ASRock Z77 Pro4 OS install issues

[sanityvoid]

Ok, so i just bought a new rig. OS won't install on SSD. I pulled all the other HDD's & SSD's out of the system so I could do install on one disk, then plug the rest in. Both work in a laptop when I try to install win7 pro as clean install. Both are detected right away.

The bios and win7 install both won't find the SSD. My old Intel X-25 can't be found either. I've tried doing IDE install, I've tried different SATA plugs, both 3.0 and 2.0, I've picked that it is an SSD in options in BIOS. I've tried to install drivers off ASRock disk in win7 install.

I've tried just about everything I could think of and no luck.

Ideas?

[bofhlusr]

Re: ASRock Z77 Pro4 OS install issues

Are you using the correct Sata cable and port?

Here's my experience. I'll give as much detail as possible. Maybe it'll help.

I just bought the Asrock Z77 Pro4 to. I installed on an Intel 330 Series Maple Crest SSDSC2CT060A3K5 2.5" 60GB SATA III (SSD) a few hours ago using Win7 64 bit and the i5-2500k. The SSD already had W7 on it though, but I went ahead deleted and re-formatted it to get a clean install. The only other drive I had on it was a 150GB WD Velociraptor. I have 16GB RAM (4x4 G.Skill). Initially, all I got was a black screen and no beeps so I removed the 3rd party video card and installed using the integrated VGA port. That fixed it and installed ok.

Later on, at setup using the support disk provided I selected 'Install All' in the drivers section. Bad move. BSOD. Wouldn't boot to Windows.

I re-installed Win7. Later, checked each '!' in the Device Manager individually, researched, and installed drivers specific to the problem until everything installed ok.

Some notes:

1. 'Unknown device' is actually 'Intel Smart Connect Technology Device'.

2. 'PCI Simple Communication Controller' is the Intel Management Engine (the ME Driver).

3. Used Arctic Cooler 7 Rev2 which barely fits and just misses the 4th RAM stick by about an 8th of an inch (yest it is that close, this was one of the variables in my selecting this motherboard among others. From the pictures it looked like the fan would fit). Fan is facing the RAM sticks and hot hair is going out the back which is how it should be. I am not using any case fans and the highest temperature clocked by Realtemp was 51 C at 100% load which running Intel Burn. Bought the fan for $20 at Newegg on sale a couple of weeks ago. Yayyy.

4. The manual looks thick but that's only because it include many language translations. Otherwise, it's only about 20 pages and the illustrations arev very small. Why? Asus manuals have much more detail. Definitely not for a newbie.

After the above issues were resolved, I was able to run Intel Burn at Normal, at High, and at Very High successfully. Ran Prime95 ok too but I gave up after 5 minutes (this is just a trial run and I didn't want to wait).

Overclocked by using one of the automatic pre-sets to 4.0GHz only, and that turned out okay too. Did a limited test of Intel Burn on Normal. OK.


Problems remaining:

1. PC works only on very corrupted 640 x 480 mode when using a 3rd party video card ASUS, GTX 260, which is several years old, but known to work good. Black screen only when I try to plug the monitor cable to the integrated VGA port with the card installed. HOWEVER, VGA port works if I removed the 3rd party card. Whattt?? This is my first install on an Asrock mb and on the z77 platform. Do I need to turn on a switch in the BIOS or should the mb automatically detect which port in the mb has a monitor? Help please.

2. The SSD doesn't seem to be booting faster than my previous experience with 7200 RPM Sata 2 WD drives. Windows (WEI) rates it at 5.9 only?? Please advice.

Ultimate goal. Overclock to 4.5Ghz. What settings do I need to set in the BIOS? How do I adjust the voltage?? Thanks.

[sanityvoid]

Re: ASRock Z77 Pro4 OS install issues

Wow, that is a lot of info, thanks for the info. But I still can't install win7 which is causing the biggest problem for me.

I figure it is a BIOS setting I'm missing. Anyone else have a thought on that?

[bofhlusr]

Re: ASRock Z77 Pro4 OS install issues

BIOS and OS doesn't recognize your SSD. Is that really a fact. Keep in mind that I didn't do anything to the BIOS and my SSD worked out of the box. If it worked for me one would think it should work for you too. Double check what you think you know and did. Start from scratch by clearing the CMOS.

1. Are you using the default BIOS settings? Re-set to optimal?
2. Are you using the SATA cable provided by Asrock? Tried different ones?
3. Are you using the correct SATA 3 port (gray?)? Tried installing regular SATA disks on these ports?
4. Are you sure the SSD works? Tried using it as the secondary drive (D:)?
5. Try installing another OS (Linux or WinXP).
6. Format the SSD drive in another PC and re-install.
7. What is the model of the SSD?
8. Can you test with another SSD?

Hopefully you didn't get a bad board.

[odiebugs]

Re: ASRock Z77 Pro4 OS install issues

You have two Sata 3 off the chipset and two useless ASMEDIA Sata ports.

The only time you load a driver in windows in when installing RAID.

Did you update the SSD firmware ?

Did you use the MFG utility to erase the SSD with the internal command ?

You don't format NTFS to NTFS to clean a drive.

You can only plug into the chipset Sata 3 unless you set the ASMedia to Boot.

Clear CMOS, clean the SSD, check firm, plug into the chipset Sata 3, and see if it is listed in the BIOS.

ASSrock list in specs as only four Sata, but you have 8.

You can clear CMOS and check BIOS, but Sata are AHCI by default, but ASMedia is boot off by default. Check Boot section, but I don't see set first boot.

[sanityvoid]

Re: ASRock Z77 Pro4 OS install issues

I found the bloody culprit, it was an effing cord. One of the ones supplied was borked. I don't know what the odds of that is, but I figure it is slim.

Worked as soon as I plugged in another cord. I supposed it could have been not seated properly but I had checked that before.

Works great now, and that is all I care about.

Thank you everyone for your help!!!

[bofhlusr]

Re: ASRock Z77 Pro4 OS install issues

In an earlier post, I noted video issues. It turns out that the problem was the Asus video card. Coincidentally very odd since it was working perfectly a few days before when I pulled it from a working PC. Asus has a 3 year warranty so I'm going to try and do an RMA. I'm into my 40th month. That is about 4 months past the 3 year warranty period of the original card which I purchased new. The problem is that new card, would you believe it, failed 2 days after the 3 year warranty period ended. Much to Asus's credit, they replaced it with a better card. However, this so called 'better' card failed after only 3 and a half months. That sucks big time for me since my previous cards have been EVGA, MSI, ATI, XFX, and NVidia brand cards, none of which ever failed me. I don't know if Asus will do an RMA on this card, but if they don't I'm going to give up on ASUS video cards. I've already given up on them on motherboards after what must have been about 20 years of use (anyone remember the TX-97E?) which is too bad since I've must have literaly bought or managed hundreds of Asus motherboards (as an IT guy in a prior life).

I also found out that if I have a good 3rd party card installed on the Z77 Pro4, the motherboard won't POST unless the BIOS video setting (in the Northbridge submenu) has been set to 'PCI Express'. If I have the 'Onboard' setting' selected instead, the PC wouldn't boot. No video and no beeps. Call me old fashion but my experience with older motherboards was that I always heard beeps unless there was something wrong with the speaker itself. I think it was better that way.

Other things you might want to know about the Pro4:

1. Intel installs several background programs that show up in msconfig when you intially setup the mb. I suspect this is for the onboard video. I disabled all of them since I am using a 3rd party card and the PC still booted up ok.

2. The motherboard automatically installed a cheap Bluetooth adapter driver in one of the external USB ports without my having to load a driver which I had to in the previous generation motherboard (Z68). Nice. I use BT to sync my Palm smartphone to the PC. Works nice.

3. Here's one thing I found odd about the motherboard, if I have the Asrock setup dvd in the dvd boot drive and I have the drive as the boot device it would ask me to create somekind of sata disk. Huh? I ended having to remove it each time I loaded a new driver from the disk.

4. I am running overclocked at 4.2Ghz simply by having changed one variable in the BIOS setup. No messing around with voltages yet.

5. The motherboard does not have a 'press Ctrl-F1' to boot the PC option in the BIOS. Instead it has the 'press any key' to boot the PC. Considering that I use this motherboard in a KVM setting with another PC, a Ctrl-F1 option is much better than simply pressing a key.

6. The motherboard does not have an LED light of some sort to tell me it is getting electrical current. The only way I can tell it is getting power is if the CPU cooler fan is spinning. Not a big deal.