Windows 7 AHCI SATA driver for a GA-F2A75M-HD2

fritos96

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Hi,

I'm trying to install Windows 7 64 bit on my new build with a GA-F2A75M-HD2 (rev. 3.0) motherboard and got to the point where I had to load the SATA driver. So I went to Gigabyte's website and downloaded the SATA AHCI driver, unpacked it and burned it to a CD. I then put the CD in my new build. When I point the installer to the folder on the CD where the 64 bit driver is installed, it says that no device drivers were found. However, when I point it to where the 32 bit driver is (both drivers came in the same download) it finds the driver and gives me the option to install it. However, since I want to install Windows 7 64 bit, not 32 bit, installing the 32 bit driver didn't sound like a good idea. Any advice as to what I should do?

Thanks in advance for the help.
 
Solution
Windows 7 and up come with native AHCI drivers so I expect it to work. The gigabyte drivers may be optimzed for the motherboard.

I installed Win7 on a GA-EP45-UD3R with the bios set to AHCI with no problems. I later installed the Intel RST (AHCI) drivers.
Are you sure you downloaded the correct files. I selected win 7 64 bit as the OS and downloaded them. They are all 64 bit.

I don't think they provide both 32 bit and 64 bit drivers together considering it makes you specify which version of the OS you are running.
 

fritos96

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I think so. I went to http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4759#dl, selected Windows 7 64 Bit, selected the AMD AHCI Driver American download, ran the exe file, and unpacked the drivers. It created a folder called AHCI_w7.

Inside the AHCI_w7 folder I found 4 folders: LH, LH64A, W7, and W764A.

According to the readme in those folders:
LH64A - Vista, x64
LH - Vista, x86
W764A - Windows 7, x64
W7 - Windows 7, x86

I thought all of the drivers in the download would be 64 bit Windows 7 drivers too but the readme file made me question my initial assumption.

Did I go wrong here somewhere? Thanks again for the help.
 
Odd, the first time I looked at these, I just made sure 64 bit drivers were included. After looking at them more closely and reading the readme file it appears as the OS install (F6) may be missing some files.

From the readme:
Installation Notes

The driver can be installed either during OS setup or as an update

To install the driver during OS setup use the setup dialog window (use the advanced settings to configure the Windows Setup program to use the specific driver; click “Load Driver” to load the specific driver from the media that includes the driver).

To install the driver as an update use the Windows Device Manager.


Did you try just pointing it at the root folder (ACHI-w7) to see if it would automatically look in the W764A folder? Currently I see the .msi installer within the W764A folder, but this is to be used after the OS install if needed.

You might want to try downloading from Asia and see if theirs includes any extra files necessary for the F6 install.
 

fritos96

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Yes, I did try pointing it at the root folder and it did not detect any drivers at all, which makes me think it is only searching the folder I point it to and not any subfolders for the driver. I just tried downloading it from Asia and that would only let me load the 32 bit drivers as well.
 
Well, you can try contacting Gigabyte support and see what they have to say or wait to see if you get some other replies. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. It's odd that it seems to be missing files even though it says you can use the F6 option during install.
 

fritos96

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Ok thanks. Do you know what would happen if I didn't install the driver until after I installed Windows?
 
Windows 7 and up come with native AHCI drivers so I expect it to work. The gigabyte drivers may be optimzed for the motherboard.

I installed Win7 on a GA-EP45-UD3R with the bios set to AHCI with no problems. I later installed the Intel RST (AHCI) drivers.
 
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fritos96

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I just tried that and everything seems to be working well now. Thank you for the help!