GA-890GPA-U3H, AHCI, Windows 8 driver needed

[WAWood8]

I have my AMD system running Windows 7 using AHCI mode.  I installed that by first, installing in regular SATA mode, then changing the BIOS to configure other SATA ports as AHCI, rebooting the PC -- with a drive plugged into one of those SATA ports.  Windows 7 saw the device and installed the AHCI drivers. I then switched the SATA connectors so the Win7 drive was connected to the AHCI port -- and it booted and ran OK. So far, so good.

So, I downloaded the Windows 8 Preview, loaded it to USB stick, booted from it -- and it complains about not being able to find any devices.

I had already downloaded the AMD AHCI SATA preinstall drivers from the Gigabyte site and saved them to the drive -- so I pointed Win8 to those drivers -- and the circle spun and spun ... and spun ... eventually, claiming that it had not discovered any new devices.

So, apparently, Win8 32-bit Preview can not work with the AMD Preinstall AHCI 32-bit drivers.

And while I could go through the BIOS setting games I played before and MAYBE that would work again, this time, for Win8, since the MS AHCI drivers appear to be working OK in Win7, is there any way to download or transfer them -- so I can point Win8 to them?

UPDATE: Since I have the HDD plugged into SATA port 4, I switched that in the BIOS to IDE -- hoping that Win7 would THEN see the drive, and once installed, I could reboot with the other HDD plugged into a SATA AHCI port and Windows would then, like in Win7, install the AHCI driver.

But alas, it still saw no drives, and when I pointed it to the AMD SATA Preinstall driver, it didn't display it as selectable.

So, at this point, I'm unable to install Win8 on this system.

Thanks in advance for any help on this.

[absic]

Hi there,

I wasn't aware that Windows 8 had been released as a Beta version yet as the only version I have seen available is the developer's one.

I think you would really need to contact Microsoft about this, especially as Windows 7 works and will install without a problem.

[Aussie Allan]

          And a hearty Welcome to you WAWood8

 You're the first instance of Windows 8 I have seen let alone an attempt to install .... and you want advice from US

 Currently you're the expert! ..... but on a more serious note, ... My gut feeling is Microsoft  might be a little more proactive on the 64bit front and Intel based systems over 32bit for driver if at all .... third party drivers .... in ya dreams this early

  W8 Still being NTFS filing system ( I think ... and hope ) Vista/7 drivers will probable be applicable the same as Vista was for 7 in the early days of 7 .... I remember several times when 7 came out, ..... when driver support was poor .... Vista drivers quite often, worked ..... sometimes again the Vista driver installer package had to be modified to stop W7 rejecting the installer outright.

  Early days!  ... I hope this was some help or gave you some ideas! ... if you have any luck, ... would love to hear from you re performance comparisons and real would feature improvements over W7  

  Aussie Allan

 
  

[WAWood8]

The drivers I downloaded from Gigabyte were already for Win7, so I presumed they would also work with Win8 -- but that does not appear to be the case

[Aussie Allan]

  They didn't work or the installer got kicked out by W7/ wouldn't load ?

  Aussie Allan

[WAWood8]

  They didn't work or the installer got kicked out by W7/ wouldn't load ?

  Aussie Allan

They didn't work.  I detailed what happened in my original post.

[absic]

If you can post link to where you downloaded Windows 8 from, I can see what happens on my system for you.

[Aussie Allan]

 Right got that!......have you tried to strip the system down to the bare minimum ?

  "Quote :it complains about not being able to find any devices.

  I looked in your original post but besides the ACHI drivers , .... what devices do you think it was referring too

  To get it loaded, you could alway try and load it under IDE if it makes the error go away, then change to ACHI later with the registry Hack

  Aussie Allan

[WAWood8]

.... what devices do you think it was referring too ...

Good question! I presumed it meant the hard drive because, if it can't see one, it won't continue with the install.

  To get it loaded, you could alway try and load it under IDE if it makes the error go away, then change to ACHI later with the registry Hack

  Aussie Allan

Already tried that, guess I didn't make that clear.

UPDATE: Tried it again this morning but this time, made an actual DVD from the .ISO file -- and this time, it gets all the way to requesting what kind of installation.  And, this is without changing the SATA ports to IDE.

While it's too early to tell if it will complete, this does at least tell me that SOMETHING is wrong with the version on the USB stick.  And, to add insult to injury, I made that with the MS tool, rather than making it myself, because I didn't want to hose it up in any way.  Looks like MS went ahead and did that (hose it up) for me.

As for now, I'm going to make another image backup before I attempt the installation again.  Will report back when that is finished.

[Aussie Allan]

  Cool WAWood8 !

  ISO disc images is always a safer bet..... I now have 2 memory sticks that play games, really frustrating when your trying to trouble shoot why the file goes tits-up to find another stick will load it fine ....even with the same file!

  Sounds like it'll load now with where you got......let us know what it looks like 

  Aussie Allan