If I install a refurbished motherboard into my computer, would I have to reinstall the operating system?

Nope. I changed mine recently and i didnt have to reinstall my OS. As long as you are using the same harddrive as your main drive it will boot directly to your last working OS.

By the way, if your PC crshed its possible that whatever crashed it is in your drive. Both hardware and software can cause a crash. You might want to have it diagnosed first before you act on a solution. Just saying

The operating system is installed on your hard drive, not the motherboard. So replacing the MOBO does not mean you have to reinstall the OS.

The only issue you might have pertains to your Windows activation. Sometimes changing the MOBO causes the windows activation to stop working. The reason is because the NIC is a part of your MOBO and the NIC is where the computer mac address is. The Mac address is a critical part of the activation process. Thus when you have a new MOBO, it means you have a new Mac address, which means the original activation becomes void once Windows reconnects to the Windows activation server and sees this new mac address. It means you will have to call Microsoft and have them manually re-activate your copy of WIndows on their activation server. The whole process take about 10 minutes. To date I have NEVER had an issue with Microsoft fixing this problem when I have an activation issue as a result of a new MOBO causing this problem.

Probably not, any drivers that it doesn't have, it can reinstall by downloading off of the Internet.

Only way to know is to give it a try.

One time I installed a replacement motherboard, I was prompted to re-enter the product key. In which case I re-entered the old product key and everything worked without a hitch.

However, for the 2nd system.... I was able to re-enter the product key and that worked but a couple years later, after a Windows update, the OS claimed the product key was invalid.

If you have problems you are supposed to call HP.

probably not. you would have to install the device drivers for the motherboard -- that may be simple or difficult -- depends on brand. watch out for the assumption that the HDD is new and unused [and thus that the drivers will format the HDD for you] -- you need instructions for an HDD that is already installed.

No you will not but make sure that when you install the new motherboard that the very first thing you do is F2 your computer at start up and put you in BIOS and from bios click default settings quick save this will give your bios the chance to interact with the motherboard for the first time and not try to interact with the old one. Make sure that if you're replacing the motherboard you also replace the ram no sense in replacing a motherboard and leaving the old Ram there

I would - Windows and Microsoft products in particular run of the machines UUID which is changed when you replace any internal component, so you might have activation issues as the checks on those software find that the system isn't the same one they were installed on.

If all of the components are the same, no.

The only time you would run into a problem is if the new board has different devices that are not supported by the O/S . Even then, most plug and play O/S's would boot, but you would have to install the correct device drivers. I've moved system drives from one system to a completely different system, and updated drivers afterward.

No. You do not need to reinstall the OS

The operating system resides on the mass storage device of the computer (usually a hard drive), not the motherboard