Unable to access previous TM backups after re-selecting external drive

My MacBook Pro just came back from Apple repair, where it had its logic board replaced. (Hard drive is fine, and remained untouched.)
Upon getting it home and plugging in the external HD I've been using for Time Machine since November, TM would tell me that backup "failed" and that it "couldn't find the volume".
I tried turning TM off, deselecting the drive, then turning it back on and reselecting it. Now it tells me that there isn't enough room on the drive to perform a complete backup.
Problem is, that's not what I'm asking it to do! I just want it to recognize all my previous TM backups and continue doing its incremental work just as before.
I have a perfectly intact Backups.backupdb folder with three months' worth of valid TM incremental backups. Have I lost those forever? Am I going to be forced to erase this drive and start all over with TM?

RIGHT!!! I KNOW WHAT HAPPENED!!!! OK... Time Machine connects a computer to the respective folder, by the computers name and model computer. Since that is true, your computer's motherboard was replaced, which changes the addresses and id numbers, so Time Machine thinks it is a different computer. With that, Time Machine will not accept the fact that the computer has the same hard drive and will be stubborn to say that it will only be able to read the information from the finder and all it can do now is to start over. Unfortunately, Time Machine will stick to its guns to start a new backup.

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