Solved Fresh win7 install need driver and HDD install advice

[TrunkMonkey]

I updated the BIOS settings to change the Sata controller to AHCI, then booted to Windows and the registry edit loaded up the appropriate windows drivers. Still no sign of the missing 2 tb drive. See attached snip, and notice it's assigning a drive letter E: to my old C: drive's system reserved partition. Oh yeah, I hooked that drive back up to get some files off and actually do a little work. Is there a way to not give that drive letter E: to the reserved partition, and maybe it will then have room in the alphabet for the missing drive? I will be trying to boot again with old C: drive disconnected, to see if AHCI and only 2 HDDs connected will do the trick. Either way I'd like to get rid of the E: assignment to the reserved partition. How would I do that?

Regarding drivers, I reverted back to plan A, which is to gather drivers from Asus and other specific manufactures site. Prior to that I gave Windows permission to take over drivers and installation, restarted and let it think about it for a while. It didn't seem interested in going beyond the lame generic drivers it already had installed, and there was one USB controller that it said it couldn't install at all. I had no sound at all from either output (HDMI from AMD Radeon and analog speakers from onboard audio VIA chipset). After laying down AMD chipset from their site, AMD full Catalyst install, JMicron storage controller from their site, things are working smooth and all functionality is back. I'm definitely getting the sata 6 speeds out of the new C: drive now too.

So two questions:
1) How to remove letter E system reserved partition from old C: drive in Disk Management
2) Is there a good reference for the ASUS BIOS menus, which helps describe what some of the options do? Anything would be better than the Asus manual which basically tells me what the menu says with no explanation.

Thanks a lot

 

[gregrocker]

You can remove the drive letter from SysReserved: Drive Letter - Add, Change, or Remove in Windows 7 - Windows 7 Forums

I would not run the Catalyst bloatware which can cause problems, only the latest driver if Updates didn't deliver it. After all rounds of Updates are complete, any missing drivers should also of course be imported.

 

[TrunkMonkey]

I would not run the Catalyst bloatware which can cause problems, only the latest driver if Updates didn't deliver it. After all rounds of Updates are complete, any missing drivers should also of course be imported.

I've used CCC for some time now, and actually use the presets functionality to assist in HTPC control, switching between settings for that and my office (where the machine actually sits). Also use OverDrive clocking. No issues other than slight increase in boot and shutdown times. That wasn't always the case historically, but they seem to have something stable these days. I'm also very careful about clean installs of updates. Probably jinxing myself. Do you know of any good ASUS MOB guides/companions either here or on other sites? I want to learn more about it, but that's proven difficult so far.

I tried to get windows to move on some driver updates by manually requesting via Device Manager. But it wouldn't even see the onboard audio and left me with two non functioning HDMI audio drivers. Same with MOB drivers, which was the only thing that finally kicked it into sata 6 speeds. Maybe Asus is more dependant on their custom drivers.

 

[gregrocker]

In that case import those drivers. You have specific needs beyond the average user which may require added software.

I would query Asus Tech Support, any Forums they host, our Hardware forum experts, google.

 

[TrunkMonkey]

I would query Asus Tech Support, any Forums they host, our Hardware forum experts, google.

Yeah, I know that pattern. Actually I enjoy cruising for answers because I always end up finding other good stuff along the way. Feeling lazy right this second, probably need more sleep.

There are a few menus in the BIOS where I just want to sit someone down and have them explain the whoooooole thing. Baby steps...

Greg, I really appreciate all your feedback and being so responsive. Helped a ton. I'm sure I'll have more to ask soon. You don't happen to use an Asus board, do you?

 

[gregrocker]

Not now, no. Bu work on many Asus PC's.

 

[DocBrown]

Is there any way to format that unformatted 2tb HD on another computer, then see if it shows up on yours ?

 

[TrunkMonkey]

unfortunately no. I'm going to try the drive letter removal now.

 

[TrunkMonkey]

I'm engaging support at Seagate. it appears to be a very common issue so I think i'm in the right place. I will report back with the solution. Thanks all!

oh, I should mention drive letter was removed from old C: drive partition, didn't make a difference. Also have now tried other Sata ports, cables, and power leads, all of which work with the twin ST2000 boot drive (new C.

 

[TrunkMonkey]

Seagate quickly directed me to RMA the drive back to NewEgg. THey shipped replacement later that afternoon. I'm glad I purchased a primo warranty for $20 per drive as they give you advantages like the instant replacement shipping as well as full replacement for any reason for 3 years beyond OEM warranty. I hope it was a fluke fail though, because I got 2 of them.

 

[gregrocker]

Any retailer will replace defective hardware for an initial period of time, after which OEM then backs it for one year full replacement warranty with phone tech support.

 

[TrunkMonkey]

Correct I dont know of any manufacturer without a warranty, although they are shrinking in length. The day that ends my 3 years extended begins.

 

[TrunkMonkey]

Replacement Seagate HDD arrived yesterday and was immediately recognized by BIOS and OS. So... thanks for trying everyone but it was a dud after all.

 

[gregrocker]

Once you get it up and running, if necessary with Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7,
then if there are no further problems you can mark the thread Solved at top.

 

[TrunkMonkey]

Hi again,

ok, both ST2000 drives are in and functioning well. I was pleased to see this from HDTune:




I was disappointed with previous speeds I'd seen moving files from old C: to the ST2000 (40 - 85 mb/s) but, duh, it's bottle necked by the WDC drive (old C)

I recall having some trouble getting AHCI drivers going, but I think I failed to enable in the BIOS during install, which was the thing I was determined not to forget. Using the methods posted by you helpful people got that going and I used the most recent AMD AHCI drivers.

The most recent chipset drivers from ASUS site, though 3 almost 3 years old, seemed to work well. I have to keep reminding myself that boards like this often have customized versions of manufacturer's drivers, and that kind of custom compatibility is way more important than the date on the driver.

AMD Catalyst 13.1 (1/15/2013) also functioned flawlessly.

It gets confusing when even the ASUS site has 2 completely different drivers for USB3.0, but I chose NEC since thats whats printed on the actual chip. I'm not sure what the other one is all about.

Power management is one thing that Windows 7 nagged me about for some time and I let it install AMD Cool and Quiet , which it actually downloaded from the ASUS site as I watched. The first time I went to launch the application for C&Q, it said my CPU wasn't compatible. Whaaaa? There seems to be a lot of options here between the component manufacturer and ASUS: Q Fan, FanXpert, Asus AI, EPU, Cool and Quiet, ASUS ProbeII, this thing [F:\Current Drivers\MB_WIN7_ATK\MB WIN7 ATK\64\AsAcpiIns.exe]. That's way too many choices if they even all do the same thing, not quite sure. QFan settings are in the BIOS with Silent, Standard, Turbo, etc settings. I really don't care if I have a windows based interface, but wouldn't avoid one if it was decent software and not a resource hog. I'd rather the entire process just be linked to my Power settings in Control manager and act accordingly. Any advice on that? Someone just give me direct orders to carry out

One reason I'm definitely doing a reinstall is that something all of a sudden began to conflict with my Logitech MX 3200 wireless mouse and keyboard. From what I researched folks were referring to it as a latency issue caused by another driver, often one having nothing to do with USB or wireless USB receivers. I can't remember what all the recommended potential fixes were, but it got messy fast, with Microsoft people giving their typical book sized proceedures to track down a possible IRQ conflict. Jeez. That was the first time Ive run into issues with that during 4 reinstalls. So I want to avoid it but don't know exactly the cause. I guess I'll go one driver at a time and let it settle in to look for this problem before installing more drivers. It's something that didn't occur until several days after the initial install, so nothing in the core drivers apparently. Anyone have any experience with what I'm describing. Results in very laggy response from both devices, and frequent periods of zero response. However I can get a connection again simply by walk towards the receiver with the mouse or keyboard, then it picks it up again. Batteries are fresh and the distance I'm sitting away is about 6 ft which had been no problem at all... until it was. Mouse will seem to start to stutter and slowly grind to a halt. Very frustrating. My cat has learned all kinds of choice vocabulary as I yell obscenities at no one in particular. Grrrrrrr.

What does the JMicron driver do on this board? It appears during post, listing my old school IDE DVD/RW drive in green (something about ATAPI), but somehow I must have chosen a replacement driver during my initial set up of the fresh install, because JMicron is nowhere to be found in device manager. Would that mean what ever it controls is not functioning? I guess I doubt that as I would have noticed but want your input. I'm now going to study the Clean Reinstall procedure posted above by Greg R and will possibly post some questions. After this long journey i want this install to be as perfectly executed as possible.

Whew, so there's all that. Thanks again all.