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Tuxi · ‎05-25-2012

Hi there.

SO. Long story short, I decided to get a SSD for my G74, got Corsair Force 3 120GB and installed it with the ribbon. I boot up W7 installer from the DVD drive and then get to the partition section. No SSD to be found 😞 I went back to BIOS and realized that the BIOS didn't recognize my SSD altough W7 (already installed on HDD) recognized it (wouldn't let me format it though..). Then I went back to BIOS and set my laptop from AHCI mode to IDE mod and then the SSD would be recognized just fine, altough I didn't want to use IDE of course. So I flipped back to AHCI and went to W7 trying to update my BIOS through the W7 utility they have at the ASUS download website. I have 201 BIOS and I tried updating to 203 but the utility said I couldn't use it. Sigh. I don't have a USB thumbstick at hand right now so I'm going to get one tomorrow and update the BIOS from the... BIOS 😄

I googled a lot and checked a lot of threads from ROG forums but none of them helped.

Any input would be awesome since 140€ for a non-working piece of HW is a bit too much 🙂

Thanks!

BrodyBoy · ‎05-26-2012

Sounds like you have multiple issues/tasks here.....

First, if you want to update the BIOS, don't use the utility in Windows. Use the Easy Flash utility. Follow the instructions explicitly.

Next, check the Corsair website and make sure that your SSD's firmware is up-to-date.

Finally, you mention a Windows installer disk....so should we assume you are trying to do a fresh Windows install on the new SSD? If so, I would recommend you open up the back, put the SSD in drive bay #1, and remove/disconnect the the existing HDD during the installation. After you have successfully installed Windows on the SSD, you can install/connect the HDD and clean it up or re-partition it however you like. (Note that your only back-up of the OEM installation is on it, in the form of a recovery partition. Run the AI Recovery utility if you want to save a copy before deleting that partition.)

Note: Even with this, I have seen a couple reports of Corsairs just not working in the G74. Not as much as, say, the OCZs, but apparently it does happen.

Tuxi · ‎05-26-2012

I flashed the BIOS from UEFI Easy flash, but that didn't help. I was running out of solutions so I tried swapping the drives to different slots and that helped :confused: They're both SATA III slots, correct? How should that affect anything?

I already got the newest firmware installed on the SSD when I got it so nothing to do there.

Also I do know how to choose a partition where I want to install my W7 so why on earth I should disconnect all other drives :confused:

But thank you anyways and now I feel kind of stupid for not trying to swap the drives before posting a thread about it :rolleyes:

BrodyBoy · ‎05-26-2012

Tuxi wrote:
Also I do know how to choose a partition where I want to install my W7 so why on earth I should disconnect all other drives :confused:

Because you can end up with BOOTMGR on the other drive, which causes boot-up issues. It's a reparable problem, but easily avoided in the first place by simply disconnecting the 2nd drive during installation. (BTW, I never suggested that you don't know how to select partitions.....or that that was the reason for disconnecting.)

Tuxi · ‎05-27-2012

BrodyBoy wrote:
Because you can end up with BOOTMGR on the other drive, which causes boot-up issues. It's a reparable problem, but easily avoided in the first place by simply disconnecting the 2nd drive during installation. (BTW, I never suggested that you don't know how to select partitions.....or that that was the reason for disconnecting.)

Are you suggesting this is a problem with G74 particular or W7 installation in general?

BrodyBoy · ‎05-27-2012

Tuxi wrote:
Are you suggesting this is a problem with G74 particular or W7 installation in general?

Windows 7 in general. It's a known bug that they've never fixed in any of the update builds.

Tuxi · ‎05-27-2012

Weird, I've installed W7 on my main computer many times, it has one SSD and two HDDs and never had this problem :eek: I consider myself lucky then 🙂

Case closed 😛

BrodyBoy · ‎05-27-2012

Tuxi wrote:
Weird, I've installed W7 on my main computer many times, it has one SSD and two HDDs and never had this problem :eek: I consider myself lucky then 🙂

Case closed 😛

It's not a matter of luck. (Well, sort of. ;)) In short, SATA enumeration occurs at every boot, and it can vary. The disk that is internally identified as "Disk 0" on one boot can become "Disk 1" on the next....this is independent of the physical SATA connector. Since Windows 7 installation always puts BOOTMGR on Disk 0, regardless where you're putting Windows itself (this is the bug I referred to), it can end up on a different disk sometimes.

Since most people don't know this, they panic a bit when they restart after an installation and it doesn't boot right. So I usually recommend that they just avoid the potential for the situation by briefly disconnecting or locking the 2nd HDD.....which is very easy in the G74.

Trying to install a SSD to my G74