Replacing motherboard for the same motherboard. Win 8.1

[Melonhead]

Hey,

I'm having to get a replacement motherboard as i have a fault on this one. It will be a like for like replacement (exactly the same) Will i have to reinstall Windows 8.1, or can i just plop it in and it will boot/load the drivers that are needed?

I wanted to ask, as people often changed it for a different motherboard (chipset/make)

Any help would be great!

 

[CountMike]

There's usually no need to reinstall Win8 even with different MBs.

 

[broe23]

It might be a problem, due to the UEFI bios will come back telling Windows 8.x, that it is not the same motherboard. So you may end up having to reactivate the OS, or call Microsoft Support, if unable to do it through the Internet.

 

[alphanumeric]

It might be a problem, due to the UEFI bios will come back telling Windows 8.x, that it is not the same motherboard. So you may end up having to reactivate the OS, or call Microsoft Support, if unable to do it through the Internet.

If it uses an embedded OEM key I could see that happening. If it doesn't though I think it will swap out just fine.

 

[broe23]

It might be a problem, due to the UEFI bios will come back telling Windows 8.x, that it is not the same motherboard. So you may end up having to reactivate the OS, or call Microsoft Support, if unable to do it through the Internet.

If it uses an embedded OEM key I could see that happening. If it doesn't though I think it will swap out just fine.

You need to read up on the whole UEFI issue, that MS created. Has nothing to do with the key for the software. Windows 8 is looking for the same key on the bios, when you change out the motherboards. If they do not match. It can lock you out, or cause you to reactivate the OS, due to UEFI.

Used to be that you could get away with swapping the same motherboard with no problems. No longer is that the case with UEFI.

 

[popeye]

It might be a problem, due to the UEFI bios will come back telling Windows 8.x, that it is not the same motherboard. So you may end up having to reactivate the OS, or call Microsoft Support, if unable to do it through the Internet.

If it uses an embedded OEM key I could see that happening. If it doesn't though I think it will swap out just fine.

You need to read up on the whole UEFI issue, that MS created. Has nothing to do with the key for the software. Windows 8 is looking for the same key on the bios, when you change out the motherboards. If they do not match. It can lock you out, or cause you to reactivate the OS, due to UEFI.

Used to be that you could get away with swapping the same motherboard with no problems. No longer is that the case with UEFI.

 

[alphanumeric]

It might be a problem, due to the UEFI bios will come back telling Windows 8.x, that it is not the same motherboard. So you may end up having to reactivate the OS, or call Microsoft Support, if unable to do it through the Internet.

If it uses an embedded OEM key I could see that happening. If it doesn't though I think it will swap out just fine.

You need to read up on the whole UEFI issue, that MS created. Has nothing to do with the key for the software. Windows 8 is looking for the same key on the bios, when you change out the motherboards. If they do not match. It can lock you out, or cause you to reactivate the OS, due to UEFI.

Used to be that you could get away with swapping the same motherboard with no problems. No longer is that the case with UEFI.

Could you provide a link to said info so I can read up on it? A hardware check has always been a part of windows activation, long before UEFI was around. IT will look at the hardware ID's etc to look for changes to prevent you from moving your install to another PC or installing on a second PC. But I'm sure you know all that. I was not aware each UEFI BIOS has a unique serial number that is different on every motherboard, even if they are the same make and model. It sounds like that is what you are telling me, if I got it wrong my apologies. You seem to have read up on it so your likely the one to ask for links.

 

[CountMike]

EFI (UEFI) is not software only, it's in the Firmware, what you see is just software interface for it. Every BIOS has a serial number and that's what all that SW picks up.

 

[alphanumeric]

EFI (UEFI) is not software only, it's in the Firmware, what you see is just software interface for it. Every BIOS has a serial number and that's what all that SW picks up.

I will admit to not being totally up to speed on UEFI. I've swapped motherboards in the past in Windows 7 and had no activation issues. I went from an ASUS M2N68 to an M4N68. Same chipset but different sound chips. VIA versus RealTek. I wasn't aware that having a UEFI BIOS would make a board swap any more difficult. But like I said, I'm no expert on UEFI so I'll defer to those that know the ins and outs.

 

[broe23]

EFI (UEFI) is not software only, it's in the Firmware, what you see is just software interface for it. Every BIOS has a serial number and that's what all that SW picks up.

I will admit to not being totally up to speed on UEFI. I've swapped motherboards in the past in Windows 7 and had no activation issues. I went from an ASUS M2N68 to an M4N68. Same chipset but different sound chips. VIA versus RealTek. I wasn't aware that having a UEFI BIOS would make a board swap any more difficult. But like I said, I'm no expert on UEFI so I'll defer to those that know the ins and outs.

As I stated before, yes that is correct. But for Windows 8, it is a whole new ballgame. If you want exact info on UEFI, you can do searches on various things. If you do a search for "whitepaper on uefi", you will get a few searches on deployment of Windows OS on UEFI hardware. Intel's should be the first, Microsoft Technet should be the third. If you want to get to the nitty gritty, go to Welcome to Unified Extensible Firmware Interface Forum | Unified Extensible Firmware Interface Forum.

 

[Melonhead]

Just a heads up here! I changed it over, all went fine. I did however have to reactivate it with microsoft, so it is linked with the UEFI etc... i think. Hope it helps people in the future!