Vista Install Woes

MrT1981 · 19 Oct 2007 at 22:20

I just received the last part required for my new build today and have finally got the thing put together (after a bit of trouble mounting the heatsink - one corner refused to "click"). So I now have a gigabyte ga-x38-dq6 with a q6600 and 4gb ocz pc6400 ram - but vista (32 bit) is refusing to install.

It boots off the dvd fine and loads the files and asks me to select language, then when I click install I get
"A required cd/dvd drive device driver is missing. If you have a driver floppy disk, cd, dvd, or usb flash drive, please insert it now"

From what research I've done it seems this is not asking for a cd/dvd driver, but for the sata drivers for the motherboard. Inserting the driver cd doesn't do anything as it can't find any drivers. I've tried ripping all the sata drivers off the cd onto a floppy and sticking that in, but the vista installer reckons they're not the right ones and hides them. I've downloaded the intel and gigabyte sata drivers from gigabyte and put them on floppys but again the drivers are hidden as apparently they're not right. I've also updated the bios just in case but again nothing. I have also tried using both the intel sata ports (orange) and the gigabyte ones (purple) with all the drivers I could find but no joy.

I searched the forums and found a couple of threads but with no solutions posted. The dvd drive I'm using is an ide nec nd-2510a and the sata drive is a 320gb seagate barracuda. I've previously had vista installed on it fine on my old system but was going for a fresh install for this one.

I'm going to go into town in the morning to get a sata dvd drive to see if that helps but I would really appreciate any other suggestions - this has been driving me mad as I started this build at 2pm and it is now after 10pm! I really want to get some quad core action soon

There's probably some vital info I've misssed in my post so if you need any more please ask...

Glaucus · 19 Oct 2007 at 22:38

I think the problem, is with formatting the drives. Apparently there's a tool on the vista cd to do it. Hold on let me do a search.

I can't find the thread, but there's defiantly a bug, that means the drives have to be formatted before the vista install. So try formatting them with the xp cd.

Also if you have two diffrent colour sata ports on the mobo, try moving the hdd to the over socket.

Amidar · 19 Oct 2007 at 22:59

You will also need to remove 2GB of your memory,then install vista & download your vista updates as there is a fix for 3GB or more of memory.Once thats done switch of pc & reinstall your other 2GB of ram,the problem is down to vista & 3GB or more of ram which is fixed via an update as vista has problems installing with more than 2GB.

Priapus · 19 Oct 2007 at 23:20

Amidar said:
You will also need to remove 2GB of your memory,then install vista & download your vista updates as there is a fix for 3GB or more of memory.Once thats done switch of pc & reinstall your other 2GB of ram,the problem is down to vista & 3GB or more of ram which is fixed via an update as vista has problems installing with more than 2GB.

Almost there.

Since he is using Vista 32 bit, it will only see 3.2Gb (roughly). You will need 64Bit to see the rest.

MrT1981 · 19 Oct 2007 at 23:20

Cheers guys, will give them a shot just now (apart from using different sata ports - already tried that unfortunately)

Amidar · 19 Oct 2007 at 23:33

Ice On Fire said:
Almost there.

Since he is using Vista 32 bit, it will only see 3.2Gb (roughly). You will need 64Bit to see the rest.

I had the install problem with 32 bit & 64 bit Vista & 4gb of memory,it makes no difference which version you are using 32 bit still shows over 3gb.

MrT1981 · 19 Oct 2007 at 23:49

Yeah I know I won't get to use the full 4gb but the 2x1gb kits were such a good deal

Dropping to 2gb didn't help on it's own tho sadly, I'm now waiting for my XP disk to load up so I can format from the recovery console....

EDIT:
Ah well that's me for tonight... removed 2gb, formatted with xp disk, rebooted with vista disk and it still wants drivers...

Priapus · 20 Oct 2007 at 00:02

Amidar said:
I had the install problem with 32 bit & 64 bit Vista & 4gb of memory,it makes no difference which version you are using 32 bit still shows over 3gb.

Yes, 3.2Gb it will see. (Depending on VGA's memory) However if you want all 4Gbs to show up, you need 64Bit. Reason I didn't say he must remove it was because I believe that it wasn't the problem. So yes, it does make a difference.

Tute · 20 Oct 2007 at 00:14

AcidHell2 said:
I think the problem, is with formatting the drives. Apparently there's a tool on the vista cd to do it. Hold on let me do a search.

I can't find the thread, but there's defiantly a bug, that means the drives have to be formatted before the vista install. So try formatting them with the xp cd.

Also if you have two diffrent colour sata ports on the mobo, try moving the hdd to the over socket.

I remember pointing that out in a recent thread, however it doesn't seem to be the problem here as the OP is only using a single SATA drive (DVD drive is IDE right?).

MrT1981 · 20 Oct 2007 at 10:52

Yep that's right, HD is sata and DVD is IDE

Fothsn · 20 Oct 2007 at 14:13

May be a long way off, but what about the bios settings? ie, set the sata drives to IDE mode as the may be ACHI or ENHANCED mode, this maybe causing the problem? thats of course if your MB allows you to manually set these.

MrT1981 · 20 Oct 2007 at 14:16

Yeah I did have a browse through the BIOS and both SATA controllers are set to IDE mode. I have just bought a new SATA DVD drive so I'll be installing that later (after I've been to the driving range to let off some steam

)

MrT1981 · 20 Oct 2007 at 16:17

Cheers for all the help guys, hopefully I'm sorted now. Whacked the new sata dvd drive in (NEC 7170) and it didn't ask for drivers in the installer. I'm now at 1% expanding files so fingers crossed...

HangTime · 20 Oct 2007 at 18:32

^Yep this is a very strange problem that I also had - basically it wouldn't install from my normal optical drive, I had to put a different one in instead.

MrT1981 · 20 Oct 2007 at 23:09

Well that's me up and running but I now have an even weirder problem...
Basically the new DVD drive only reads disks that have been in since the computer was switched on (ie if it got read during the "boot from cd" part of startup). If I put a disk in while windows is already running it just ignores it. I dunno if it's a problem with the drive or with windows, although I have noticed the drive is incredibly noisy.

Any ideas?