SATA Controller Driver - Where and Which?


  1. Posts : 7
    Win 7 home premium 64 bit
       #1

    SATA Controller Driver - Where and Which?


    I'd posted here a while ago about my misadventures with Win 8 (attached thread). Basically, tried to remove a Win 8 Consumer Beta by installing Win 7 over it, and didn't work. I compounded the error by, in a series of missteps, essentially wiping the hard drive clean to the point where I get a "Operation System Not Found" error when I try to boot. I do see the hard drive in Setup (F2)

    In the attached thread, someone was kind enough to tell me that I needed to install new SATA controller drivers so the HDD would be recognized. However, when I go to the link I was given (to an Intel download site), I cannot find any Win 7 SATA drivers there. I am most likely looking in the wrong place, or don't know what to look for.

    Can someone help? How can I find which SATA controller driver I am supposed to download, and where do I find it?

    System info:
    Dell Inspiron 17R notebook
    Fixed HDD: ST9750420AS-(S0)

    ********************************************************************************
    MY OLD THREAD:

    Hard drive not detected - bad breakup with Win 8 Consumer Beta
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 11,408
    ME/XP/Vista/Win7
       #2

    I do see the hard drive in Setup
    If the HDD is showing in setup, no Sata controller driver is needed.

    The notebook has two hard drives - one 750GB SATA and a 32GB mSATA.
    You need the raid drivers.

    IRST acceleration cache
    http://www.eightforums.com/installat...ion-cache.html

    Intel links.
    IRST acceleration cache
    http://www.intel.co.uk/content/www/u...echnology.html
    http://www.intel.co.uk/content/www/u...-software.html

    Dell links:
    http://dell.to/15Cz2AS
    http://dell.to/13EbJpn
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 7
    Win 7 home premium 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #3

    "If the HDD is showing in setup, no Sata controller driver is needed."

    When I am installing Win 7, there is no drive seen where I can install Win 7 ... says No Drive Detected, and I have the option to load drivers.

    When I said that the HDD is showing in Setup, I meant when you press F2 before on the BIOS screen. Do you still think the solution above is the right one?
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 7
    Win 7 home premium 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #4

    Quick update: I did find Intel Mass Storage drivers ... when I use them during the Win 7 install process, one of them actually shows up as compatible with my hardware, however, when I try to install, it goes through a few cycles, but nothing happens.

    At this point, I am tempted to just buy a new hard drive ...
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 11,408
    ME/XP/Vista/Win7
       #5

    You need the raid drivers for the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST)
    Support for the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST)
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 7
    Win 7 home premium 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #6

    theog said:
    You need the raid drivers for the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST)
    Support for the Intel® Rapid Storage Technology (Intel® RST)

    Theog - THANK YOU! I installed the drivers and I can actually see the drives. Now, given my past ineptitude, wondering if I can ask for a little more help, so I don't mess it up again. Here's what I see in the "Where do you want to install Windows" dialog:

    Disk 1 Partition 1 - Total/Free - 8GB/8GB - OEM (Reserved)
    Disk 2 Partition 1 - Total/Free - 39MB/38MB - OEM (Reserved)
    Disk 2 Unallocated Space - Total/Free - 9.3GB/9.3GB - Extended
    Disk 2 Partition 3: OS - Total/Free - 689GB/636GB - Primary

    However, I have the Yellow Triangle/Exclamation icon against each of these disks/partitions, saying "Windows cannot be installed to Disk X Partition Y. Below are the messages for each partition:

    Disk 1 Partition 1:
    "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks.
    Windows cannot be installed to this hard disk space. The partition was reserved by the computer's OEM"

    Disk 2 Partition 1:
    "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks.
    Windows cannot be installed to this hard disk space. Windows must be installed to a partition formatted as NTFS.
    Windows cannot be installed to this hard disk space. The partition was reserved by the computer's OEM"

    Disk 2 Unallocated Space:
    "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks."

    Disk 2 Partition 3: OS"
    "Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk has an MBR partition table. On EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks"

    As I had mentioned in the previous thread I'd created, I'd done a number of things with the partitions with MiniPart that, clearly, I had no expertise in, so it looks like I've messed up the partitions somehow.

    I'd be very grateful for any guidance on how to proceed. Thanks, again! This is a huge stride forward.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 11,408
    ME/XP/Vista/Win7
       #7

    Dell Inspiron 17R notebook

    For Dell install take a look at the two tutorials in post two.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 7
    Win 7 home premium 64 bit
    Thread Starter
       #8

    theog said:
    Dell Inspiron 17R notebook

    For Dell install take a look at the two tutorials in post two.
    Not sure which of the two Dell links you were asking me to look at, I looked at both:

    One of them is aimed at installing Win 7 on the mSATA instead of the regular drive, and requires that you clean your disks using the Repair option that you get during installation. However, when I try to repair, I get the following error:

    "This version of System Recovery Options is not compatible with the version of Windows you're trying to repair. Try using a recovery disc that is compatible with this version of Windows." Weird thing is that at some point yesterday, I was able to access the System Recovery dialog box, and now am not able to.

    The other link is about doing clean installs on systems with mSATA and ensuring that Intel Smart Response Technology is enabled. This one requires you to load the Intel Rapid Storage driver from Dell's website - I got the driver from the Inspiron 17 drivers page (it's an EXE file), but when I try to load the driver at the Load Driver screen in Win 7 installation, I get the message that there is no signed driver at the location I specify.

    Let me know if there's something obvious that I am doing incorrectly. BTW, do I need to reformat any of these partitions?
      My Computer


 

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