Drivers for hard drive?!?

Okay, kind of a weird thing happening here.

Background first:
Computer: Asus X83V notebook
OS: Windows Vista Home

I'm trying to do a clean install with seven. I have both a DVD from Microsoft as well as a downloaded ISO directly from Microsoft. Both of these DVD's yield the same result.

When I boot from the DVD, I'm allowed to start the setup process, do a custom install, then it asks me for drivers for my hard drive. I don't have the option to continue.

When I'm in Vista and run the DVD, I'm able to select one partition of my hard drive that the OS is not installed on and install Vista on there. As in, it actually works.

The problem is that I want a clean install, everything wiped, etc.

so...ideas?

do you even know the make of your hard drive it should kinda tell you in the system specs ussually then you can go from there also write down the specific letter and numbers of the drive then use a search engine to find it or go to the companiews website

by the way did you format the hard drive first?

Okay, I found the number for my hard drive which is:
ST9320320AS

I couldn't find any drivers for it on Seagate's website though.


And no, I haven't reformatted yet. Is that a necessary step? I was under the impression that could be done from the DVD instead of command prompt.

You are correct that formatting can be done as part of the install process. Don't do it manually.

I can't recall reading of anyone being asked for hard disk drivers during an install. Very peculiar. Sit tight for the moment and don't panic. Wait for those with a lot of experience on installs.

There may be something peculiar about notebook hard drives that I am unaware of. I assume this is an ordinary notebook with a single hard drive, nothing unusual about it?

Yep, this is just the hard drive that came with my notebook. Single drive partitioned from the factory into two drives (or three if you count the 10gig primary partition).

I did a little googling on this issue.

It's probably due to the hard drive controller---perhaps an Asus or JMicron brand in your case?

The notebook probably shipped with Vista HDD drivers and the required Windows 7 HDD drivers are not contained on your install disk.

Which would mean you have to obtain the Win 7 drivers on your own. Probably put them on a USB drive and when the install asks for them, you point the installer to your USB drive to install them.

What you need to do is dig into Device Manager or your BIOS to find out who made the controller and then go to that company's website and find the Windows 7 drivers.

Even if it is someone like JMicron, you might find the Win 7 driver at Asus. I'd probably first look at Asus under support for your particular notebook.

For my particular notebook, ASUS has nothing listed under drivers needed for seven. Kinda frustrating. Even more frustrating after you wait on hold for quite some time and they're still no help.

Anyway. Does the Intel ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller sound right? That's what I'm currently chasing down drivers for.

magnetnerd said:

For my particular notebook, ASUS has nothing listed under drivers needed for seven. Kinda frustrating. Even more frustrating after you wait on hold for quite some time and they're still no help.

Anyway. Does the Intel ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller sound right? That's what I'm currently chasing down drivers for.

I wouldn't call Asus if my life depended on it. I'd look on their website for any possible drivers.

The Intel thing might work, assuming you have some reason to believe you are on the right track and didn't just pull that out of thin air. I did see something in my google search about AHCI. You could also try altering certain BIOS settings related to AHCI and see if that helps or gets you by the installation error.

haha, their website isn't much better than their customer service. Slightly, maybe. And I've already downloaded a bunch of drivers off their website and put it on a flash drive. Doesn't seem to help.

Yeah, it was in my device manager. I might give the bios settings a shot. What would I be looking to do?