Changing out mother board without reinstalling win 8.1

[CGT80]

I have a Gigabyte brix mini desktop computer........actually two of them. It is an all in one compact unit that just has RAM and a SDD added, then win 8.1 loaded. I sent one brix in for repair of the headphone jack but they are trying to blame the problem on me when it is 5 months old and has a 3 year warranty. They don't want to stand behind the warranty.

I have a second brix to use and I might get a new brix back to replace the bad one that they can't seem to fix. That means a new motherboard, mac address etc. but I have windows installed on my SDD. Can I plug that in and have it run with no problem since the hardware is identical except for the serial or any ID that is built into the board? I thought windows somehow knew the ID of your board and would keep you from running it on a new system. There is a chance I may get stuck with the original brix, and in that case I could just run my SSD as before and have the computer again, so I didn't want to screw up windows and have to reload it, if swapping the old drive to a different brix would corrupt window.

I have 2 backups of my files, plus my SSD is good, but my bookmarks on firefox have not been backed up in a few weeks. I do have firefox sync, but I kept firefox from updating on my other machine and the newer firefox on this machine will not load my sync account. They updated sync and didn't convey any messages to me that I needed to update to be able to use it. Right now I have syn on my tablet, but can't seem to save the bookmarks from android firefox to be able to put them in a new sync account. I thought about trying to load an old firefox version on this second machine so I can access the old sync, save the bookmarks and break the sync, then make a new sync with their latest release.

I hope to hear back from gigabyte tomorrow, but I am not holding my breath that they will make anything right, based on the reviews from other newegg customers. Maybe I should have listened to the bad reviews. There were a lot of good reviews and I like the mini system, but it isn't perfect.

Summary:

Gigabyte customer service is crap and the brix has some flaws (wifi and bluetooth suck, but I run ethernet) headphone jack is weak.

Will windows 8.1 run on a second brix unit that has the same hardware but just obviously different serial number and mac address or motherboard ID numbers (network, sound, video, etc. are all built in and I know mac address shouldn't matter as I have changed NIC's on my desktop before, and I don't know if the mother board/BIOS has ID or serial numbers that windows uses as a finger print).

Thanks

[bonusweb]

I have a Gigabyte brix mini desktop computer........actually two of them. It is an all in one compact unit that just has RAM and a SDD added, then win 8.1 loaded. I sent one brix in for repair of the headphone jack but they are trying to blame the problem on me when it is 5 months old and has a 3 year warranty. They don't want to stand behind the warranty.

I have a second brix to use and I might get a new brix back to replace the bad one that they can't seem to fix. That means a new motherboard, mac address etc. but I have windows installed on my SDD. Can I plug that in and have it run with no problem since the hardware is identical except for the serial or any ID that is built into the board? I thought windows somehow knew the ID of your board and would keep you from running it on a new system. There is a chance I may get stuck with the original brix, and in that case I could just run my SSD as before and have the computer again, so I didn't want to screw up windows and have to reload it, if swapping the old drive to a different brix would corrupt window.

I have 2 backups of my files, plus my SSD is good, but my bookmarks on firefox have not been backed up in a few weeks. I do have firefox sync, but I kept firefox from updating on my other machine and the newer firefox on this machine will not load my sync account. They updated sync and didn't convey any messages to me that I needed to update to be able to use it. Right now I have syn on my tablet, but can't seem to save the bookmarks from android firefox to be able to put them in a new sync account. I thought about trying to load an old firefox version on this second machine so I can access the old sync, save the bookmarks and break the sync, then make a new sync with their latest release.

I hope to hear back from gigabyte tomorrow, but I am not holding my breath that they will make anything right, based on the reviews from other newegg customers. Maybe I should have listened to the bad reviews. There were a lot of good reviews and I like the mini system, but it isn't perfect.

Summary:

Gigabyte customer service is crap and the brix has some flaws (wifi and bluetooth suck, but I run ethernet) headphone jack is weak.

Will windows 8.1 run on a second brix unit that has the same hardware but just obviously different serial number and mac address or motherboard ID numbers (network, sound, video, etc. are all built in and I know mac address shouldn't matter as I have changed NIC's on my desktop before, and I don't know if the mother board/BIOS has ID or serial numbers that windows uses as a finger print).

Thanks

Fresh install if possible is always better. But if its truly the same it should work, windows may popup and ask you to reauthorized license or something, you may have to call in to Microsoft. But its no big deal.

[SMR510]

It should work, I have swapped OS drives on two computers at work (they have the same Mobo) and all I had to do was swap the Windows key. You may have to call Microsoft and tell them what happened but that should be worst case scenario.

[MaHoTex]

Sounds like their warranty policy was written by the same guy that wrote the Sig Sauer policy.


I see no reason you should have no problem with a mother board swap in this case. As SMR said, worst case you call MS and get the activation key.

[CGT80]

thanks guys

[Wallabing]

good,You may have to call Microsoft and tell them what happened but that should be worst case scenario.

With windows 8.1 OEM, your allowed to swap out motherboards no problem.

[the86d]

W/XP and newer, I have seen about a 70% success rate in swapping boards out with no issues (you do have to install drivers for the new boards hardware), but with what I have seen there is about a 30% rate of drivers causing blue-screens when swapping to a different technology (nVidia chipset installed, then swapped to an Intel chipset... or was it vice-virsa?). Same model has never been an issue.

I don't have enough hands-on w/ Win8.x and hardware swaps, but worst case reinstall (you have an SSD, it can't take too long), however if you don't have a WinSerial you might have to buy one...

[furyous68]

The OS shouldn't be an issue. You should just have to re-register it using the product code.

As for the Gigabyte warranty... I'm surprised they're treating you that way. I love their products, and have never had an issue with them honoring the warranty. I've had to send back a couple video cards & 1 motherboard in the span of the last 8 years or so. The mobo was actually 60 days out of warranty & they still took care of it. I wonder if you just got the wrong person that day.

[CGT80]

Gigabyte's whole operation is a bit unprofessional. There are many reviews stating problems with customer service, but they also have good reviews on products. My desktop motherboard worked just fine. I left an honest (not good) review on newegg based on my experiences with this RMA. They posted that I should contact the Gigabyte-newegg vip customer service at an email they listed. I sent off a 1-2 page email stating what happened and how it compared to the customer service I received from Tek Republic (excellent service). I asked some tough questions regarding the way they handled my claim and the fact that they had plenty of bad reviews from other people stating that they would not fix the product or honor the warranty, or that they sent back broken equipment.

I expected such a big company, who is known for some great products, to fix it or replace it (brix mini desktop computer) if necessary. They were ready to ship the broken part back to me rather than replacing it. They sent an email to my 1-2 page letter. They confirmed my RMA number and said to call the customer service number for status updates. They didn't bother to comment at all on their customer service. I didn't expect them to be good enough to apologize for the hassle or to give any honest answers. Their post on my newegg review looks more like a poor attempt to save face with newegg users than a response made because they really care. I may have been unlucky, but I dealt with three people initially and they all gave me the feeling they were not going to take care of the broken headphone jack on the computer. The last couple guys have taken care of me so far. I asked in my email, if they have made an effort to improve customer service.

Today I called for an update. They said the mother board was replaced and it hadn't shipped out yet but was waiting to be picked up by UPS. They are quite slow at getting things done. Time will tell if the unit is actually new or fixed when it comes back. The wifi and blue tooth have sucked from day 1 with the brix, but I use ethernet at my desk, so I ignored those flaws. The brix runs nice and fit my needs perfectly.

I only have this one transaction with Gigabyte to judge them on, so I can't say if they have fixed things since the other reviews I read and I am just a slip up, or if things have not changed for them and they happen to be hit and miss with customer service.

If they sent a new unit, it should be identical, as the audio, video, network, processor, etc. are all built in. I only added my SSD and RAM. Windows isn't bad to load, but it isn't fun. I can't access my firefox bookmarks in sync on the new version, so I was hoping to get windows to run again. I backed up my bookmarks a while back, so I would only be missing a few if I went that route. It might be possible to copy the firefox bookmarks file off the old windows or load an old firefox version to load my old sync account. I might just set my bookmarks up with an auto backup now, as firefox updated their sync without me knowing. I use win 8.1 auto backup but it only backs up certain folders (everything but program data files). I should not have relied on firefox sync and I also chose to not update to the latest version, which I didn't like all that much. The new version may have alerted me to make a new sync account since they were switching people over.

The firefox issue isn't a major problem just a PITA, as I could have been using my bookmarks on my other computer if the sync worked right. Their android firefox version will not let me save a list of my bookmarks, or else I could have transferred that list to my computer, as my tablet has been up to date with sync.

[CGT80]

I figured out how to download firefox 28.0. I saved the bookmarks on the computer I am using and then loaded the old version and was able to get into my sync account. I saved those bookmarks as well and made a new sync account, then logged into the new account with my tablet.

Instead of being lazy, I should have just tried this two weeks ago. I also hoped to have my computer back sooner.

Well, now that I have my bookmarks again, it is easier to use the internet (yes I do visit sites other than calguns) and I just have to wait for delivery of my computer on Monday (according to tracking from UPS).

Technology has spoiled me, and it really sucks when it doesn't work right.