Re: P5K-E Driver Installation

RC wrote:
> I placed an order for an ASUS P5K-E on NewEgg and I expect in the
> process of downloading drivers from the Asus website (slowwww....).
>
> I'm assuming the old rule of thumb applies, never install drivers off
> the included disk. Instead download the latest from the web. The disk
> typically has beta drivers (especially true for video cards) and the
> web site usually has a debugged version at the least.
>
> First I plan to update the bios. I've downloaded ver 1013. Is this the
> best or should I look for an earlier version? What's the best way to
> update prior to installing the OS? Is the AFUDO tool the way to go?
>
> In the past I then install the OS and then the chipset drivers. Asus
> has three different files under Chipset.
> 1) Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager Driver V7.5.0.1017
> 2) Intel(R) Chipset Software Installation Utility V8.3.0.1013
> 3) Make Intel ICH9 RAID Driver Disk ver V7.5.0.1017
>
> How do these three files interrelate? Install all three or just 2)
> then 3) ?
>
> Next I figure the LAN driver. XP is going to want to phone home so I'd
> like to get that out of the way. I'll use
> Marvell Yukon Gigabit Ethernet Driver V10.22.4.3 for Windows.
> There's an earlier version but it looks like it's for Unix, etc.
>
> After that there's Audio, SATA (JMicron JMB363 RAID Driver), and
> that's about it.
>
> Anything I should know before I run these? Anything else I need to
> install to make this machine stable?
>
> I'm considering installing Outpost's firewall. I won't be running mail
> from this machine so I don't really need a virus checker.
>
> -RC

You can be "too prepared". Don't be too quick to upgrade the BIOS. Check
the vip.asus.com forums, and see whether the latest BIOS is a good
one or not. In some cases, not only is the BIOS a bad one, but due to
them modifying the boot block, you cannot easily "downgrade" to an
older BIOS. So if you're going to use another BIOS, check the user
reviews first. (Even the Newegg reviews might mention a bad BIOS version.)

http://vip.asus.com/forum/topic.aspx...Language=en-us

To cut down how much a respondent might have to write, it would help if
you explained how you planned on connecting your disks and stuff.
And if you have any plans of ever using RAID or not. If you plan on
using RAID on the Southbridge, two years from now, then install the
RAID driver today. That is called being "RAID Ready", and avoids the
problem of being unable to install the RAID driver later.

If you had a SATA HDD and a SATA optical drive, you might not need to
touch the JMB363.

Intel RAID drivers will come in two versions. A large package, will contain
a driver you install while in Windows, and will include a RAID Management
control panel of some sort. That will allow doing a RAID migration while
in Windows, checking array status and the like.

There will also be a "makedisk" version. It consists of just the driver,
a txtsetup.oem file at the top level, and a program that will offer to
format a floppy for you. When you install Windows, and press F6, you
insert that floppy, and Windows will find the RAID drivers. The drivers
can then be used to boot windows from the hard drive, once the Windows
install is finished. Then you can use the larger package, to get the
RAID Management control panel.

The chipset drivers, help Windows enumerate all the interfaces on the
chipset, besides the RAID stuff you took care of with the F6 thing.
In some cases, Windows may need to install a PCI bridge driver, for
example. Intel has two versions on their web site, an EXE and a ZIP, and
with the ZIP, I like to look through it, and see what it is going to
install. If a chipset is old enough, in fact the OS might already
have chipset drivers, and install them during the initial Windows
install.

I find it easiest, to have a second working computer present in the
room I'm building in. If I don't like a motherboard CD driver,
I can always download using my second computer. It almost sounds
like you're trying to do a build, without a second computer to
fall back on.

Between vip.asus.com and customer reviews on Newegg.com, you can
get a lot of information about shortcomings with drivers or with
the hardware itself. That will probably tell you more, than waiting
for someone to write a summary for you.

For some of the hardware Asus uses, there might not be a driver to
make the stuff work, no matter where you got the driver from. Some of
their Wifi solutions weren't ready for prime time. And again,
when that happens, the customer reviews pick up on it pretty
quickly.

And if you haven't already, I recommend downloading the user manual
and reading that in advance. For example, I reject some motherboards,
based purely on the crappy BIOS that they have. Since the
manual has pictures of the BIOS screens, you can spot products
that are not worth buying (if you're an overclocker).

Paul