CPU Transplant

[DrPop]

My brother already wiped the drive and installed an OEM copy on it. Not sure what that was though, my best guess was that HP made it so Windows was permanently bound to the board.

Now, I love me a good conspiracy theory, and I don't want to burst yours, but honestly, HP didn't do anything there, and neither did Microsoft. What happened is very typical Windows behavior. You installed a new mobo and GPU, and then it wouldn't boot the [old] OS. This is very normal and usual behavior for Windows, regardless of the "maker" of the PC. This has to do with the drivers and the registry that Windows creates when you install it on any particular machine.

Providing there was nothing more severe going on, the computer works perfectly on a fresh install of Windows, right?

[Aux10]

Now, I love me a good conspiracy theory, and I don't want to burst yours, but honestly, HP didn't do anything there, and neither did Microsoft. What happened is very typical Windows behavior. You installed a new mobo and GPU, and then it wouldn't boot the [old] OS. This is very normal and usual behavior for Windows, regardless of the "maker" of the PC. This has to do with the drivers and the registry that Windows creates when you install it on any particular machine.

Providing there was nothing more severe going on, the computer works perfectly on a fresh install of Windows, right?

It works perfectly now but I wouldn't be surprised lol.

[Fire$torm]

Oh sorry, I was under the impression you had reinstalled Windows after setting up the new system not still using the previous installed OS. So yeah, DP is correct. That behavior happens because the Windows installer configures the OS for the system hardware. Windows is too stupid, because it is mostly bloatware, to know what to do, unlike Linux which can adapt itself to a major hardware change.