Driver help! Installing on new build

[bryguy894]

Hey everyone! I posted in here a couple years ago looking for advice (which I graciously received) on building a computer...and I could finally afford it recently!

So...I just put together my first PC build. I'm using an i7 930 on a Gigabyte ga-x58a-ud3r mobo

I formatted a 15g flash drive with a legit copy of windows 7 (from this guide)
and I can successfully begin the windows 7 installation from boot, but when it starts "setting up" and looks for a driver to continue, I've hit a road block.

I browse the CD that came with the board and can find a number of drivers (only a couple of which show up when i un-check that "hide all incompatible drivers" box, but i have of course unsuccessfully tried using those)

...is there any way to determine my next step? could I have made an error when setting up my boot flash drive? am I looking in the right place for a driver? Unfortunately, it takes forever with each attempt I make at selecting a driver, so I don't want to continue guessing...

This computer is years in the making so I'm pretty antsy to troubleshoot this!


Thanks for any advice!

 

[bryguy894]

After doing some research, a couple things have been flagged in my mind:

1) At first, I thought my SATA dvd drive was defective, so during the entire installation attempt process, my case was open and I had a second, IDE dvd drive plugged in and chilling on the side. Could having a SATA and an IDE drive both plugged in have caused an issue?

2) I have read that there are bios settings I might want to change. I'm still a noob at bios tweaking though, so I'm not sure what it would be. Something about switching out of RAID, or into AHCS (or something), etc...

3) I wasn't plugged into my LAN. I don't think that matters until after Windows is installed, though.

Anyone out there that can give some input?

 

[Bolbi]

I think you're on to the solution. If you aren't installing Windows to 2 or more drives set up in a RAID array, make sure your SATA controller is set to AHCI mode in the BIOS.

 

[Jonmor68]

"I formatted a 15g flash drive with a legit copy of windows 7"
Why the reference to the flash drive?
I hope you're not trying to install Windows to the flash drive. You mention a SATA DVD, so presumably you are installing from a dvd.
You can not install Windows to a flash drive. You must install to a fixed drive, ie; hdd or ssd.

 

[Bolbi]

"I formatted a 15g flash drive with a legit copy of windows 7"
Why the reference to the flash drive?
I hope you're not trying to install Windows to the flash drive. You mention a SATA DVD, so presumably you are installing from a dvd.
You can not install Windows to a flash drive. You must install to a fixed drive, ie; hdd or ssd.

I think he means he's installing Windows from the flash drive, which is indeed possible. The DVD drive is in there to browse the mobo driver CD.

 

[bryguy894]

I think he means he's installing Windows from the flash drive, which is indeed possible. The DVD drive is in there to browse the mobo driver CD.

^ exactly

After much frustration last night, still no success. I did notice that the files I put on the flash drive (post format) only totaled 1.1gB which is too small...so I re-downloaded the .iso from my source and it's 2.7gB this time. However, it didn't seem to resolve the issue. Could it be that I experienced download interruptions during both downloads and the files I should be getting are even larger than 2.7gB? I hit my download limit from my source (MSDNAA I think) so I'll have to make a fuss for a chance to download it again.

My next idea is to re-burn my original dvd (before I tried with the flash drive) with the 2.7gB worth of data, although I have no reason to believe that's more reliable than the flash drive. I should note that when I double click the .iso and it prompts me to pick a drive to burn to, I get an "Invalid image" error. Could that be a false positive? Or a definite indication that even my second download is incomplete?

After that, I'm out of ideas. Maybe I'll install linux and set up a virtual drive to mount the iso, but I'd really rather not...

...

PS if anyone else is familiar with troubleshooting this, the verbatum errors I get during the Windows 7 setup are:

"Windows Install could not load the CD/DVD drive that contains the installation media.  Please provide the necessary drive or controller device drivers provided by your manufacturer."

and

"No device drivers were found" after I try with the drivers on my gigabyte CD

Thank you again for any input! I"ll be watching this thread all day at work

 

[bryguy894]

I think you're on to the solution. If you aren't installing Windows to 2 or more drives set up in a RAID array, make sure your SATA controller is set to AHCI mode in the BIOS.

no raid array...and I did make that AHCI adjustment.

 

[Bolbi]

Ah, that error message is helpful. Unfortunately, I think your second image is incomplete as well. Basically, Windows is telling you just that when you try to burn it to a DVD and when you try to install from that image on a flash drive. The "Windows Install could not load the CD/DVD drive..." just means that it couldn't find the installation media, which it assumes will be on a CD/DVD. The reason installing the drivers isn't helping is because there's nothing that needs drivers. The problem is not accessing the installation media; the media itself is corrupt.
Just on a hunch, I've noticed that my large downloads are sometimes (rarely, but it happens) incomplete when I'm using Firefox to download the file. Using IE or Chrome always works. So, if you're downloading with Firefox, try using a different browser.

 

[Ijack]

Why are you making life difficult for yourself? If you have a DVD drive why not install from the DVD?

Edit: Sorry, just noticed that you've tried to burn a DVD. But why try the flash drive in the first place? And where did you get the (legit) copy of Windows 7 from if you don't have a DVD?

 

[bryguy894]

Bolbi, thank you! I've been reading similar information but have had a hard time understanding it...I think I'll have to contact some support folks somewhere to get another attempt.

On a side note, my current comp's hard drive is full, so I've been deleting stuff as the file downloaded. That could have impacted it. I'll use IE and clear some extra space if I get another download!

ijack, I originally tried with a DVD, but it wasn't even starting the Windows 7 setup from that DVD, whereas the flash drive made it farther. (this was unknown to me at the time but it was because the file was incomplete)

 

[bryguy894]

Edit: Sorry, just noticed that you've tried to burn a DVD. But why try the flash drive in the first place? And where did you get the (legit) copy of Windows 7 from if you don't have a DVD?

I originally thought my DVD drive was to blame. Plus, I've installed Linux from USB before so I felt more prepared to do it that way...

I'm a CIS major (you wouldn't think so from how I'm failing at this! haha) at ASU and we have access to a free copy of Windows 7 and other MS products through MSDNAA ...its a download of an installer

 

[ravosavo]

I had similar problems loading win7 64 bit on my new build. It's very important to have that thumb drive bootable (i'm sure you did that.) But here's how I overcame the Sata driver issue: I loaded win7 onto an old IDE drive- validated it- and then cloned the whole thing to my Sata with Easus todo back-up. Remove the IDE drive and boot up to your new windows installation- viola! Took me a while to figure it out- and it is a pain- but it works and the software is free. Hope that helps.
BTW- I wiped the IDE drive afterwards because I'm not a pirate- just trying to get stuff to work...

 

[bryguy894]

I had similar problems loading win7 64 bit on my new build. It's very important to have that thumb drive bootable (i'm sure you did that.) But here's how I overcame the Sata driver issue: I loaded win7 onto an old IDE drive- validated it- and then cloned the whole thing to my Sata with Easus todo back-up. Remove the IDE drive and boot up to your new windows installation- viola! Took me a while to figure it out- and it is a pain- but it works and the software is free. Hope that helps.
BTW- I wiped the IDE drive afterwards because I'm not a pirate- just trying to get stuff to work...

Ack! Sounds like a pain. I hope I don't have to resort to anything like that, as I don't have any spare hard drives, not to mention IDE ones. My roommates have external HDs though..

Just on a hunch, I've noticed that my large downloads are sometimes (rarely, but it happens) incomplete when I'm using Firefox to download the file. Using IE or Chrome always works. So, if you're downloading with Firefox, try using a different browser.

Just realized that the downloader is a standalone client, so it can't be the firefox thing, but I still could have had an interrupted second download, so I'm waiting on the 'support' people for permission to try again...

this is such a mess

 

[ravosavo]

You can get the .iso from Microsoft. It's 2.9 gigs. And while the method is a pain.so is trying to install a half dozen times (been there) But you'll get it to work-

Windows 7 available direct from Microsoft's website - just the install disk. You'll need to buy a keycode to activate.

Professional 32 bit: http://msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent.net/msvista/pub/X15-65804/X15-65804.iso
64 bit: http://msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent.net/msvista/pub/X15-65805/X15-65805.iso

Home Premium Links 32 Bit: http://msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent.net/msvista/pub/X15-65732/X15-65732.iso
64 Bit: http://msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent.net/msvista/pub/X15-65733/X15-65733.iso

 

[bryguy894]

You can get the .iso from Microsoft. It's 2.9 gigs. And while the method is a pain.so is trying to install a half dozen times (been there) But you'll get it to work-

Windows 7 available direct from Microsoft's website - just the install disk. You'll need to buy a keycode to activate.

Professional 32 bit: http://msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent.net/msvista/pub/X15-65804/X15-65804.iso
64 bit: http://msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent.net/msvista/pub/X15-65805/X15-65805.iso

Home Premium Links 32 Bit: http://msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent.net/msvista/pub/X15-65732/X15-65732.iso
64 Bit: http://msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent.net/msvista/pub/X15-65733/X15-65733.iso

Perfect! Thanks ravo! I'll let you know the results once I can try this out later tonight. I already have a key with that free MSDNAA copy so this should go well...

 

[Bolbi]

Are you sure those are the correct .iso files? If you look at the web address, those files are in folder path "/msvista/pub". I don't know and I'm not going to download one of those huge files just to find out, but just be sure you're downloading the right thing.

 

[bryguy894]

Good news and bad news....I downloaded the file again from my source and it was 3.1 gigs...the installation worked this time! However, after the reboot during installation I am now stuck on the gigabyte screen, but it wont respond to any of the F-keys, etc...Im trying to CMOS but no response. I have a yellow LED on the motherboard that I think indicates overvoltage or whatever that means...looking into it now, but anyone have the quick fix?

 

[Bolbi]

Look in the manual and see if there is a way to reset your motherboard. Most of the time there is a button you can press or a jumper you can set to revert the BIOS settings to their factory defaults.

 

[bryguy894]

Sorry for the panic - it was premature. I was able to reset CMOS and everything worked! Boots fine, graphics are beautiful, all in all a success. Thanks all for your help- this one is solved!

 

[bryguy894]

Best answer selected by bryguy894.