First build and have a driver question

[sean126]

Asus P5W DH Deluxe, Intel core2 duo, Sapphaire Radeon X1950 pro 512mb, OCZ platinum revision2 DDR2-6400 2gb 4-4-4-15, Raptor 150gb for apps, seagate 320gb for storage, 2 lite-on Dvd/cd burners (20x)


As I said in my introduction thread, this is my first build and I get my parts this weekend and I was wondering....In what order should I install and update my drivers?

Also....I read somewhere that I need to wait to install my media card reader until after all is finished. They said it causes problems when the drives are assigned when you first build one (c,d,e, ect..). I've read a few articles online within the last couple of days on how to build one, so I think I can do it.

Outside of grounding myself and waiting to install my media card reader until after it's up and running...are there any other warnings/suggestions I should be aware of before I start to avoid any unnecessary headaches?

I've got a few more questions....but I'll put those in the appropriate categories. I hope this is the right category for this thread.
Thanks.

[onebxr]

This how I install my drivers.
Build computer
install mobo drivers - get the latest ones off of your mobos website I use usb memory to dl. also you can flash you bios at this point (make sure you follow the directions off your mobos website to the letter.
install graphics drivers
install firewall off of usb -zone alarm free
hook up to net and let microsoft do its thing - updates
after about 8 restarts then I install my sound card drivers
then I install avg
then you can install your card reader.
dont Get too excited and install drivers out of order take your time and try and get the latest drivers for what you need. I stay away from beta drivers.
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[sean126]

Forgive me for sounding 2 IQ points shy of being mentally handicapped, but:

1. Should I un-install the older drivers first before getting the newest ones.

2. On my motherboard's website.... ASUSTeK Computer Inc.-Support- They have updated drivers for....bios, bios-utilities, audio,lan,raid,utilities, and wireless. Should/could I do these one right after the other?

3. is the "usb memory" you was referring to those flash drives? You copy the downloads to them before hand and then insert it in your new computer when it's time to? If not, then I don't understand.

I need to find someplace to read about flashing the bios and what to do, then I'm sure I may have a few questions about that.

Forgive me for being so green, I hope to become an asset to the site later on rather than a educated idiot that needs lots of hand holding. Thanks for the patience. If anyone knows of a link off hand to help with this...that would be great also.

[gvblake22]

No worries about the beginner questions sean, everyone starts somewhere!

As for your questions, it is usually best to completely uninstall a driver before installing a new one. Usually removing it through the Add/Remove programs option in the Control Panel of Windows is easiest.

Updating the BIOS is a little different than installing a new driver, so don't confuse the two. The BIOS (stands for Basic Input Output System) is the part of the motherboard that tells the computer what it is and what way to run the hardware. The Drivers (like for your video card, sound, LAN, etc) are the bits of software that act as the interpreter between the physical hardware component and the operating system (Windows) so they can communicate with each other.

The "BIOS Utilities" that Asus is referring to include things like the Asus Probe hardware monitor (which displays system information, temperatures, and voltages) and a BIOS flash utility to update the BIOS. When we say "flash the BIOS", it just means overwriting the CMOS memory on the motherboard with the new BIOS files and information to update it.

When installing the drivers, the chipset driver for your motherboard, visit the product page for your motherboard, then click "downloads" and it will bring you to the downloads page that only pertains to your particular motherboard (the P5W DH Deluxe)...
Asus P5W DH Deluxe Downloads

I usually install the chipset drivers first (which will do your LAN, and usually your audio), but it appears as though the intel 975X board has the drivers separately. It really doesn't matter which order you install them, but just out of habit, I usually do LAN, then Audio, then Video. You shouldn't need to worry about the RAID drivers unless you are running two or more hard drives together in a RAID array of some kind.

[sean126]

Thanks alot for taking the time to help me. Hopefully, by the time I figure this out.....this will be a good link for the next guy needing hand-holding during this "after-build" phase. I know new idiots can be a pain...so please bare with me a little more. I will have everything today and monday to start the build.

Onebxer....when you say usb memory to download are you refering to downloading the updates to a flashdrive from another computer prior to the build and then doing all the un-install/installs directly from the usb flash drive? If not....you totally lost me. If that is the case....then I'll do that then and have them all ready.


OK....let me get this straight and then correct me and PLEASE keep me from making a mistake here. After the build I :

1. Turn it on and I install windows OS first. (someone said to have it in the drive before I turn it on. I don't see how it's possible unless I turn it on, put it in and turn it off and back on again.) Then I install the motherboard and video card cd's if they come with one. I assume I don't need to install the driver cd for the optical (don't windows xp take care of this?) or for the Raptor. correct?

3. Go to Asus's website and get the new motherboard drivers (I assume chipset drivers is the same thing) un-install the raid driver, download the latest(I may, at some point get another raptor and have those in raid 0 in addition to my storage drive, but until then...do I need it for just a main drive and a 2nd drive for storage with no raid?) ....un-install the lan, download the latest...repeat the steps for the wireless and the audio and rebooting as necessary. These all being from the asus website and being the motherboard drivers (or chipset drivers) as I understand those to be now. if this is not updating the motherboard's/chipset drivers.....have mercy on an idiot and tell me which ones they are. LOL. http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=P5W%20DH%20Deluxe

4.un-install the video card driver, download the latest one....it being, which one? I have ( http://www.sapphiretech.com/us/support/drivers_viewlist.php) AVIVO X code for x1k series, display driver catalyst 7.5 wxp and mce, display driver catalyst 7.5 for wxp and mce (includ. all drivers + ccc) and wdm driver catalyst 7.5 windows xp.

5. get all the windows XP updates and reboot about a billion times.

6. Then I can update the optical drive driver by un-installing it and downloading the new firmware, which I assume is the same as the driver, correct? http://www.liteonit.com/global/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=154. My model number is LH-20A 1S

7. install the probe utility update that another person suggest from asus. Do I need to uninstall the other one or is this just an update, like you'd download for Windows xp updates...just grab the update without having to un-install anything?

8. I looked on WD site and I didn't see a driver update for the Raptor HD 150gb. All I seen was a data lifeguard tools 11.2 for Windows....do I need this? http://support.wdc.com/download/?cxml=n&pid=1&swid=1

9. Install my second lite-on drive following steps in #5

10. Install my seagate storage HD and cry again for help when I need to know how to set it up for storage and how to erase, what could be, some info on it from copying everything over when I tried replacing it as my main HD in my sony vaio and the process got interupted and it rebooted itself, I shut it off and it never would come back on again.

11. I guess I can wait until this point to install other firewalls or virus software can I not? Or should it be done sooner? I mean....XP has a firewall already and if I can download all the updates to a flash drive prior (from another computer).... I know it won't have any virus's in it.

12. install my media card reader. Question....can I just take the old one out of my sony vaio?

13. check the device manager and make sure everything is there, with no erros (I think I've done this before with my sony vaio)

14. If I get one of the updated motherboards....I don't need to update the Bios, download any bios utilities, flash the bios or even think about Bios related things. Correct or no? (Later, I will probably OC my processor and memory since I've read here there will be no problems or cutting it's life span so short that it's worth mentioning if you don't mess with the voltage.)

I guess a very important thing to ask now is....when I first turn it on prior to inserting any disk's or downloading updates...Will I or am I suppose to hear any beeps or anything? Good thing or bad thing? If I'm missing anything or need some warnings....please advise me.


As I said before, I don't have any of the parts.....they arrive today and monday. I figured I'd ask the basic questions now because sometimes it takes a day or two to get the answers your looking for or an explanation that you can understand. lol. I do not have anything downloaded, nor have I ever updated drivers before.

I've seen people talking about Bios and "flashing the bios" at somepoint.....I thought I needed to do that for something. Hopefully with the board I'm getting (asus p5w DH) I'll get the one that I don't need to update the bios in it, I read that some needed it on this board, I think I seen that from asus's website and from newegg's reviews I believe.

I think I was confusing updating the bios with updating the drivers on the motherboard. I looked at asus's website and the only drivers I seen that I could update (running xp) were....raid 1.17.6.4, Lan v8.56.1.3 (marvell Yukon gigabit ethernet driver), Lan v2.13.2.3 (marvell VCT package), wireless v5.1230.0530.2006, audio v5.10.0.5247. That's it, correct? I assume I only need one of the Lan updates...anyone know which one?
I assume the "utilities downloads" aren't important, so I don't need those except for the probe update that another person suggested for the temp. reading.

I'll ask how many times I need to.. reboot/how long I need have it running..in order for the artic silver5 to cure good and all the memory tests and burn in tests I need in another thread after I get it up and running.

LOL...I told you guy's I'm an idiot. I hope I'm at least in the ballpark now. Let me know if this is right or not....and then you can pull out your hair. LOL. I numbered the steps to make it easier to critique. If nothing else, by the time I get this figured out....it'd be a really good reference for other new people like myself. All the help I'm getting here...once I get it running...I'll make a post going over all the steps for the other people like myself who's extremely new (and a little scared).
Thanks again guys.

[onebxr]

Onebxer....when you say usb memory to download are you refering to downloading the updates to a flashdrive from another computer prior to the build and then doing all the un-install/installs directly from the usb flash drive? If not....you totally lost me. If that is the case....then I'll do that then and have them all ready.

yes a thumb drive
boot the windows up when turning of the machine for the 1st time. Be patient this step takes quite a bit of time.
This is what helped me on my first build.Clean Install Windows XP
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[Yellowhello]

If you have an internet connection, there is no need to use the CD's that came with the graphics and motherboard. Download the latest drivers straight from ASUS's and ATI's websites.

[Yellowhello]

When you turn it on, you should hear or see (as heard from my ASUS board) the BIOS for your graphics card followed by a little beep then the BIOS screen at which you can hit DEL to enter BIOS, then it will try to find something to boot from and it will say boot failure, insert disk and press enter or something of the sort.