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!
Cogito, ergo sum 
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
Thanks! This is good to know!
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?
I also managed to just use windows disk by unplugging the onboard dvd rom and using an external dvd rom that I keep handy.
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.
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
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!
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!
I ended up having to do the same procedure as mnshankar on my Gateway GT5628. I was also installing Windows 7 64 bit, but since it was the upgrade, it let me browse the existing file system for the drivers which I spent an hour doing so, but I could not find drivers that it liked. I searched all of the c:\windows\I386, c:\windows\inf, and several other folder locations. I also searched the Gateway website looking for drivers after my Windows 7 was finished installing but when ever I went to actually download a driver I got a message that the ftp site was down. I ended up downloading the driver that mnshankar posted for the “PCI Simple Communications Controller” in the “Device Manager” at http://downloadcenter.intel.com/confirm.aspx?httpDown=http://downloadmirror.intel.com/13477/eng/MEI_AMT_allOS_3.0.30.1086_PV.zip&agr=N&ProductID=2806&DwnldId=13477&strOSs=All&OSFullName=All%20Operating%20Systems&lang=eng after finishing the install of Windows 7. There was also another driver that the system could not find when I plugged my IDE CD ROM drive back in, but I was able to resolve that by running Windows Update and then rebooting the system twice.
FINAL SOLUTION: I succeeded in installing Windows 7 x64 without buying new hardware by loading the IT8211 driver, which is for the IDE controller (not the SATA controller). So, download IT8211F_Windows-Driver from http://www.ite.com.tw, unzip it to USB, then Browse for drivers during Windows Setup. Works like a charm!
http://www.ite.com.tw/EN/products_more.aspx?CategoryID=3&ID=5,72
you are a god
Indeed you sir are a god sent from Google to soothe my angst
Thanks it worked well.
I just did this with a very easy workaround – create a bootable USB flash drive with Win7 on it. Works like a charm! Use “WintoFlash” to easily create the bootable flash drive.
Great job Eron, that worked for me!
Thanks a lot, Eron! Been running Vista on my machine because it seemed impossible to install 7 until I came across your solution. Exactly what I needed.
THANKS SO MUCH THAT WORKED PERFECTLY, IDK WHY I HAD TO USE THE VISTA32 DRIVER IF I WAS INSTALLING 7, BUT IT WORKED!!!!
Hey, great post. That helped me out a ton.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!! I was slowly dieing (sp?) here in front of the LCD – could not find an answer for missing PCI communications controller. You are awesome, my friend!
Thank you soooo much. I’ve been looking for that PCI Simple Communications driver for almost an hour, and it wasn’t even on the gateway support website. Thanks for linking it.
My question is how do I install Windows 7 into my Gateway Windows XP3? Do I format the computer to set up the original Home Premium? Or do I just enter the disk of the Windows 7 Home Premium now and let it run? I’m only 80 years old so I don’t control things to well. That is why I always ask questions. The Geek at Best Buy did it a couple month ago then I formated the computer to go back to Windows XP3. Now I think I should reinstall the Windows 7 again. I recently bought the Microsoft Perfect Optimizer. And it really helped me. Now what should I do? Can you help me?
Hi Robert,
I prefer a clean install.. (In fact, there is no upgrade option from XP to Win 7)
Put the win7 CD in, restart your system.. let it boot up(from the cd), and format and install (Of course, if you have any important files on the drive, you should save them elsewhere before doing this).
Good luck!
thanx this helped me alot!
Thank you Eron, Vista32 driver worked perfectly!
Wish I found this post sooner – I just upgraded my GT5628 from Vista 32bit to 7-64bit.
Like everyone else I had the same setup problem. I found the sevenforums post as well, but my install solution was slightly different – instead of copying 7 installer to a USB drive, I had an external USB dvd drive. First I tried booting to this, but the bios wouldn’t boot to it. So I booted the 7 installer off the internal DVD, then when it complained about the drivers, I moved the 7 install DVD from 1 drive to the other, and the install continued. I hear the problem is fixed with Windows 7 SP1 install disc.
Thanks for the intel driver link, that worked too. Also Gateway’s site has HD audio drivers that allow you to choose 7.1 after it’s installed. I have all 4 analog outputs going to my Pioneer VSX-1018 AVR through 4x (1/8″ to L/R RCA) splitter cables.
Once more…thank you all. I’ve gone out of my mind with this upgrade and Gateway’s lame tech support. Their response was that they advised against upgrading the OS. Really..when you sell the Win 7 upgrade on the Gateway accessories website?
Thanks a million. After days of struggling this really helped out!
Anybody tried Windows 8 beta yet. Ran the install (in dual boot) and it won’t initialize devices.
Got Windows 8 running. Can’t find driver for PCI Simple communications device driver
WHat did you have the drive config set to in the BIOS..SATA RAID, AHCI or IDE
AHCI