Moving system from one motherboard to another?
 

I want to move my system from one motherboard and cpu to another, faster one. My question is if I need to configure for the new hardware before I make the change or if I can just swap it right away and do the changes on the new system?

I'm running ubuntu 8.10 and I'm using a P4 2.4 ghz and a geforce 5600 (fx?).

The new system is an Asus mobo (can't find the model on it) and a core to duo.

Regards
Richard

The only thing you might need to adjust are your video settings/drivers, especially if you are going from NVidia to ATI (or vice versa). Everything else should basically take care of itself.

a straight swap should be fine its what i did just config on your new sys

OK. Great! Ill change it tomorrow..

Thanks!

I just noticed that my gxf card doesn't fit in the new motherboard. I have bought a new one, GeForce 9500 GT. Since it's also nvidia, can it run using my old xorg.config (for the 5600 fx)?

Thanks again.

If it was my machine i would edit the xorg.conf file to use the 'nv'driver.
Just to get the machine up and running.
Then download and install the latest stable driver from Nvidia(180.44).

Regards
The trooper.

Hi,

As long as you are moving to the same family of processors then you should not have a problem. For the video you could use the framebuffer until you get your new card or configure for the old video card.

Do you mean this entry??


Section "Device"
Identifier "Configured Video Device"
Driver "nvidia" <------- THIS?
EndSection

Setting it to just "nv"?

Yes,that will let you use the 2d driver that comes with xorg.
This will let you test that your machine is working.
I'm assuming you have the new graphics card installed?

Many things:

The first thing to consider is the hard disk, and how to access it. The naming of the disks depends on a few things. First, if they are IDE or SATA, second, depending on the driver you choose, an IDE disk can be named as IDE or as SCSI, which can break the boot process. A simple change in grub.conf and in /etc/fstab will sort that out if needed.

It depends on the version of the driver that you have installed. Bear in mind that the 9500GT is relatively new, hence you might need to update the driver. Other than that, you shouldn't need any change in your configuration.

Since your new system seems to be PCIE based rather than AGP, you might also need to reconfigure your kernel for that, though in binary distros you usually don't need to change anything regarding that.

Family of processors shouldn't matter as we are talking about the same architecture. You only need to reinstall from scratch if you want to migrate from x86 to amd64 (or any other architecture). However, you can continue running an x86 distro in a 64 bits capable cpu.

Well after all this fuzz, changing all parts from one chassi to another, the motherboard in the new chassi (and possible the cpu) is defunct. But thanks for all the help.

I guess when I get again (in like 20 days!!!) I'll get a new mobo and a new cpu. Feels such a waste to look and my new box that doesn't work.

But thanks again for your help.. I think I have enough info info to fix this (when I get the new stuff).

/Richard

Hi,
No your talking about architecture compatibility but for the kernel you do need downwards capability. And that's what is important when you move between machines. The GNU/Linux distributions are generally distributed via the 'i86' with the family typically as 'i386'. If you are moving to a compatible family then no problem. If you move to a AMD64 you can still move since the compatibility for the 'i86' is still there. Sure you won't have the luxury of the 64 but the system should work.

Your statements are not clear;
You can move to a AMD64 from a 'i86' based system without suffering anything but the efficiency of the 64 bit cpu. No re-installation unless you want to migrate to a 64 bit distribution from a 32 bit based.