Windows 7 fresh installation won't recognize hardware drivers.

[Ethyreale]

Hi, I've recently finished building my first computer, and was trying to install Windows 7 Home Premium on it today, from an ISO I had copied to a USB drive using WiNtobootic. Problems arose when the installation came to a screen saying "Choose the Driver to Install". When I insert the disc that came with my ASRock Motherboard, half of the time the installation setup wont even acknowledge that it's in the drive, and the other half it says the drivers are incompatible with my system. I tried the EVGA disc and the setup didn't recognize it either. I don't know what to do, and my friend who is an IT technician said to post here. Hoping for a quick-ish solution, since I've been waiting for months to get this machine running already, and it's cost me a lot of money.

Specs:

Motherboard: ASRock Fatality FM2A88X+ Killer ATX FM2+
CPU: AMD Athlon X4 760K 3.8GHz Quad-Core
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB
RAM: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1 TB HDD SATA 6 Gb/s NCQ 64MB Cache

 

[Chicano]

I had that problem doing the same type of installation... I had a CD/DVD Drive installed and inserted the DVD disk that came with the drive and it did not recognize it... I removed the CD/DVD drive and installed a CD drive, the same thing. I tried providing drivers from the Hard Drive, still the same... The solution was easy and obvious just that I didn't expect it to keep failing when I provided the correct drivers... So, I disconnected the Optical drive and the installation went through without a hitch.

 

[Ethyreale]

I tried installing without an optical drive connected at first, and it gave me the same results as I had got with the optical drive. I hooked up the CD drive because I figured that it was a problem with the USB, as the installation wouldn't recognize the USB with drivers on it. I really don't understand what I'm doing wrong... I'm starting to think it's the installation ISO I'm using. I got it for free off the microsoft website, and had planned on using the product id from my old laptop to activate it, as it said to do on the website. I'm thinking it was an OEM version, which may not like that I'm not using it's original intended hardware.

 

[Chicano]

I don't think OEM has anything to do, I'm guessing the Windows installer which was created from a Windows Disk may be detecting the USB drive as Optical but not detecting the Optical drivers... so it attemps to install them, but no matter how many optical drivers you provide none will never do. There must be a way to modify some answer file in the ISO to change this, but that would be some expert's job.

See if this works: Disconnect the optical drive and check that the BIOS is configured accordingly: That's with USB as the first boot drive and no Optical drive detected. Reset the BIOS if necessary to remove the optical drive from it so the Windows installer doesn't detect anything optical so it doesn't try to install drivers for it.

It may also help to install the iso to usb with some other application.. I've been using Windows 8 USB Installer Maker and have had no issues so far with any version of Windows. I'm not sure if this might have made the difference in my case because I was using different USB installers and I can't recall if I switching to this app was around that date... In any case this app can even make a USB HDD be detected as a USB pendrive... So maybe removing the USB flash from the equation makes a difference, you may want to try that option if you have a USB adapter or enclosure and a spare HDD.

http://apps.codigobit.info/2012/03/windows-8-usb-installer-maker.html

 

[Ethyreale]

As I said before, I tried disconnecting the optical drive. It made no difference. Plus I only have the drivers on CD's anyway, so I need to have the optical drive connected.

 

[Chicano]

No, you need to read my complete answer... no drivers will ever do if the installer is reading the USB as optical drive.. besides you can also provide drivers from the USB drive, in this case that won't help, but you don't absolutely need to have the optical drive connected.

I also suggested you disconnect the optical drive and make sure no optical drive information is still in the BIOS.. this to make sure the installer won't read an optical drive and try to install drivers for it.

 

[Ethyreale]

Ok, so disconnect the optical drive. How do I access the BIOS? I'm really sorry, this is my first time ever starting a computer without an OS. The motherboard I have comes with something called UEFI, which has some stuff such as change boot order and things, is that what I should use?

 

[Chicano]

Ok, so disconnect the optical drive. How do I access the BIOS?

It's usually the Delete key (and one of the F keys but DEL mostly)... you need to tap it several times to enter the BIOS.

The motherboard I have comes with something called UEFI, which has some stuff such as change boot order and things, is that what I should use?

Right, that's the setting where to make the USB drive the first boot device and disable the Optical drive (if any detected) this may serve the same purpose as disconnecting it.

 

[Ethyreale]

[strike]If I disable the optical drive, I won't have any way of installing the drivers though, will I? I'll try it and see what happens though. [/strike]

EDIT: I disconnected the optical drive, disabled all boot options except my USB drive, and the problem is still there. Any other ideas? )=

 

[Chicano]

1. Don't disable the Hard drive in the boot device options.
2. Try a different USB installer maker... they are not all the same, some work worse, some better.
3. Set the Disk controllers in the BIOS to IDE Native.
4. Download another Windows 7 ISO (that one may be corrupted), and/or repeat the install on USB with a different program.
5. Create another Windows 7 ISO with slipstreamed Optical drivers.
6. Why can't you install from a DVD disk?.. the problem may repeat even from a DVD but there's a better chance it doesn't and if it does try different disk controller settings; IDE Native, AHCI, any comibination that makes the BIOS detect both Optic and hard drive.

There is no easy solution and no deffinite answers seem available so far... so you have to keep trying different ones, but installing from a DVD disk is probably the surest way to succeed. Check the links.

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-hardware/windows-7-install-is-asking-for-cddvd-drivers-that/a43dc289-f831-48b6-b4d8-9cc67940e4e4

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-windows_install/cannot-install-windows-7-asking-for-a-cddvd-device/4391208b-756c-4fd3-ab60-ad7112d27086

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/257-63-driver

 

[Chicano]

Well, seems like I found the solution. The problem apparently is that the Windows installer needs USB 3.0 drivers, and because of that, you can't just use a 3.0 USB port without previously installing drivers like with a 2.0 port. But why does it ask for Optical device drivers?

Probably because the installer mistakes the type of drive it's being installed from as a DVD drive... and recognizing it needs drivers for it, it asks for the default DVD device divers, but the wrong type of drivers for a USB 3.0 installation.

So the apparent solution is:
1. When the Windows installer asks for Optical device drivers; To provide USB 3.0 drivers from a USB 2.0 port, CD, DVD, Hard Drive, etc.
2. Or an alternate option would be to install Windows from a USB 2.0 port.

When I faced this problem I did not install USB 3.0 drivers and I don't recall but I may have switched to a 2.0 port when solving it. So this apparently is your solution. And hope is so.

The Solution: (Scroll half way down the page)
http://superuser.com/questions/4015...drivers-when-installing-from-a-usb-3-0-drive?

 

[Ethyreale]

Ahhh!! Thank you so much! I just moved all my usb devices to the 2.0 ports instead of 3.0, and now windows is moving on with the installation! You're the best! *hugs tight*