:lolOK, few things here.
Ultracade came out in several different configurations. The early ones were built using the "Graphite" PC's, the second gens were in a little crappy mini PC and the last gen used a PC board mounted to a metal try. The first gen's are the most reliable (go figure) but they do suffer from bad caps on the mobo's. The second gens suffer from bad batteries ALL THE TIME! Easy way to tell is to just push the power button on the front of the PC. If it fires up then your battery is probably toast (easy fix FYI). The third gens suffer from bad caps on the mobo and bad power supplies. Let us know which one you have...
Also, if you change the hard drive or mother board your friend will have to get a new install key from GlobalVR (they bought Ultracade technologies). The first and second gen UC's use intel 810/815/835/845 based mobo's. The last ones were 865 (I think, might still be 845). The software will only boot if it finds the correct chipset, integrated graphics and onboard sound. If your missing any of those the OS will not load.
All generations use all the various Intel boards - there is no one specific board used for the various generations. You can find Ultracades (dedicated) that are the same 'generation' that have any 1 of the configurations you mentioned. The latest one being used by GlobalVR is a mini-tower or desktop case. I have a dedicated Ultracade (2005'ish) that is still using the open faced PC on a metal mount which is using an 810e board. Anything from an 810 up to an 865 (and 895 I think) will work.
UltracadeOS (JoshuaOS) will boot on any 810-895 board (I've yet to find one that will not boot it.) If you look in the driver section on the OS CD you can see what is supported.
Also, the key is hashed with the serial number of the harddrive on which it is installed.
Copy and pasted from another forum post