upgrade compatibilty

[dolphintat2]

Thanks for the help, but can you tell me why I would have to but another operating system if I use the hard drive out of my current PC to build another. I already have upgraded my system to XP home edition. Do you mean that I will lose everything on my hard drive if I connect it to another PC?

[Dave@Bytes]

You should be okay. I misunderstood you.

I just want to make sure you realize that you can't use the recovery disks, anymore.

People often want to reformat their drives when they put it into another system because the information about hardware, drivers and other junk from the old system will still be there when you install the motherboard. Now the new motherboard wants to put ITS drivers there too.

But I have done this and have survived in the past.

You old system should have come with a certificate key for whatever Windows version you were running. Keep that. Should you ever decide to reformat and install the upgrade FRESH, then you'll need that key to prove that your upgrade was valid.

Good luck.

[dolphintat2]

I checked out the barebones pcs, and found one or two that were interesting, but on neither unit did they mention a port for the monitor, is this something that is assumed, or can I use the port that is on mine?
Also, if I need them will it be possible to take the usb ports off of mine and put them on the new one. Also correct me here if Im wrong, but I thought about getting one with a hard drive so I can increase my storage,
when I get the unit and put my old hard drive in there will I have to change the master, slave settings?

[Dave@Bytes]

All good questions:

If it doesn't say there is a monitor port this means that there are no graphics on the board. You will need to add an AGP or PCI video card. You can use yours if you have one that is removable. You might be better off looking for a board that comes with graphics, already.

You cannot take the USB from your system. But it's really hard to find a board without USB these days. In fact, most come with USB 2.0 which is probably an upgrade from what you have.

You will not need to change the jumper settings on your old hard drive. You might have to change them on the new one, depending on where you put it. If it's on the same IDE cable as your old drive, it'll need to become SLAVE. If you put it on the other cable, then it'll be MASTER. Anything else on those two cables will need to become SLAVE.

[dolphintat2]

Hi, thanks again, you are proving to be invaluable in my quest.
I have chosen a system through Compbuzz, I ordered a system that is for the most part complete it is:
PC chips925 socket-478(533 bus) motherboard
P4 2.0 G CPU
20 GB EIDE 5400RPM Hard Drive
128 MB DDR Memory
52X CD-Rom
Built in 32 MB shared AGP Video
Built in 10/100 Lan Card

I plan on using my floppy drive, and adding my Hard Drive, more memory, and a DVD-RW
Do you see any problems I might encounter? Also, will I have to do anything to the BIOS or will it come set with the new system, does the Hard Drive from my system have anything to do with the BIOS?
Also I think the MB has sockets for SDR and DDR memory which do you think is better.

[Dave@Bytes]

The last thing you do before removing the hard drive from your current PC is to go into the Control Panel, then System, then Device Manager and remove the devices that are current to the motherboard you are using now. Leave the devices you are going to keep, and keep the things you do not know what they are.

When you install the new hardware (I'd leave the NEW hard drive off, for now) you will need to install the drivers that come with the new board. They should be on a CD ROM.

You shouldn't need to do anything in the BIOS unless you have a problem.