Motherboard Change

Prior to Starting Motherboard Change

Provided the old mother board is still working, there are several things one needs to do before taking the computer apart.

Backup your data.

For:
Windows 98 or 98SE OS
Windows 2000 OS
Boot in safe mode
Delete enum out of the registry.
    In 98, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ENUM
    In 2000, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\ENUM
Rename Autoexec.bat and Config.sys, if present.

There are several ways to remove the old motherboard settings. Deleting the ENUM seems to be the most effective. Refer to AMD's forums for more information HERE: AMD Forum

Win XP: For most systems removal of the ENUM is not an issue.

Copy the new motherboard's drivers to the Windows root directory (%system).

Avoid W2K BSOD Inaccessible_boot_device Problem

This is a common W2K error when the motherboard is changed. The problem is because of a changed IDE controller. To get around it:

1. Uninstall UltraATA Driver, if installed.
2. Via the Device Manager, open the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" section. Typical systems contain three entries there - the controller, and the primary and secondary IDE channels. Double-click the controller entry, and change the driver to Microsoft's "Standard Dual-Channel PCI IDE Controller".

Now you can shut down the computer and change motherboards.

 

Change Out the Motherboard

Provided you could delete the ENUM:

Win98: Next after installing the new board, boot and WIn98 should detect the new hardware.
W2K: Boot and use the "Last known configuration” option which will cause it to use control set 2 that was cleared of hardware when you deleted ENUM. W2K should detect hardware in 1 shot and 1 reboot." Once booted and running remember to install the optimized IDE/ATAPI drivers for the new mb.

If it was not possible to remove the ENUM prior to motherboard change:

Try booting and attempt to replace the needed drivers. This may or may not be possible.

Win98: If all else fails, install Win98 over the existing install. WARNING! You must use the same version that is installed. OTherwise, you will create additional problems.

W2K: If W2K has problems and/or the Inaccessible_boot_device error occurs, there is not much that can be done at this point. The fastest solution is to format the disk and reinstall W2K. If you really need to save the prior OS and apps, try REPAIR. The repair process should detect hardware and replace drivers. Some times it works and some times it does not.