Motherboard Replacement

[at1105]

I'm working on a DELL XPS 410 that had XP Media Center Edition 2005 but was upgraded to Win 7. It was brought in because it wouldn't come on and the power button only flashed amber. After testing the power supply, reseating components, and clearing the CMOS, I determined that it was a board problem. Upon further inspection I noticed there were some caps that were leaking badly which appears to be the problem.

I found an new exact OEM replacement board with matching numbers which I am going to purchase but was curious if that will have any effect on the windows install as some distros are married to the original boards. Will it lose activation? Any thoughts on this?

 

[Markverhyden]

The installations are never married to the original motherboard. But, like all M$ OS it is tied to the basic chip set. I've swapped plenty of motherboards and have only had a couple of problems with BSD's. If the vendor is reputable then install the motherboard, make sure the BIOS is the latest and everything should be good to go.

 

[FoolishTech]

technically the license is invalidated (legally, not necessarily technically) if you swap it out with a different board. but by using the same model board you are avoiding the legal issue in doing this, and really that is all that should matter to you -- if a new MAC or BIOS serial or whatever triggers a re-activation, just do it -- it will work. if not, just call MS, they will get you going.

 

[at1105]

Awesome! Thanks for your help!