Replacing motherboard without problems

[ppcrulez]

I had a motherboard failure on my old server (Duron@750MHz with 3 harddrives) which was running Mandrakelinux 10.1. Luckily I had a Celeron 1.7GHz machine collecting dust in a corner.

 

My first thought was to reinstall Mandrake 10.1 (or maybe upgrade to 2007.1 which I run on my desktop) and then transfer the important directories, but then I thought I'll try putting in the harddrives in the "new" machine.

 

The "new" motherboard has built-in graphics but I took the Radeon 7000 gfx card from the dead machine and put it in the new one (just to get the same gfx-card). The new motherboard also has built-in ethernet.

 

I turned on the computer the system booted without any problems whatsoever, it even connected to the network through the onboard ethernet with the correct settings.

 

I am absolutely amazed of the fact that I didn't have to change a single setting, despite changing motherboard (from VIA/AMD to SIS/Intel). My initial worries that this would be a 5-6h job turned out to be a 15min job, with just ripping out the harddrives and the gfx-card.

 

I just wanted to praise Mandriva/Mandrake for this

 

 

[moved from Installing Mandriva by spinynorman]

[ianw1974]

It's good that you can do this with Linux, with Windows you'd have had the blue screen of death. Luckily with Linux, the kernels with most distros have most of the hardware options built in that are critical with the rest as modules. This is why you can change hardware and boot successfully. Of course, the hard disks need to be in the same position as they were before, else you get kernel panics because the partition order changed. So, as long as what was /dev/hdax remains as /dev/hdax in the new system, you're fine :)

[theYinYeti]

Yes, I had a similar experience: change from

- PentiumII 350MHz, external rage128 GC, 320MB RAM

to

- Core2Duo4300 1.6GHz, integrated intel950, 2GB RAM dual channel

 

All went fine :)

 

Yves.

[daniewicz]

Impressive

[emmanuel_uk]

A linux can do that is worth advertising

Done the same years ago, moved a 10.1 mandy HD from an old PIII into a sempron socket A based mobo. And it worked. I was so impressed I have not rebooted zinblows for 2 yrs now. Try that with Zinblows!

 

I suppose with hardrake as a service it might even be easier nowadays

[RVDowning]

You mean that you didn't have to call someone in a northwestern US city and ask for permission to change your hardware? :huh:

[ppcrulez]

You mean that you didn't have to call someone in a northwestern US city and ask for permission to change your hardware? :huh:

 

Hehe.. one more reason not to use Microsoft stuff. I've always had blue screen when I've tried changing motherboard using XP, so with Windows a complete reinstall with new activation and several hours work had been the only solution. The conclusion to this must be that Linux saves time and money.

 

This should definately be an advertising point for Linux :D

[adamw]

this is outrageous!

 

*sends out flock of ninja lawyers from the Mandriva secret base*

 

(it's in a volcano. of _course_.)

[AussieJohn]

Hello Adam.

Great to see you haven't lost your sense of humour.

 

Cheers. John.

[ianw1974]

Hehe.. one more reason not to use Microsoft stuff. I've always had blue screen when I've tried changing motherboard using XP, so with Windows a complete reinstall with new activation and several hours work had been the only solution. The conclusion to this must be that Linux saves time and money.

 

This should definately be an advertising point for Linux :D

 

Actually, you don't need to reinstall Windows XP, but you put the CD in and do an upgrade! That will fix the problem in most cases. I've had Windows XP installed on a Compaq Proliant PIII 500MHz, and then put the disk into a Dell Optiplex 2.8GHz, upgraded and XP worked without a clean install. Took about 45 minutes to do it in total though. But still doesn't beat Linux! :)