Drivers, bios, installing windows????

[bucki11]

I am trying to install windows on my first build and having some trouble. First let me list my hardware

Motherboard - asrock z68 extreme 7 gen 3

Hard drive - western digital caviar green 2tb 6gb

SSD - corsair force series 3 60gb sata 3

Ram - kingston hyper X 2x4gb

Processor - intel i5 2500k sandy bridge 3.3 ghz

Disc Drive - Asus drw 24

Video card - Nvidia EVGA 680 superclocked

Ok, after the bios set up i pop in my windows 7 professional and follow the directions but it says it doesn't recognize any of my drives. So I cleared my bios and started from scratch and same thing. In the bios in lists my disc, ssd & hardrive but for the disc drive on the third line it reads "S.M.A.R.T. not supported".

My question is: What drive do I install windows on? Somone told me I should disconect my hardrive from the motherboard until after installing windows, is this correct? Is my disc drive not compatible???

 

[suteck]

Usually you install your OS on the ssd. When the installation gets to the part where it doesn't see a hard drive you need to click on options icon on the right hand side and then click install driver that lights up on the left side. At this point you will need to remove the OS disk and insert the mobo disk into the cd/dvd player and find the drivers, then install them. Once the drivers are installed it will take you back to the install page and you should see your disk there. At this point you will again need to insert the OS disk (you only list 1 optical drive so you will have to switch the disks out each time), and continue with the installation operation.

 

[foscooter]

Are all the drives plugged into the native Intel ports? SSD and HDD to SATA III, optical to a SATA II port?

Windows 7 will see drives on the Z68 chipset without drivers! It even sees mine in RAID 0 (or did).

In the BIOS, set the SATA ports to ACHI, and SMART enabled. SMART not supported is probably for the optical drive.

** EDIT **

You only need to disconnect the hard drive IF you had a previous OS installed on it. If it's blank, or had your Libraries on it, plugged in during install is okay.

 

[bucki11]

Ok let me make sure I follow you

Insert MOBO disc and install the ssd only or install the ssd & hardrive and disc drive at once or repeat the same process for each?

 

[suteck]

At this stage you should only have to install the sata drivers for the ssd. These are drivers for the motherboard sata connectors only, not the SSD, but are needed for the OS to see the sata connectors that the ssd is plugged into. After you install the sata drivers windows should be able to see the SSD. And you can then install windows. If it sees both the ssd and the hdd you should choose the ssd to install windows on. After windows is installed you should then go back and install all the mobo drivers on the mobo disk.

As for the hardware - SSD, HDD and optical drive - all of these should already be installed in the case and connected to the mobo before you do anything else. When that is done you can then start to install windows. When you get to the part where it doesn't see a drive to install windows on you follow the above described installation procedure.

 

[bucki11]

Is the optical drive the cd/dvd drive?

 

[bucki11]

Ok, I am looking for the Sata 3 drives on the MOBO disk but cant find the right ones. I click on the drivers folder and then open the sata 3 folder. From there I have 2 folders to choose from Asmedia & marvel. I clicked on Asmedia - mic7-drivers(again)- 64 and it seems like it boots it but then it tells me I can't install windows seven to this disc. So i but back in the windows 7 disc and nothing. I don't know.

 

[suteck]

Yes the optical is the cd/dvd. I should be under drv marvel sata amd 64. As long as the don't show drivers that are not compatible with this system box is checked then pick drivers from the disk until it lets you install one. And do it. It might take a couple of different ones until you drive shows up but give it a go. The only other thing I could think to try is to just hook up the 2 TB drive and install windows on that first. After that use the mobo disk and install all other mobo drivers in the disk. then hook up the ssd to see if it shows up. when it does you can do a reboot with the windows setup disk in and when it goes to load pick the ssd.

 

[bucki11]

Thanks. i got it setup but it never asked me to install any other drivers. Is that something i can do after windows is intalled because it is.

 

[bucki11]

Nevermind I see my hard drive and SSD and Asus cd rom in the device manager and it says they are all working properly. I guess that means i am good. I guess once I installed the SATA drivers and reinserted the windows disc I didnt give it enough time to load. The only thing now is I had to swicth the keyboard to a different USB port once windows was running??

Now I have to install the video card, hope thats easier.

Thanks for all your help once again, I appreciate it.

 

[suteck]

Glad you got it working enjoy!

 

[foscooter]

Don't confuse drives with drivers. Drives don't need drivers, the SATA controller does.

And, for your set-up, the SATA controller are included with the Windows install drivers. That's why you didn't have to install them. And it saw your drive during install.

 

[bucki11]

Ok, thanks foscooter