Windows 7: my laptop hard drive appears as a removable device...

after installing a fresh copy of Windows 7, my Laptop hard drive shows up as a removable device (see attached photo, actual screen image of MY desktop area), however if you click to remove it, it says its in use, blah blah blah, can't eject or what have you, i just wanna know how to make this message go away, i searched a lil bit but could not find any clear way to solve the issue except for one thing on google that brought up just ignore it if it isn't hurting anything.......well i don't like that answer

any help will be much appreciated, thanks in advance

i will also add that my computer has been like this for well over six months now.....and its just driving me insane......and i finally found a descent forum to get on and the time to more thoroughly investigate the situation

bump.....

This is a common problem when running on the generic AHCI driver supplied in Windows 7.
The solution is to install the correct AHCI driver for your laptop.

First - find the AHCI driver. These usually come in the motherboard CD if this were a custom build. For a laptop you would need to see if there is one in the manufacturer's downloads section, contact the manufacturer, or find out the brand of motherboard, check the specs, and see if you can find a suitable driver. The generic Intel driver works for many boards based on Intel chipsets.

Once you have the correct AHCI driver you install it thus:

• Open Device Manager
• Navigate to IDE/ATA/ATAPI Controller > ***AHCI Serial ATA Controller
• Right click > Properties
• Choose: Update Driver
• Browse to the folder that contains the AHCI driver you downloaded > Select > OK
• “Successful” Message > Close
• “Must Restart > Restart
• Drivers Install > Another Restart necessary > Restart
• Drivers successfully Installed. Remove Hardware Icon no longer showing.

*** : the name of the AHCI device is different for different systems, but it should be the only one with AHCI in it's name.

See if that will help.

Oh, and welcome to the forum murd3rd.
Read the forum rules when you get a chance (don't bump)

thanks you for the quick detailed response, im gunna try that out asap

sorry for the violation, didnt know that rule, another forum im on (truck forum) there is no rule against bumping

any reason as to why you cant bump, it keeps your thread in sight of others

Hi Murd3rd, The main reason you are asked not to "bump" a post is because this forum is very busy and the person most qualified to answer your post may be working on another thread so a little patience is required, your post will get the attention it deserves

ok so i did a lil searching for the driver and what i found is the driver that i already have installed? is it possible that this is the driver needed and something else is wrong? see attachment.

ok, thank you for the explanation, i appreciate and understand completely, i will remember for next time

Hey Murd3rd

That looks like the same generic windows driver you already have. So it will not help.

If you fill out your "My System Specs" (you can use the link in the lower left corner of any post window of yours) someone here can look up your laptop by make and model and give you some help in finding a good driver.

When you finished installing Windows 7 did you install any other drivers? Either from download or from Windows Update?

You may get what you need by installing the "Chipset Driver" for your laptop, if you have not done that already.

EDIT: don't sweat the bump thing. I was a bump violator when I first came here too, and they haven't kicked me out yet!

i will fill that out asap, thanks

when i installed windows 7 i just ran the windows update and got ALL updates available

where can i acquire the "chipset driver"?