Problems installing Win 7 (heeelp!)

[fustercluck]

Howdy

Background story:
Trying to get my new computer up and running (on a spare comp right now). I got all my new parts in nice and quick, easy peazy. I was thinking this would be a record fast upgrade/installation, but I got ahead of myself. Surprisingly installing Windows 7 (x64) is the biggest pain. My last system ran Windows 7 and I don't recall having any issues installing it, but this time it's not going good.

THE PROBLEM:
I had a Windows 7 x64 boot dvd ready to go, ready to install on my new SSD drive. So I set my CD-rom as the boot device, got to the win7 install screen, agreed to terms, etc. Then, it asked for a driver for my CD-rom or else I couldn't advance. It shouldn't need a driver, but, whatever, it wants to be picky. So I put the motherboard CD in thinking maybe it'll find a 'driver' it could use for the CD/DVD rom drive...but nothing to be found. SO I decide to get a USB stick and try to install Windows 7 via USB, averting whatever problem it was having with the CD-rom drive.

But, I ended up having pretty much the exact same issue, only this time it won't detect the SSD drive, and it's also asking for installation drivers for it, which it doesn't have (at least didn't come with a CD or anything like that). When it asks to scan for drivers from the CD drive, I have my Mobo setup disc in there and it actually does say it found a compatible driver (Intel(R)7 Series/C216 Chipset Family SATA AHCI controller) but after it 'installs' nothing changes.

I don't why it's giving me all this trouble, seems like it should be able to access the CDRom/SSD just fine without having to install drivers for each, which may not even exist. And it's accessing the CD-rom drive already since the win 7 install booted up as well as the motherboard setup CD which wasn't any help. I also think it's accessing the SSD find because when it asks to browse for drivers, I see a new drive letter there.

Stumped am I! I can't get Win 7 installed and don't know what to do.

Here's my new parts (don't think it'll help but good to know i guess)
Asrock Z75 mobo
Intek i5-3570k
Sansa 240gb extreme SSD
8gb Kingston dd3 memory

 

[TheELF]

http://www.asrock.com/MB/overview.asp?cat=Download&os=Win7&Model=Z75 Pro3
Is this your board???
Download this SATA RAID Driver (For system to read from floppy diskette during Windows installation) decompress it and put it on an usb start from the dvd and once you get to the disk selection screen press on load drivers ,navigate to the usb and it should find your disks.

(Take a snap of any error message and post it if you can.)

 

[Kyanzes]

You could also try setting the SATA controller to IDE mode if possible. You can always change that later.

 

[fustercluck]

Darn still can't get anything going. I downloaded the SATA RAID driver like you said and put it on a USB drive, but if I navigate to the exact folder with the driver (iaAHCL.inf) it says no signed drivers were found, doesn't list anything at all.

I also tried setting the SATA controller to IDE and that didn't get me anywhere either unfortunately. Both good ideas but this sumbitch still doesn't want to install. I think it's just not detecting the SSD for some reason. Thanks for the replies, keep the help coming because I'm about out of ideas

EDIT: I've found that the motherboard will only detect the SSD if it's connected to one of the SATA2 slots on the mobo, if it's in either of the SATA3 slots, it's not found. Hopefully they aren't messed up because SATA3 is twice as fast as SATA2...but for now I guess I'll get win7 installed while it's detecting the drive.

 

[lyssword]

I think it's because the drive defaults to sata 3 mode, and sata 3 is an additional driver you have to install after windows installs. I think once you download driver, switch the ports and it should
b fine.
*edit: i might have confused it with usb3.0, but yeah try installing intel inf drivers and then swap the HD's

 

[fustercluck]

Sounds good, thanks - Trying to figure out which mobo drivers to install, some seem pretty unnecessary

Having a problem with my computer locking up after installing drivers. It might have just been the Creative X-fi drivers but I don't know. I probably don't have to install drivers for that anyways. I've had to use system restore about 8 times.

 

[lyssword]

in bios, try to set SATA settings to "ide mode" not ahci, not sure if that will help

 

[fustercluck]

yeah that's also worth a shot.

Seems like my computer isn't identifying a lot of stuff, judging from the Device manager:

Not sure if that's necessarily bad or how to fix it.

 

[lyssword]

from the driver page:
ethernet controller - if you are using lan, u need to download : Realtek Lan driver ver:7048. Usually you need lan drivers for motherboards which are newer than win7.

audio controller - thats the onboard Realtek high definition audio driver ver:R2.66. You mentioned that you're using audigy, so i guess you can just disable it in d. manager/bios.

pci simple communications/smbus controller - you'll need INF driver ver:9.3.0.1019

unknown device that's probably usb 3.0 - Intel USB 3.0 driver ver:1.0.3.214

video controller - most likely intel hd4000 on your i5 3570k chip: VGA driver ver:15.26.1.2618, or u can disable it in bios/in device manager if you have a video card.

 

[fustercluck]

This guy knows his stuff thanks. The INF driver has some odd instructions that leads me to think I don't need it.

Got USB3 installed

still can't figure out what to install to get SATA3 ports working.

The realtek audio driver didn't do anything seemingly, It's installed, but still got no sound and the only thing that shows up in audio properties is AMD HDMI Output which came with video drivers.

 

[Ketchup]

Yes, you need the inf drivers.

 

[fustercluck]

Will install em'

Still having big problems getting audio to work. Creative X-fi drivers cause my system to freeze after being installed for whatever reason. Sometimes computer will freeze up 3 seconds after booting, sometimes 3 minutes, but it always crashes. I always have to go into safe mode and use system restore to go back to the point before i installed the audio drivers. I've tried a couple different versions of drivers (tried the beta drivers most recently) Also, there's a red light on my sound card (x-fi), but that might have always been there for all I know. Urrrgh, I need to get audio working.

Damn you eternal computer problems!

 

[Ketchup]

I would save it for after you install everything else. But, even then, it is a Creative, so it's hard to say if it will end up working or not. And the reason I say that is because Creative HATES updating their drivers.

 

[lyssword]

The realtek audio driver didn't do anything seemingly, It's installed, but still got no sound and the only thing that shows up in audio properties is AMD HDMI Output which came with video drivers.

You are connecting headphone/speaker to the onboard sound, not the creative card, right?

 

[Ketchup]

You are connecting headphone/speaker to the onboard sound, not the creative card, right?

And set up in the BIOS? I could see you disabling it with the Creative card in there, or the board disabling if it is set to AUTO.

 

[fustercluck]

Well, I'd definitely prefer the creative card (x-fi) to onboard sound, if I can get it working. I've actually had the x-fi working for a while until it froze up again, so at least it's functional, in some sense

 

[lyssword]

And set up in the BIOS? I could see you disabling it with the Creative card in there, or the board disabling if it is set to AUTO.

I think it's best to disable whichever audio device you're not using. Some systems might be fine with 2 at same time, but mine had weird sound issue when I didn't disable either one

 

[fustercluck]

Well I can't use the onboard sound either for some reason, just plug my headphones in back there and nothing happens. Still only 'AMD HDMI Output' is listen in my sound properties. Dunno what happened to the realtek driver.

Thanks for the halps, lots of issues, i know

 

[Ketchup]

Are we talking internal or external x-fi?

 

[fustercluck]

internal, and never had any trouble with it before this installation. Gonna get the x-fi drivers another go I guess, but pretty sure it's gonna end up in freezing. Still can't get my SATA3 ports to work either, if I could get past these two huge issues I'd be on my way :<

Going to RMA the board tomorrow unless I figure out some miraculous cure (which is always possible in the computer world ). At least I still got my old PC to use while the RMA gets handled

 

[lyssword]

yeah, sometimes its' just faulty motherboard, I had one mobo where only 1 memory slot worked

 

[Ketchup]

It happens, stinks though.

 

[fustercluck]

Indeed! Thanks for all the help, though.

I found the problem with the Creative sound card is quite common and Creative just really really sucks at customer support and updating drivers. For some reason you can't install the audio drivers on an SSD while using Windows 7 or higher...or some BS like that.

Some creative sound cards are really nice but not worth the trouble you'll likely run into with incompatibility.

 

[Ketchup]

Indeed! Thanks for all the help, though.

I found the problem with the Creative sound card is quite common and Creative just really really sucks at customer support and updating drivers. For some reason you can't install the audio drivers on an SSD while using Windows 7 or higher...or some BS like that.

Some creative sound cards are really nice but not worth the trouble you'll likely run into with incompatibility.

Yeah, that's I mentioned them in post 7. The good news is that motherboard sound has gotten really good. Heck, mine is even Dolby. And you can plug your speakers into whatever port you want, and just tell the software what channel (or function) you want it to be.