I purchased the parts for my PC, and they arrived yesterday. I completed the build and began to install Windows.

During the information gathering stage (ie before actually installing), the install tells me that it is missing a required driver for my cd dvd drive. so I hunt on the internet for one, it turns out there isnt any. my drive is a sony nec optiarc 7173. My motherboard is the MSI K9N Sli Platinum (Nforce 570 SLi chipset) if that makes any difference. OS is vista home premium 64.

so, now I have to buy a new dvd rom, can anyone recommend one that definitely works in vista 64, no questions asked?

Try this Link below.
http://www.sonynec-optiarc.eu/en/s [...] eries.html

thanks, but those are for firmware upgrades.

I just need inf files and stuff.

has anyone else had a similar problem?

Generic Adaptec drivers should work on any certified DVD/CD drive for reading disks, 64bit or not.

Since your drive is IDE, it is not a SATA issue.

So you shouldn't need to buy a new drive, but I can not offer diagnostics with the information you provided.

Did you load the nforce drivers?
Did you load the nforce ide driver?

I saw a similar issue with a P5B-Deluxe board. See this thread:

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.asp [...] uage=en-us

In this case, it mysteriously started working again. I suspect that it might have been a bad connection somewhere. You shouldn't need any special drivers for your DVD during Vista install.

Update:

It is a SATA drive, not an IDE drive.

I eventually installed using another dvd writer, an IDE LG drive. I tried using the nforce drivers for the sata controller, didnt work.

When I used this other drive, things worked fine - the install loaded much faster than it had using the other one. Problem is, this IDE drive is beige, my computer is black. So I installed my new SATA burner again (the one with the problems). it works... kinda. sometimes it stops reading and I need to restart.

Dont really know what to do, havent done a windows update because the pc still doesnt have internet access.

well, try a firmware update as was recommended; SATA and IDE have good enough generic drivers in most current OSes that if you're having trouble with one, it's more than likely its firmware not liking your motherboard. A mobo BIOS upgrade and/or drive firmware update will probably solve your problem.

DVD firmware upgrade doesnt seem to work. ie it says it cant find the drive.

I'll try and make sure I have the right firmware.

what I may even do is see if I could get another SATA dvd writer. if that still doesnt work, then someting on my mobo is fishy.

other sata controllers seem to work fine, my raid array has no problems.

sounds like the drive has gone belly up to me... had the same problem in the past

Reload the nForce drivers. Make sure the release is a recent one.

I haveing the exact same issue right now. I spent nearly 2 hours with Microsoft on this problem. Long story short my CD/DVD ROM is not Windows Vista Certified. My options were to find drivers or get a new one. I could not find a driver that would work so I purchased a new drive. I am going to try the new drive tonight. I will let you know if it works.

Its the nForce Drivers. I had the same problem a month ago with a Gefroce 7025 motherboard from Biostar. You may have to extract them from the install file on a separate computer