mb & processor crash

Okay, here we go, My Transcend AKT4-2B and AMD 900Mhz pro. apparently burned up, the motherboard comes on but does nothing, no beeps just sits. Took the hard drive out and thru it in another computer and wouldn't boot. Then remembered that if you throw a hd in another computer, the op system may need to be reinstalled.

Then I put it in a ECS K7VZA that I had at home and it booted fine. Same processor and almost same mb.

My question is, does anyone know what I can buy and not have to reinstall everything? Is it specific to a socket a processor or does the mb have to be almost the same? Is there any criteria?

Thanks for anyones help.

Shane

PS - Running WinXP SP2

 

if you dont want to have to reinstall anything, you're going to need pretty much the exact same motherboard, or maybe a variation of the same one (some may be a deluxe version or a 'lite' version) though a variation might have different components..

 

Thats what I was afraid of, thanks!