Problems updating chipset drivers, GA-EP45-DS3R mobo, Win7 64 bit

[lambard]

Hi,

I have just acquired a 2009-ish era custom PC, with a Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R P45 motherboard running a Q6600 processor. The operating system in Win7 64-bit, Home Premium edition. As it is a fresh install of Win7, I thought I should update the motherboard drivers (chipset, lan and audio). This is new procedure for me, and is slowly driving me insane. I would sure appreciate some help and advice.

I have been to the Gigabyte website and downloaded the chipset, audio and lan drivers specific to my motherboard.

So far, I haven’t got beyond the chipset driver update. The file from GA is “mb_driver_chipset_intel.exe”, which when run simply extracts to a folder “INFUpdate”. There is a “readme” in there, which tells me to go to the Device Manager, select to view “Devices by connection”, then click on MPS Uniprocessor PC or MPS Multiprocessor PC. In my device manager, no such entry is visible.

I the tried to run the “Setup.exe” file in the INFUpdate folder. This runs (after a UAC prompt) and tells me that “Intel Chipset Device Software” was installed. No idea what that is, or what it does. It certainly doesn’t appear to have updated the drivers, as far as I can see by looking in the Device Manager, where all the drivers appear to be generic Microsoft ones, I assume from the Win7 install.  All date from 2006, whereas the GA downloaded drivers are from 2010 – so I assume that nothing has been updated.

I’ve been googling for hours, and found nothing very helpful - could some kind soul please give me some pointers?

[cjapeterborough]

It probably has updated the chipset driver that run the PCI bus and such which you can see if you go to
your device manager and expand system devices.
The fact you didnt get any error messages when you ran the gigabyte download suggests it did the update.

A good way to check the need for updates and see the versions is to run the the intel driver update utility

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/default.aspx?lang=eng&changeLang=true

There are a few plugins that the utility requires so you may have to try a couple of times if you dont have the applet or java
parts needed on your system first time around.


The other driver updates lan etc will be more obvious..........


Hope this helps

[dmdilks]

Here are the drivers you need. Just click on each of the download files and it will make a folder for each one.

In each of the folders you find a setup icon and that is all you have to do is click on that. Just follow the info on the screen.

Plus you might not really needed the sata driver.

Audio   Version   Size   Date   Download Here
Realtek Function driver for Realtek Azalia audio chip (Including Microsoft UAA Driver in English edition)   5.10.0.6642   118.29 MB   2012/10/25   

Chipset   Version   Size   Date   Download Here
Intel INF installation   9.1.2.1007   1.19 MB   2010/04/29   

LAN   Version   Size   Date   Download Here
Realtek LAN Driver   7.049.0927.2011   3.48 MB   2012/03/21   

SATA RAID/AHCI   Version   Size   Date   Download Here
Intel SATA RAID/AHCI Driver   8.9.0.1023   13.10 MB   2009/08/11   

[lambard]

Thanks cmj and dmdilks - I appreciate you taking the time to offer advice and help

I figured it my chipset driver problems (at least I think I have).  I’ll post what I found here in case it helps others in the same situation.
Briefly, chipset "drivers" are not drivers at all. What you are downloading is the "Chipset Device Software". It does not contain any drivers at all, it is it's just a collection of INF files that tell Windows the correct descriptive names of the devices to show in Device Manager: That's all it does. Windows 7 does this automatically, so the only reason you would need this software is if you had messed up your computer somehow and the devices were not showing. You do not need this software on a fresh OS install (Unless your hardware post-dates the last OS SP package).
See http://www.sevenforums.com/drivers/23909-latest-intel-chipset-device-software-11.html (scroll down to Codify’s post, #104)
Intels own description is at http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/inf/sb/CS-030865.htm
There is a very informative thread at http://www.overclock.net/t/1365345/intel-chipset-inf-utility-installation.
So my issues amounted to my not actually understanding what “chipset drivers” are – which is not actually drivers at all. 

Now on to the GPU and Audio drivers - thanks for the links!