I'm building a new PC and giving my old one to my little brother. While transferring his hard drive to the new setup, the PC won't connect to the internet at all. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling the WiFi adapter drivers, used an Ethernet connection, and reset the network, but nothing seems to work. The biggest hardware change is swapping out an AMD GPU for an Nvidia one, but I don't understand how that would affect internet connectivity, especially since I can't download the Nvidia drivers without internet access. I'm also concerned because the hard drive came from a prebuilt PC, and I'm wondering if Windows 10 is causing issues with internet access. I'm really stuck and could use any help or advice!
2 Answers
It sounds like you're getting hit with some typical problems when moving a system drive to a new machine without a fresh Windows install. Windows often needs to adjust its settings for new hardware configurations, including drivers that can impact internet connectivity. If you switched out the GPU from AMD to Nvidia, that could definitely throw things off. The best approach would be to back up any crucial data and do a fresh install of Windows after moving the drive. This way, you'll ensure everything is configured correctly for the new hardware setup.
Yeah, reinstalling can wipe the drive, but during the process, you usually get options to keep files if you want. Just make sure to back everything up first! If you're able to, doing a clean install usually solves a lot of these issues since it adjusts to the new system.
But will reinstalling Windows wipe all the data on the drive?