How do I fix this?

[octose]

Hey guys - I'm somewhat new to building PC's from the ground up but I went ahead and succeeded yesterday, now I'm having trouble with the motherboard recognizing my 570 GTX and my previous Hard Drive.

I am using parts from my old PC (PSU - Hard Drive - 570) And using new parts I purchased (2500k - ASROCK Extreme 3 Gen 3 - Azza 1000R Case - GSkill 1600mhz 8gb 4x2 ram). I put all the parts in properly and hooked everything up, I THINK I successfully installed Windows Home Premium Upgrade (THis is a Reinstall) because I know that I needed to gather new drivers for my mobo.

This doesn't seem to have worked - I can get into my computer successfully, but my Computer doesn't recognize my 570GTX and Hard Drive - Stuff stores itself on my hard drive and says that 100gb of 581gb is free etc. but i can't ACCESS my file from my previous build. In my BIOS I can see that the Mobo recognizes both of these, just the windows doesn't.


I can't change my resolution etc access those files -

Can anyone tell me what to do? I have heard I need to call Microsoft just to re-activate my code

 

[FinneousPJ]

I'm not sure I understand you, but if your computer didn't recognize the 570 there would be no screen. If it didn't recognize the HDD there would be no Windows. Can you elaborate on the problem?

 

[FinneousPJ]

Oh BTW have you installed nVidia drivers?

 

[octose]

Well - it seems as if my computer uses the Intel graphics from the 2500k. I looked in my devices and nothing shows up as 570gtx - just the integrated graphics with a Nvidia VGA dealio. I also run 2 screens, both DVIs in my 570 - only one monitor is recognized. The Hard Drive is there for sure, but it won't let me access my files from the previous build on the actual hard drive, so I can only access files/see files installed from after my reinstallation of windows.

 

[jrazor247]

Asrock site says your motherboard has switchable graphics - Lucid Virtu Switchable Graphics. So that may need an additional driver or you may need to go into the bios and disable the integrated graphics.

What do you mean it won't let you access your files? you can't see the previous directories? Was the drive partitioned before?

 

[octose]

Asrock site says your motherboard has switchable graphics - Lucid Virtu Switchable Graphics. So that may need an additional driver or you may need to go into the bios and disable the integrated graphics.

What do you mean it won't let you access your files? you can't see the previous directories? Was the drive partitioned before?

Going to go try the switchable graphics now - thanks for that.


When I get into my PC (like it starts up and I get to my desktop) I can go to my directory for the drive. It shows how 100gb of 500 are free, yet when I click on my C: directory is brings me to an area where I can't find the files I actually have on the hard drive it self.

Basically yes, I can't see previous directories - games, programs, music, etc -

 

[SW11]

Firstly make sure you've installed all drivers included with the motherboard and the Nvidia graphics card. Open 'run' and type 'dxdiag'. Is the GTX 570 listed under the 'display' tab?

As for the Hard Drive problem did you try to install Windows on a HDD which already had files on it? In which case you may have made a partition on top of a partition and lost some/all of your previous files. Can you tell us more about the situation?

 

[octose]

Firstly make sure you've installed all drivers included with the motherboard and the Nvidia graphics card. Open 'run' and type 'dxdiag'. Is the GTX 570 listed under the 'display' tab?

As for the Hard Drive problem did you try to install Windows on a HDD which already had files on it? In which case you may have made a partition on top of a partition and lost some/all of your previous files. Can you tell us more about the situation?

that's probably what occurred. a Partition of the sort - I installed all drivers etc. I'll check the dxdiag here in a while. I reinstalled windows onto my HDD without thinking of uninstalling the exisiting OS.

 

[octose]

Update - My DxDiag situation looks as if my Motherboard only recognizes a "Standard VGA Graphics Adapter" by Nvidia

 

[octose]

Update - I reinstalled windows and reinstalled my motherboard drivers and video card drivers. Run now fully recognizes my 570 GTX - Both monitors fully functioning with max resolutions. Now the only problem is my Hard Drive!

It tells me that only 85gb of the 581 are free - which leads me to believe I did indeed partition this. But when looking under devices, it shows now partitions.

 

[SW11]

Update - I reinstalled windows and reinstalled my motherboard drivers and video card drivers. Run now fully recognizes my 570 GTX - Both monitors fully functioning with max resolutions. Now the only problem is my Hard Drive!

It tells me that only 85gb of the 581 are free - which leads me to believe I did indeed partition this. But when looking under devices, it shows now partitions.

Hate to say this now that you've got most things working but you may have to completely clear and reformat the drive to get it working. When (re)installing Windows 7 there is a stage when you are asked, 'where do you want to install Windows?'- that is the time when you can go into advanced settings delete unwanted partitions and reformat the drive. The important thing is that you use the settings to get one partition, which is the same size as your HDD, with one very small partition perhaps automatically left over for system recovery. If you didn't do that before, that's probably the thing to do.

Another (easier) option to consider first is this:
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/resize-a-partition-for-free-in-windows-vista/

Why not give it a try?
You may able to adjust the partition sizes without reinstalling Windows.