If you are installing a motherboard IDENTICAL to the one it is replacing, the
odds of Windows and billg complaining are almost nil. I've done a lot of
repairs of Dell computers, in particular, with motherboard swaps and not yet
encountered a problem.

If the processor speed and BIOS revision are the same between the two boards,
Windows does not see any difference. In practice with a Compaq or Dell or
Intel-made or IBM motherboard, the only difference between two boards at the
BIOS level is the motherboard serial number (Dell service tag) burned into the
BIOS. With a Compaq motherboard, the BIOS setup allows you to change the
motherboard serial number. With a Dell motherboard, you need to run a small
utility program to change the service tag. Once the serial numbers are
identical between old and new motherboards, who's to know the difference.

.... Ben Myers

On Tue, 13 Jun 2006 02:17:26 GMT, "Doc" wrote:

Putting a replacement mobo in a Compaq Deskpro EN PIII WinXP Home,
theoretically identical to the original mobo, will I have to reinstall the
O/S? Not sure if there are identifiers in a particular mobo that the O/S
needs to "see".

Thanks.