[CQ-Contest] Contest computer - here's what I did

[Pete Smith]

At 03:11 PM 12/12/03 +0000, K4SB wrote:
>If Pete is speaking of different O/Ss, I would agree 100%. However, if
>the 2 O/Ss are the same, say Win98SE, there should be absolutely no
>problems. 1 exception, if the other MB had specialized drivers ( such
>as a built in sound card ) which came with the machine,these should be
>removed before transfering the HD.


The excruciating experience in question involved an attempt to transfer my 
Win98SE setup complete from a 200 MHz Pentium MMX on a Baby AT motherboard 
to a 1700+ Athlon.  Because the motherboards were so different, I had a TON 
of BIOS and registry problems, which took me almost a month to get 
fixed.  Anything that is different in the hardware configuration between 
the two boards will cause problems, that can be maddeningly hard to 
find.  but simply using the same OS is NO guarantee of a smooth transition.


>Another thought. REGCLEAN.exe is a Microsoft utility available from
>their WEB site, which even if you directly transferred the HD with old
>MB utilities on it. It automatically ( shudder ) fixes errors in the
>regristry.


The problem wasn't errors or orphan entries; the registry entries were 
right for the old motherboard, not for the new one.  This issue has been 
intensively covered on sites like www.annoyances.org.   There are 
work-arounds, but they are all hairy.

73, Pete N4ZR
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