Key Drivers to remember

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Vonkzilla

Vonkzilla

Honorable
Aug 29, 2013
54
0
10,630
Hi,

I have a custom build that im having issues with. I continuously get BSOD's after i launch a game. the system runs fine until its put under a load it would seem. i have another thread going about this problem http://

Im very close to doing a complete re-format although id like to avoid it as it always seems like a lot of work for someone like myself. my question is if i do a clean reformat what are your guys' preferred sequence of steps to take when uninstalling an OS and re-installing. drivers, windows updates, etc.

Also, im afraid of missing key drivers. is there any good free driver download software or should i just write down a list and make sure to check them all off? graphics, mobo, bios, chipset, SSD, Lan....

i thought i might be able to find someone who posted a list or step by step guide on the sequence and procedures to take when doing a complete install but i had no luck. could only find articles that pertained to windows XP launch.... a little too out dated for me.

any link, comments or anything at all is helpful and appreciated.

thanks Tomshardware community.
 
Solution
RealBeast
It really depends what devices that your motherboard has. After the build but before any install I run memtest. Just my habit (I always download the most recent), I install OS, chipset driver, LAN, sound, video, wireless/bluetooth (if applicable), USB 3 (if not native)...
Sort by date Sort by votes
Vonkzilla

Vonkzilla

Honorable
Aug 29, 2013
54
0
10,630


Thanks realbeast,

But im looking for a step by step on re-installing windows, which key drivers you should make sure to have, which order to install drivers, when to run windows updates, etc, etc. even if you know of a link to direct me to thatd be great. i just cant find anything.

thanks
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Vonkzilla

Vonkzilla

Honorable
Aug 29, 2013
54
0
10,630


thanks mousemonkey,

You would install anti-virus before you even installed your network drivers. so does that mean youd have all your drivers on a flash stick or something and then once windows has installed youd plug in the flash and start installing anti-virus, and then drivers after that? this would all be done before windows updates as well then since you havent installed any network drivers yet?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
RealBeast

RealBeast

Titan
Moderator
Sep 13, 2010
17,112
474
104,790
It really depends what devices that your motherboard has. After the build but before any install I run memtest. Just my habit (I always download the most recent), I install OS, chipset driver, LAN, sound, video, wireless/bluetooth (if applicable), USB 3 (if not native). Then I do all the Windows Updates. Antivirus (I use MS Security Essentials but there are many good products).

Then Firefox, and all the other junk -- Java, iTunes, Shockwave, Acrobat, Flash, etc.

Then I run Prime95 for 4 or 5 hours with CoreTemp monitoring my temps.

If it passes that, then I load all my other programs.

Now this takes time and that is one reason that I have a spare 480GB SSD that I clone my SSD to after any significant changes, I would not expect most people to do that but I have a lot of programs that take a lot of time to install and lots of VMs. I also back everything up frequently to a fairly large NAS 8x3TB RAID 6, and key data is backed up to servers online. Paranoid? Yes, but I will only lose my data if we have an ELE. :D

Oh, and you mentioned an SSD -- do your install with only the SSD (no HDDs) attached.

And I never trust USB HDDs or docks for anything important, they fail too often. I did find a very cool little device to backup stuff to drives with direct connections to SATA connectors and PSU power -- THIS.

 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
Vonkzilla

Vonkzilla

Honorable
Aug 29, 2013
54
0
10,630


Wow, you are certainly prepared. i dont want to lose my video footage of old girlfriends either, but man thats extensive...

cool device you found too.

so you would recommend i unplug my sata drives until all drivers installed and windows is updated (on my SSD) and then power down machine and plug in the sata drives after? these are internal sata's not and external USB if that matters.

My mobo is an asus m5a 99x evo r2. there is a utility driver called AI Suite for it. it includes a whole bunch of tuning software. do you recommend installing utility drivers like this or not? http://

Also, at what point would you update your BIOS? i did update mine before, so if i were to do a clean install, I wouldnt have to update BIOS again right? that remains intact? maybe i updated it at the wrong time before?

im starting to realize how finiky systems can be if drivers and updates are done in the incorrect order, thats why im asking 101 Q's. thanks for the help/info/patience. I like your style though Realbeast.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
RealBeast

RealBeast

Titan
Moderator
Sep 13, 2010
17,112
474
104,790
I don't really use tuning software, I like to do everything manually on my computers and network, but lots of folks like AI Suite. Being a bit of a control freak, I like to do everything myself.

I generally only update a bios if it has something to improve performance or for a new CPU if I have one, although I have no fear of bios updates since all of my machines run on UPSs so power failure during bios update is not an issue.

I certainly spend too much time and money on my systems and networks, but never really experience any issues and stream BluRay images to a bunch of machines and SMART TVs. I also test a lot of wireless and powerline devices for clients before I implement them, but my own network is wired gigabit. Hopefully no jinx, but no BSODs on any of my machines or any client machines over the last year (probably 50-75 Win7 machines) and I have them all on a rigid backups to Carbonite or to one of my arrays.

Sadly, I spend a lot of time on the storage forum and I see way too many problems, especially with USB drives so I have a higher level of paranoia about backups. You don't really need to to do off site storage online, but I would recommend that all key files (kids pictures and the like) be burned to DVDs and stuck in a safety deposit box. My neighbor's house burned down a few years ago and he came to me for help but not much you can do with melted drives.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom