phone or Internet access) or if you're repeatedly swapping hardware in and out to troubleshoot a hardware problem. With SP1, you now have a three-day grace period for these types of situations. "

Unless the "certain threshold" is 1, its not going to make him reactivate.

http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/supplement/5206.aspx

9/14/2007 1:54:51 PM

for vista it's 1

9/14/2007 1:56:37 PM

Quote :

"This immediate lockout can be a great inconvenience if it happens to occur while you're unable to activate (for example, on an airplane with no phone or Internet access)"

unless they're referring to USB components with laptops, i can't imagine many situations where you'd be using your desktop during a flight

9/14/2007 2:07:17 PM

I dunno about you, but I typically throw in my slower cpu on the flight to save battery power. Durr.

9/14/2007 5:19:03 PM