How well does linux take to changing mobo and processor?

[TaRioNyX]

Hey,

I just found my processor fan off and my hard drive light constantly on. The mobo fan headers were dead because I tested the fan. In order to get a new mobo, I might have to get a new processor. Will linux have problems like the 2K and XP flavors of windows will?

Thanks

[bwkaz]

If you run your distro's kernel (i.e. you haven't upgraded it yourself), then it shouldn't have any problems at all (I know, I love it!). In that case, skip the rest of this post.

If you have compiled your own kernel, then you will probably have to recompile with support for the new motherboard's IDE controller, and possibly its sound/network/video if applicable.

Processor shouldn't matter. Any code that will run on a 386 will run on any (Intel or AMD 32-bit) processors on the market. If you're switching from an AMD to a P4 (I would question why, but I guess that's personal taste), then you might want to check the kernel config under which processor it's compiled for. If it's set to K6 or whatnot, then change it to P4. Actually, you may want to check that even if you're switching the other way. The P3 setting will work with Athlons, but P4 might not.

[TaRioNyX]

Yea, I'm running my own kernel, so I will have to see if it boots ok....I'm probably going to switch from a p3 933, to an Athlon XP 1600+ or 1800+......also i heard that making sure the athlon flag is set in the kernel can increase performance greatly....

[godot]

Some motherboards are strange and need special options compiled into the kernel (usually ATA drivers). As long as it's a mainstream chipset and manufacturer I doubt you'll need to change anything. Just don't try to run a kernel compiled for AMD on a P4 or something. That won't work.

[dunbar]

And to my surprise, everything worked.

Before: Via Apollo Pro based mobo, Slot 1, running PIII/500.

After: Via KT133 based mobo, socket A running Athlon Tbird 1GHz.

I simply dropped the old hard disks into the new box, and although I was planning on a total reformat and reinstall, I figured, why not? I booted it and it all worked!

I immediately reinstalled anyway, because I knew the chipset would eventually wreak havoc on the data - 13 gigs is slow to reinstall.

[Alex Cavnar, aka alc6379]

Originally posted by TaRioNyX
Yea, I'm running my own kernel, so I will have to see if it boots ok....I'm probably going to switch from a p3 933, to an Athlon XP 1600+ or 1800+......also i heard that making sure the athlon flag is set in the kernel can increase performance greatly....

What are you doing with your old processor?

If the mobo's gone bad, you could just replace it and not have to spend the money on the processor, too...

[Icarus]

If you were running a P3 and the fan died, the CPU will be ok...if it was an Athlon, check for burn damage (I've seen these things go up in flames without a HS/Fan, literlly)

I've upgraded PCs with Linux a few times without problems, mostly Athlon 1Ghz to XP +1600 and Asus MB to MSI/Soyo. At most the system should see the new board and ask if you want to use diferent drivers for something (if anything was on-board)

[godot]

It'll ask if you want to use different drivers if you use kudzu, because kudzu believes for some reason that a person who installs a sound card may not want drivers modprobed for it. On the other hand, if you use discover and debian then it'll just modprobe the drivers and be done with it.