upgrading computer

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devylknyght

New Member
I am having a heck of a time upgrading my computer. long story short. i bought a new CPU and the motherboard in my HP computer i have been adding things to doesnt send enough power to it. so now i have ordered a new motherboard and case. so basically the only things from the stock hp computer that will be left are the drives (DOH!). but anyway i need to know the best way to swap this over. will the windows 7 on there still work when i move it over? or will i have to do a factory restore when i get it set up? whichever way is the best way to do it is ok, but ill be kinda pissed if i have to buy a new windows 7. :mad:. any help is appreciated
 
Hi Devyl

You'll have to buy a new copy of Windows 7 mate and here's why;

With this being an HP box I'll more or less guarantee that you have an OEM system which is not transferable under any circumstances.

If you try to hook the hard drive that contains 7 at the moment to the new motherboard you will receive hardware mismatch errors because the hard drive does not recognise the new board.

If you simply have Recovery disks made on the HP box then they are less than useless when trying to install onto a new machine, consider them now as beer mats.

The options in this scenario are to either buy an unbranded OEM or a Retail version of 7.
 
maybe someone else could confirm, but i think if you have an oem version of windows and you change the motherboard you can usually contact microsoft and tell them the motherboard has been changed, give them your product key and get it re activated, i mean if you had a faulty motherboard for example and had to change due to a fault you wouldn`t buy a new copy of windows just because one part failed ?
 
I agree and wondering. I say that because i have upgraded a motherboard or video card and had this problem. I called microsoft and explained what happened. They canceled my key and issued a new one. This seems to be the way it works for key. A motherboard or video card and it changes. Mine have always been a build. I am curious if they would do this for a oem. Call and ask. worse case they will say no.
 
I would also agree but it seems quite clear that Devyl does not have a faulty motherboard but chose to upgrade, this then means according to the MS EULA than a new OS is needed as a new computer has been constructed.
 
so if i buy windows 7 how should i go about whats on the hard drive currently?will it overwrite it or do i need to do something with it before i pull it out of the 1st machine?
 
i know you can change the disc drive and memory, as i did on a vista oem and i thought you can could get away with graphics card ?, but i dont think you can change board or cpu without having to contact ms, i have never done it if they do give you a new product key be sure to store it safely
 
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tremmor said:
I agree and wondering. I say that because i have upgraded a motherboard or video card and had this problem. I called microsoft and explained what happened. They canceled my key and issued a new one. This seems to be the way it works for key. A motherboard or video card and it changes. Mine have always been a build. I am curious if they would do this for a oem. Call and ask. worse case they will say no.
Click to expand...

Wolfeymole said:
I would also agree but it seems quite clear that Devyl does not have a faulty motherboard but chose to upgrade, this then means according to the MS EULA than a new OS is needed as a new computer has been constructed.
Click to expand...

yes wolfeymole may have a point there, because you would probably have to tell them what part you had changed and they would probably check that during the first new activation, so the fact you have changed the cpu aswell they may consider it a new machine
 
what would be the problem with wiping the drive and moving it to the new mobo and installing a new retail w7? why would i need a new HD?
 
It wouldn't be a problem but I thought you wanted to save your stuff from the original drive?

If you hook the drive up in the manner I have described then it will not be regarded as a primary boot drive so you will be able to transfer your personal items.

External hard drives are never lost when it comes to backing up your stuff.

I have 3 external drives ranging from 160GB to 1TB
 
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on your current drive are your files stored within your windows partion .i.e. in the user files or in a seperate partion.

i think what wolfeymole is saying is if you move your current hard drive to the new machine your oem windows will not start, you will have to install your new retail copy, so any files you have in the windows partion will be most likely lost.
 
nah it really doesnt have anything on it, just gonna have to reinstall a few games, ive only had the pc for a few months, replaced the PSU and GPU out of the box, was getting bottlenecked with the cpu so i got a new cpu and cpu HS/FAN, and then the can of worms blew up everywhere. lol. i appreciate all the advice and fast responses. i have been studying computers a lot lately and this is actually helping me learn a lot. i set a goal to get comp tia a+ certified by next fall.

any other advice or potential problems i could run into? there always seems to be somethin i missed lol
 
well aslong as you don`t have any files you need, just connect your original drive to the new pc and install using your new retail windows, why don`t you post what your components are and people can give you any advice you may need, for example weather to buy 32 or 64 bit windows depending on you level of ram ?
 
yes thats a givin, i was thinking more along the lines of the new case and the psu i have. the case has a lot of fans and i wasnt sure how big of a power drain they were.
 
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