I clearly read the excellent NGOHQ article "Upgrading a Motherboard without Reinstalling"
Published on July 31st, 2006 - Written by Eran Badit & Edited by Steve Ruxton
-- but I have a question specific to the reboot between Stage-II and Stage-III. I ask anyone familiar with this article (and author) to respond...thanks...
If we uninstall the drivers as instructed in Stage-II and then reboot -- won't the WinXP/PnP attempt to ask for drivers for these components -- BEFORE we get a chance to Device-Manage Stage-III instructions? -- or the computer cannot boot because the nVidia drivers, mobo-drivers, PCI-drivers, modem-drivers, LAN-drivers, chipset-drivers have been uninstalled?
I have read other articles that state going to device-manager to uninstall all of the devices before changing the Mobo. I think the procedure outlined in the article is more complete and robust, but does not indicate to remove the devices from Device-Manager.
As a not-expert in hardware, but having done Win95+98+XP upgrades over the years on my own single computer, I would think that uninstalling the devices from AddRemovePrograms and also from DeviceManager (and Stage-III Disabling ACPI) could occur before the final shutdown to change the Mobo. -- your insight and advice is welcome.
If my thinking (above) is not correct, then what exactly happens after the reboot between Stage-II and Stage-III? what drivers are being used? can the reboot occur? what about using SYSPREP.EXE to assist in the Mobo change-out? (refer to
Can I upgrade motherboard without reformatting hard drive? - [H]ard|Forum)
Thanks...John
Upgrading a Motherboard without Reinstalling 
