Computer upgrade issue - Do I have to reinstall the OS?

[TakeyB0y2]

Okay, for the record, I googled the shit outta this issue and couldn't find an exact answer for my question, so here it is:

I just upgraded both the CPU and motherboard for my PC (which is running Vista by the way). Now, whenever I turn it on, it'll seemingly load just fine until it gets to the startup screen.


This screen:

And it'll be VERY dim, and will only last like, a second before it'll crash to a blue screen that only appears for a split second before the computer restarts. Then after all the boot stuff, then a message will appear saying that Windows could not start up possibly due to a hardware change. Then it'll give me the option to try doing a system repair (doesn't help) or start windows normally, which will just do the same thing all over again.

Alrighty... So... My question is: do I have to reinstall my OS and/or reformat my harddrive?

If no, does anyone know what the issue could be?

 

[Supernova1138]

Yeah, you might need to reinstall Windows. When you changed the motherboard, you switched to a different chipset. That often causes Windows to freak out, and in a lot of cases prevents the OS from booting at all. Sometimes you get lucky with switching motherboards and you only have to boot into Windows and install the new chipset drivers. In this case you will likely have to reinstall.

One more thing you can try is to try to boot into safe mode and then install your new chipset drivers. Hit the F8 key before the starting Windows screen hits, that should get you into your startup options. Select boot into safe mode. If Windows successfully boots into safe mode, install the chipset drivers from the CD ROM provided with the motherboard. Then reboot, that should hopefully fix it.

If you can't get into safe mode or the installing the chipset drivers from safe mode doesn't work, your only other option is to reinstall the OS.