Instaling a new motherboard do i need to format

[Shiner47]

Hi,
I am about to install a new motherboard in a computer running Vista Home premium. I have been told i need to format the hard drive and reinstall. Bit if a pain! is this correct.
Is there a work around.

Shiner47

[jrk86]

It would be wise to reformat to wipe out any and all configurations of the previous hardware setup. However if you a new board that shares some of the same hardware as your previous board you can sometimes get away with just hooking up the new board and it works. But then if they are no where near the same then you cannot do that so easy. What you can also try is uninstall all hardware drivers and software from the previous MB, shut down your computer, switch out old MB for new MB and hook it all up. Turn machine on and Vista will recognize new hardware and install some if not all drivers. Or you can always just use the driver disc that came with your new MB. Although a pain you do run into less problems if you just reformat and start a new with your new hardware.