Solved 1st Build - Major help needed

[ChrisPbass]

Great news and better to be safe then sorry as many more issue could put you off ever building another rig, don't ever let that happen !

Oh hell no....total fun and I wish I had the $$$ to build more!

I got a ASRock MB-A75PR4M Socket FM1/ AMD A75 FCH/ AMD Quad CrossFireX/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&GbE/ Micro ATX Motherboard

It's twice as much as the Giga board, and total overkill, but I don't care. I just want to be able to put this thing together w/a little more assurance that board is actually going to work. Plus, I may use it as a HTPC eventually. I confirmed that the CPU worked w/the board. Memory is not specifically tested and OK'd but from what I read it should work fine.

I appreciate everyone's help! This is a great forum.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Nice Chris, this is the Mini ITX mobo I just pulled the trigger on !

ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard with USB BIOS - Newegg.com

I'm going to build a supercharged micro-machine, stay tuned !

 

[Britton30]

Don't mix RAM , especially from different manufacturers, it will cause issues. One thing is all RAM will default to the slowest stick that is installed. Some RAM companies publish a list of boards they've tested with, G. Skill is very good at this.

Most RAM is compatible with all boards, yeah it is what has been tested that shows on the compatibility lists.

Is there another hole to put a stand off in for a mATX board? If it's a mATX case it will work. Mini ITX boards are very, very tiny, barely wide enough to fit a DDR3 standard stick in.

A SSD should work fine on any board that has SATA ports, they are all interchangeable, backward compatible, e.g. a SATA III SSD will run in a SATA II port.

Personally I have had bad experience with both MSI and Biostar. Biostar I think are very low end boards and MSI support was very, very poor with my bad board and a GPU.

You can check for yourself on the manufacturer's site for what is/is not compatible, that's what we do or use Google.

As for the A6 chip, look on the chip for the model number, that's what they show in compatibility lists. The model AD3500OJGXBOX isAMD's number for a boxed chip with the cooler.

Apparently AD3500OJGXBOX
is the boxed version of 3GX so which is supported by one of the boards I'm looking at. [end red font]

Someone had pointed that out a few days ago.

 

[ChrisPbass]

Don't mix RAM , especially from different manufacturers, it will cause issues. One thing is all RAM will default to the slowest stick that is installed. Some RAM companies publish a list of boards they've tested with, G. Skill is very good at this.

Most RAM is compatible with all boards, yeah it is what has been tested that shows on the compatibility lists.

Is there another hole to put a stand off in for a mATX board? If it's a mATX case it will work. Mini ITX boards are very, very tiny, barely wide enough to fit a DDR3 standard stick in.

A SSD should work fine on any board that has SATA ports, they are all interchangeable, backward compatible, e.g. a SATA III SSD will run in a SATA II port.

Personally I have had bad experience with both MSI and Biostar. Biostar I think are very low end boards and MSI support was very, very poor with my bad board and a GPU.

You can check for yourself on the manufacturer's site for what is/is not compatible, that's what we do or use Google.

As for the A6 chip, look on the chip for the model number, that's what they show in compatibility lists. The model AD3500OJGXBOX isAMD's number for a boxed chip with the cooler.

Apparently AD3500OJGXBOX
is the boxed version of 3GX so which is supported by one of the boards I'm looking at. [end red font]

Someone had pointed that out a few days ago.

Yes they did but In my mind that code did not mean they were the same chip but only that my chip came boxed. But thanks for pointing that out

 

[ChrisPbass]

Nice Chris, this is the Mini ITX mobo I just pulled the trigger on !

ASUS P8Z77-I Deluxe LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Mini ITX Intel Motherboard with USB BIOS - Newegg.com

I'm going to build a supercharged micro-machine, stay tuned !

Looks like fun. If you make a thread please ping me. Thanks again for all your help. I've learned a ton in the last couple weeks.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Oh stick around as it's only the beginning of more fun and learning for us all. I will take tons of pictures for sure. I'm debating to go 3770k or 3570k and I think it will be the i5 as it's a monster on a budget and still have very respectable overclocks. Looking to go 2400mhz. on 16gb of ram and that will be rounded out with a SSD and several 2tb spinners.

 

[ChrisPbass]

Pretty substantial price difference.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Exactly right and when you see how they can oc then the performance gap narrows almost making the i7 a luxury.

 

[Britton30]

The "someone" who pointed out the BOX designation was me and I asked for you to read the number on the CPU itself.

 

[ChrisPbass]

The "someone" who pointed out the BOX designation was me and I asked for you to read the number on the CPU itself.

Being the 1st time I'd actually installed a CPU I wasn't too game on removing. I was going to have to do it eventually...but didn't really want to do it.

 

[ChrisPbass]

Well I'm back.
I got the Asrock board installed. I don't think I annihilated anything in the process.
I'm 99% sure my SATA DVD is fried. The giga BIOS and this BIOS will not boot to it.
I'm using my friends USB DVD.
I did the suggestions in the tutorial for aligning / optimizing SSDs but when I go to install I get "a required CD/DVD device driver is missing'.

The last time this happened to me I burned a new ISO and installed successfully (my laptop). However, this time I'm using an actual retail upgrade Win7 pro disc.

Boot is USB DVD then SSD (not uefi). The BIOS sees the SSD and Win did see it when I shift f10'd and did the clean/partition/format/active dance.

The SSD had to be switched to AHCI in the BIOS.

I do not see any place to see the boot to legacy only but in the boot order the SSD and DVD are not UEFI.

WTH. Do I need to extract the AHCI drivers to a USB and try that?

EDIT: I did not think about changing the BIOS to AHCI until I started to install windows. So the clean/partition thing was done while the BIOS was set to IDE for the SSD. I don't know if that makes a difference or not.

 

[Ranger4]

It is best to have AHCI for SSD's. You can change from IDE to AHCI after installation of Windows by referring to this Microsoft website.
Error message occurs after you change the SATA mode of the boot drive
There is a Mr Fixit file that you can download & run from within Windows. Read all the directions & follow them exactly. I have used it & I found it worked perfectly

 

[ChrisPbass]

Sorry, I was not clear.

I am trying to install windows and after I go to CMD to align the SSD I cannot get back 'A required Cd/DVD driver is required'.

 

[Ranger4]

Sorry, I was not clear.

I am trying to install windows and after I go to CMD to align the SSD I cannot get back 'A required Cd/DVD driver is required'.

Sorry I had the wrong impression. It looks like you will have to invest in another DVD unit. When you have installed it check your BIOS settings to see that it is recognised & set as the first boot option. Also check that your SSD is recognised & is the only hard drive installed at this time.
Reset the SATA from IDE to AHCI save all the settings & exit. Install the Windows 7 installation disc & shut down the computer. Then restart & it should commence the installation. When installing, Windows will recognise the SSD & set the alignment correctly.
Hope this helps.

 

[gregrocker]

The error often means a bad installer. Start over with the installer provided for your licensed version in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 burned to DVD or flash stick using the tool in Step 2. Everything compiled there will also help you get and keep a perfect install, even for retail.

 

[TVeblen]

I'm using my friends USB DVD.

That message "a required CD/DVD device driver is missing" can occur in a system with a UEFI Bios and you are trying to boot from an unsupported device for the boot mode you are in.

To boot from a USB device I have found that the device must be plugged into a USB 2 port. If I try and plug a USB installation stick into a USB 3 port I get that message. The reason is that my system board has a separate Asmedia USB3 controller and that controller is not native to the UEFI/BIOS. It only works in Windows using the ASmedia Drivers. To boot in UEFI you must use the native USB ports.
So try the install with the USB DVD in a USB 2 port.

Also, reset your Optimized Defaults in UEFI/BIOS before starting a new attempt. Leave everything at defaults except the SATA mode. If you need to, change that to AHCI.
But if you have a newer system with UEFI BIOS then the mode should be AHCI by default.
EDIT: Your board has IDE as Default. You have to change it to AHCI for SSD.

Boot is USB DVD then SSD (not uefi). I do not see any place to see the boot to legacy only but in the boot order the SSD and DVD are not UEFI.

[FONT=&quot]A UEFI will boot a UEFI install media natively. There is no need to make any changes to the UEFI settings to do so. The system is either UEFI or it is not. The install media is either UEFI or it is not.[/FONT]

Do I need to extract the AHCI drivers to a USB and try that?

No. All drivers needed are in Windows 7.

EDIT: I did not think about changing the BIOS to AHCI until I started to install windows. So the clean/partition thing was done while the BIOS was set to IDE for the SSD. I don't know if that makes a difference or not.

No difference. It is only important to make the settings change before installing Windows 7.

I'm 99% sure my SATA DVD is fried. The giga BIOS and this BIOS will not boot to it.

Do you have a Live CD? You can download a UBUNTU iso file and burn it to a CD and then try and boot UBUNTU to see if the DVD is working. If you disconnect the SSD and all other hard drives it will make the test more definitive.

 

[TVeblen]

Is this your motherboard?
ASRock > A75M-ITX

 

[ChrisPbass]

Sorry, I was not clear.

I am trying to install windows and after I go to CMD to align the SSD I cannot get back 'A required Cd/DVD driver is required'.

Sorry I had the wrong impression. It looks like you will have to invest in another DVD unit. When you have installed it check your BIOS settings to see that it is recognised & set as the first boot option. Also check that your SSD is recognised & is the only hard drive installed at this time.
Reset the SATA from IDE to AHCI save all the settings & exit. Install the Windows 7 installation disc & shut down the computer. Then restart & it should commence the installation. When installing, Windows will recognise the SSD & set the alignment correctly.
Hope this helps.

I am not clear.
I have 2 DVD devices. The SATA, PC powered DVD is most def hosed. The USB, wall outlet powered, DVD works fine. It wants to load windows and its been used fairly recently.
I have done everything you said to do and the BIOS sees everything and the boot order is OK.

 

[ChrisPbass]

Is this your motherboard?
ASRock > A75M-ITX

ASRock > A75 Pro4-M

 

[TVeblen]

I am not clear.
I have 2 DVD devices. The SATA, PC powered DVD is most def hosed. The USB, wall outlet powered, DVD works fine. It wants to load windows and its been used fairly recently.
I have done everything you said to do and the BIOS sees everything and the boot order is OK.

"It wants to load Windows". I am not clear on that. It sounds like your problem is solved.

Do you mean: "It starts to load windows but I am still getting the error message"?

Even after resetting defaults and switching to a USB 2 port?