Hi, I just finished reading a ComputerWorld article from today titled "Moving from Windows to Linux" and it has indirectly lead me here.

My question is: How well does Linux take the process of replacing a Motherboard? Whether it is for an upgrade or if it is dead. I've had to do this under various Windows versions and it can be a hellish process. I am trying to get a general answer that may apply across the board for different Distros (maybe that's not possible?). Any helpful comments will be appreciated or any helpful website resources. Thanks in advance.

Windows explodes when you switch hardware primarily as a "security" measure. It is to prevent people from cloning a HDD with Windows installed to other drives; the OS will refuse to boot if the hardware has changed significantly.

Under Linux, there is no such limitation. You can take a drive with Linux installed and put it into any computer you want, and it will readjust itself accordingly. All hardware information is generated at runtime by the kernel and device drivers are loaded and unloaded dynamically, so there is nothing set in stone. You might need to adjust your audio and video settings in the event there is some device-specific configuration required (I.E. moving from a Nvidia card to an ATI one) but in any event, the system will still boot and be completely usable.

Actually, it's more about the fact that the HAL layer and IDE/SCSI disk drivers are probably wrong for the new mobo that causes the failure to boot. It's nothing to do with security. Now, once you've booted, you may have to re-activate WinBlows if it thinks that too much of the hardware has changed.

Unless, of course, you've compiled your own kernel, and only selected the hardware that's specific to your mobo.

Cheers.

Yes, as MQMAN stated ... if you have a very customized kernel then may not be the required drivers enabled in the kernel.

example: my kernel is specifically tailored to my Intel ICH4 motherboard, Graphics card, onboard NIC ... etc.


I generic kernel (such as those found in most distributions or LiveCD's) should have a large number of drivers available in the kernel to handle most hardware changes.

The WPA system in XP is specifically designed to detect hardware changes and require re-activation in the event that too much hardware has changed. You get a cumulative score based on how many system components have changed since the last boot, and once you have crossed the threshold, you need to reactivate.

In terms of motherboards specifically:

This is, and always was, a method to keep users from running OEM Windows installs on other machines. There could be a situation where you make such a change as to render the machine completely unbootable due to missing drivers (perhaps going from an IDE motherboard/drives to SATA on a non-SP1 XP install), but in the vast majority of cases, users will hit WPA first.

As for the kernel, while it is true that a kernel built for a specific machine will not work fully (or at all, depending on factors such as CPU arch/type) on another machine; a user with 1 post who is asking about transitioning to Linux certainly will not be using a custom kernel and is clearly not referring to one.

Exactly. But that doesn't cause "Windows to explode". That part is because of the drivers.

But it's strange, that I just changed mobos, from a single processor, to 2 x duals, more memory, a switch in chipset, hence IDE controller, and 2 new on-board lan ports, and the "activation" didn't squawk at all. Hmmmmm.

Cheers.

Same here, and I ALSO added a new video card - no activation issues whatsoever. I was surprised, to be honest.

As far as the actual topic of this thread is concerned, I have an OpenSUSE 10.2 installation on the same machine - no problems with the new hardware there either. I didn't even need to change the video drivers; my replacement card (NVidia) uses the same Linux driver as the previous one. I was quite happy about that (I've had some nightmares in the past swapping out video cards..)

If the hard disk was the same, it was an indication that there was no other installation. Just a thought...

Ummmmm, Well Thanks to everyone that chimmed-in here. I believe that I got the answer that I was looking for and it goes something like this......

"Most Linux Distros will handle Motherboard changes fairly easily unless the Distro being used has been compiled specifically for the previous hardware."

Is that about right? Does that sum it up pretty well then?? It sounds like a satisfactory answer to my original question and it gives me great hope for the future. Thanks again everyone. UncD

Spot on.

Cheers.

I've recently done a motherboard swap due to a hardware failure. The original system was running a PIII/1GHz and I was able to replace it with a Core 2 Duo-based motherboard. Linux (SuSE 10.1) booted right up. I ran YAST and installed the SMP kernel and the configuration ran fine. I can't remember, though, whether I booted via grub's "failsafe" option or not. The process was reasonably painless.

That said I had considerably more trouble upgrading the new system to 10.2 (Marvell chip troubles easily worked around) than swapping the motherboard ever gave me.

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Rick