Frankenstein pc

[DiscoInferno]

Im looking for some advice here. I have an old Pentium 3 1ghz pc, that is up and running and only used for dvd editing and shrinking. Ive been given an Amd 1700 Dmt3c processor and motherboard. Is it possible to remove the hard drive and psu from the P3 board and connect them to the Amd one? The bus speeds are the same (pc133). Supposedly the Amd processor can be overclocked to a stabe 2.1 ghz, so id like to give it a try. I dont want to reinstall Xp again if possible.

[UncasMS]

changing intel for amd means changing the chipset as well and a different chipset will definitely require a fresh installation

make sure to backup your data and install from scratch

all else will fail

[cynthia]

Windows XP also has a bad habit of complaining when you change to much in the setup.

[drfsupercenter]

Yeah, if you have the full one. If it's OEM, it won't care. At least mine didn't. But I since bought the full version... never had it lock up after adding hardware.

I am not sure how good Nero's "Back up hard drive" feature is - it somehow compresses stuff, anyone used it?

Otherwise, just back up in data mode like normal, and then put the new mothterboard in, then boot from the XP CD and delete the existing partition, then create a new one, and format.

[DiscoInferno]

Cheers Uncas, i thought that might be the case, but thought id ask.
Cynthia, do you mean when i reinstall windows, it might say too many components have been changed and not let me activate or update?

[drfsupercenter]

What happens is it only lets you install once. If you reinstall, it might lock up. You can always call Microsoft and explain the situation - they will give you an activation number, that will make it good as new.

[DiscoInferno]

No worries DRf. There is noting on the pc that needs backing up really. Just Dvdshrink, Nero and an antivirus i think. Cheers.

[UncasMS]

DONT simply overinstall

you might end up with another xp directory and former user/admin profiles that are inaccessable later on

backup the data and format the drive!

[drfsupercenter]

OK.

Try my suggestion too, that will completely reformat the hard drive, which makes it forget all the old hardware (Windows that is), and allows you to re-partition it.

Basically, put the new hardware in, then turn on the PC, boot from the CD. Then, click install, follow the steps, when you get to partitioning, select the partition already created and delete it. (Look at the bottom of the screen for what key you press - it's been a while). Once you do that, simply click "New partition", and install it.

--EDIT--
LOL, looks like UncasMS beat me to it. Follow the steps I gave you for how to completely reformat the drive - I have done it several times when I added a new hard drive and other stuff. (Gets rid of spyware/viruses too!)

[DiscoInferno]

DONT simply overinstall

you might end up with another xp directory and former user/admin profiles that are inaccessable later on

backup the data and format the drive!

Yep, dont worry about that. Ill definately format. I think its fat32 at the moment, so ill change that to ntfs.

Cheers Uncas, Cynthia, DRF.

[drfsupercenter]

Definately do that.

Basically, put the new hardware in, then turn on the PC, boot from the CD. Then, click install, follow the steps, when you get to partitioning, select the partition already created and delete it. (Look at the bottom of the screen for what key you press - it's been a while). Once you do that, simply click "New partition", and install it.

Do that, then select NTFS before installing as the file system.

[DiscoInferno]

Ive just remembered ive got an old 10 gig hard drive under the bed already formatted. I might not need to swap now. is 10 gig going to be big enough for a dvd image, its backup and nero? Should just do it shouldnt it?

[drfsupercenter]

You can always have 2 HDs. I got two of them, only I got 240GB space

[DiscoInferno]

I dont need a big hard drive on the pc, its only used Shrinking etc. Doesnt even go online.

[drfsupercenter]

Well than you can store two or three movies