Installing Windows 7 (Gateway GT5628)
Posted by mnshankar on August 19, 2009
I just finished doing a fresh install of Windows 7 (X64) on my desktop computer.. Let me tell you, it was quite a struggle! Click here to view the specs of my workstation.
At first, the install process seemed fairly routine.. I restarted the computer after putting in the DVD and booting from it (fresh install). The Win 7 splash screen came up, and I was prompted to select the language. Next, a big “Install” button was displayed on the screen. On clicking the install button, the following cryptic error message was displayed:
“A required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing. If you have a driver floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB flash drive, please insert it now”
Now, GT5628 uses an IDE/ATAPI Sony DVD/RW drive, and I have not had any problems it.. The message did not make much sense since the install was from the DVD and the drive seemed to boot and load Windows 7 normally.
A Google search took me to this informative site:
http://www.sevenforums.com/drivers/4872-cd-dvd-driver-missing-install.html
I tried all suggested remedies:
- Burn another DVD at a slower speed – did not help
- Set the jumper on the DVD drive to “Master” – did not help
- Replaced the dvd drive with another working IDE drive – Still no luck
- Replace the DVD drive with a SATA DVD – THIS IS THE SOLUTION THAT WORKED! It seems to me that the Win 7 installer is unable to work with a system that uses a combination of a SATA hard drive and an ATAPI DVD drive (Microsoft, are you listening?). Strange.. Vista installed on it without any problems!
Once the DVD issue was sorted out, the install process completed quite smoothly. I then put back my IDE DVD drive and it works without any issues.
It feels so much snappier. The boot time (and resume time) are substantially smaller. The graphics and fonts are crisper too. Well worth the struggle!
The second problem that I encountered was due to a missing – “PCI Simple Communications Controller” in the “Device Manager” (All other 64 bit drivers were installed perfectly.. Kudos to Microsoft for bringing 64 bit OS into the mainstream). After a little searching around, I was able to isolate the missing driver to be “Intel® ME: Management Engine Driver“.
The latest version of this driver can be downloaded from the Intel website.
Extract the contents on your hard drive. Launch the “Setup” app. This will immediately throw an error that the operating system is incorrect. Win 7 then automagically detects the correct settings and prompts whether you want to install it using “Compatibility settings”.. Go ahead and click on that option. Watch the “Yellow bang” disappear from the device manager!
I hope my experience with this installation helps you out!
Leon said
Hello,
Just to let you know, I managed to get this to work without the need to buy a new drive. All I did is go to the gateway site for the GT5628 and downloaded all the drivers they had. I put them on a USB drive and plugged it in before booting into the Windows 7 disc. Once it was plugged in it found the drivers on its own and continued with the install. I’m not sure which driver it was exactly but I am 60% sure it was either
D20156-001-001
OR
D20153-001-001
both of which are found at: http://support.gateway.com/support/drivers/search.asp?st=pn¶m=1014737R
I hope this helps anyone else who ran into this frusturating problem installing windows 7 on the GT5628.
Leonffs
mnshankar said
Thanks! This is good to know!
AT said
Can anyone confirm what Leon did? I did the exact thing except I put the exes on a usb hard drive. I did plug it in before the installation started and didn’t see any difference.
After that I extracted the .inf driver files out of the exes with winrar, I supplied them to the installation prompt and I got a message like no new devices where found. Can you confirm which exact driver is it?
Tony said
I have this model PC and will be making the conversion to Win7 as soon as I get my upgrade disc in the mail. I’m real happy to have found what you put in here because I think it’s going to be very helpful in what would have been a very frustrating situation.
Hopefully Leon can follow-up on his comments.
Tony said
mnshankar,
Would you please contact me by email regarding this upgrade. I see you went with the 64bit Win7 option and I have some questions about the drivers for our computer in a 64bit world.
Thank you for your time.
info@brkaleg.com
Maximus said
Hello everyone,
I just bought Windows 7 yesterday and I had the same trouble with my GT5628. I know the previous posts talk about the RC candidate and so on, but now I am talking about the real thing!
The only difference is that I upgraded my RAM to 8 GB and was trying to install the 64 bit system to replace my 32 bit Vista.
At first, I tried everything to avoid buying the new DVD/CD-RW drive suggested above. Sadly, nothing worked. The driver/flash drive solution failed for me.
I even tried using a bootable flash drive image of windows 7, and that also failed with the same error. You can give this method a try if you like, its actually from Microsoft for creating a USB install : http://store.microsoft.com/Help/ISO-Tool
In the end I went to Best Buy and bought SATA drive for 50 bucks (an HP dvd1260i to be exact). I installed it with no trouble and turned it on to boot to Vista to let the install complete.
I then restarted the computer with the install CD in the new drive and did a clean install of windows 7. It worked.
So just writing to share my experience, the new Drive option isn’t the best one out there, but it does indeed work. I am sure there is a way out that does not involve buying a new drive, but I just got too tired of looking!
Tony said
I just wanted to post a follow-up to help others.
My solution to the “A required CD/DVD drive device driver is missing. If you have a driver floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB flash drive, please insert it now” issue could only be resolved by a SATA DVD-ROM. No real problem because you can get them cheaply and I was already in the market for a new one anyway.
In addition, you will need the “Intel® ME: Management Engine Driver“ to be installed. I performed my install immediately after getting Windows 7 x64 installed.
The last issue that I found was one of HD Audio. Windows 7 x64 was able to install my base drivers and provide me standard sound except none of my 5.1 surround was working. I was able to do a lot of research on this issue and found a solution that involved modifying some driver files provided by Intel. In essence it’s a customized driver package. I’ve been using it for a couple of months now without issues and have my 5.1 surround working fully.
If you are interested in getting this package then please email me and I’d be happy to provide you a zip copy of the files guaranteed virus/trojan/malware/spyware free.
info@brkaleg.com
Cheers and good luck to you all! I’ve been enjoying Windows 7 x64 on 4Gb of RAM now running extremely smoothly. I hope you do as well!