If you aren’t replacing the motherboard there is nothing to be concerned about. If you are, you need to consider whether you are switching to another brand of CPU. I’ve done both scenarios, and switching from Intel to AMD, or vice versa, is a pain, but it can be done.
For switching motherboards it is best to keep the old hard drive, until you get the new systen XP activated. XP will usually activate without a call to Microsoft if you don’t swap the hard drive. You will need the motherboard driver CD after the swap.
Did I mention that even if you are keeping your old hard drive, you should first clone it. Once you start down this road you need complete backup of the entire system. Preferabley done before you damage anything.
Once you have replaced a motherboard and gotten XP activatd you can upgrade the hard drive. Trying to do both at the same time will be interpreted as an attempt to install XP on two computers.
I think changing the motherboard will trigger awareness in the MS checking routines and likely may cause a new install and all the headache that goes with that.
Others might be more knowledgable...since I rarely run any MS stuff.
Not exactly. First clone the old hard drive to a new one. Both WD and Seagate have free downloadable software for cloning drives.
Assuming the new computer or motherboard is ready, install the old hard drive as the one and only drive. If you are not switching CPU brands, it should boot up without trouble.
Next, you may run into the problem that the network card drivers are not available, so you can't immediately activate XP.
I've seen situations where no activation was necessary, ones where I was given the thirty days grace, and ones where I had to call Microsoft. This may depend on how many time a particular XP license has been moved. I do a lot of upgrades, and some systems have been upgraded more than once.
If the network works, you may sail through activation. If not, you will need to install the motherboard drivers first. If XP says you can't proceed, you will need to call MS and argue that you are repairing the computer. The fact that you haven't switched hard drives (yet) is in your favor. I've had to do this three times out of a couple dozen upgrades.
Something I forgot. I've seen Dell and Gateway machines that had XP installed with a CD key different from the one on the sticker on the side of the machine. There's a program called keyfinder that will tell you what the actual key is. The worst time I had with Microsoft involved one of these situations. I find that persistence on the phone pays off. They seem to have instructions that anyone who asserts they are not pirating the software will win. You need to know, however, that OEM versions of XP are not licensed to move to a new computer. So any discussion needs to involve a repair.