Here goes nothing - Bye Bye XP, hello Win7

[markus44uk]

So,

Finally going for the PT 9 / Win 7 upgrade.

New Hard Drives
Complete XP system drives removed and kept just in case

Questions:

1) Do I install 64bit or 32bit if I am only using ProTools on this machine?
(Using 003R as interface)

2) I need Internet connection to do Windows upgrades and update iLok. I only have ability to use wireless Internet and I have a TP Link 300mbps internal wireless card. Any problems with this?

3) Am using all updated Plugins from my PT 8 LE system. Assume I need newer versions of some Plugins. Should I just download latest version of every non Digi plugin and install just to be sure?

4) Drivers - I downloaded latest drivers from Digi Download page - 002_003 Rack v90265. Do I wait till ALL Protools software (including the 9.05 updater) have been installed before installing the drivers?

5) I want to use IcyDock drive bays for System drive. Should I just run the Sata cable that used to go from the Motherboard to the System drive and connect it to the back of the IcyDock? Any Bios changes required?

6) What about hardware drivers for my Video Card, CD . DVD, etc. Do I need to download these or will Win 7 have all I need?

Have I missed anythin?

Thanks in advance....

[albee1952]

New Hard Drives
Complete XP system drives removed and kept just in case Good choice!

Questions:

1) Do I install 64bit or 32bit if I am only using ProTools on this machine?
(Using 003R as interface) I would do 64 bit (working great here). You may want to update the BIOS now

2) I need Internet connection to do Windows upgrades and update iLok. I only have ability to use wireless Internet and I have a TP Link 300mbps internal wireless card. Any problems with this? You CAN do updates with another computer, but this will be fine as long as you disable it when you don't need it(like 99% or the time). BTW, don't do any Windows updates unless you REALLY need them(and NEVER leave Automatic updates ON).

3) Am using all updated Plugins from my PT 8 LE system. Assume I need newer versions of some Plugins. Should I just download latest version of every non Digi plugin and install just to be sure? See what happens first. Waves will need an update for sure. My old AutoTune3 crashed PT9 so that's another one.

4) Drivers - I downloaded latest drivers from Digi Download page - 002_003 Rack v90265. Do I wait till ALL Protools software (including the 9.05 updater) have been installed before installing the drivers? No. Install the drivers first, and avoid the 9.0.5 updater for now as it seems to have some issues.

5) I want to use IcyDock drive bays for System drive. Should I just run the Sata cable that used to go from the Motherboard to the System drive and connect it to the back of the IcyDock? Any Bios changes required? No BIOS settings needed. I run a 4 slot Kingwin drive cage and all works as normal. I start the OS install with only the C: drive installed so BIOS finds it and refers to it on every boot.

6) What about hardware drivers for my Video Card, CD . DVD, etc. Do I need to download these or will Win 7 have all I need? Windows MAY have all you need, but I would update video card drivers.

Have I missed anythin? Have a beer handy and keep the TV on while software loads(its boring). If you have more than 4GB of RAM, prepare to notice better performance You might want to get Acronis True Image Home11(or 12) so you can image your system drive a few times. Once with the OS installed and tweaked, Again with PT9 installed and tested solid, and a third image with all your 3rd party goodies installed and tested good(no sense imaging a bad setup)

[filosofem]

Originally Posted by albee1952

1) Do I install 64bit or 32bit if I am only using ProTools on this machine? (Using 003R as interface) I would do 64 bit (working great here). You may want to update the BIOS now

Windows 7 64 bit is supported. Where Dave and I differ is I would not update the BIOS and run the risk of upsetting a working configuration.

Originally Posted by albee1952

2) I need Internet connection to do Windows upgrades and update iLok. I only have ability to use wireless Internet and I have a TP Link 300mbps internal wireless card. Any problems with this? You CAN do updates with another computer, but this will be fine as long as you disable it when you don't need it(like 99% or the time). BTW, don't do any Windows updates unless you REALLY need them(and NEVER leave Automatic updates ON).

Perhaps just run SP1 installer instead.

Originally Posted by albee1952

4) Drivers - I downloaded latest drivers from Digi Download page - 002_003 Rack v90265. Do I wait till ALL Protools software (including the 9.05 updater) have been installed before installing the drivers? No. Install the drivers first, and avoid the 9.0.5 updater for now as it seems to have some issues.

I'm with Dave here, I would also give Pro Tools 9.0.5 a miss. Pro Tools 9.0.3 would be best IMO.

Originally Posted by albee1952

6) What about hardware drivers for my Video Card, CD . DVD, etc. Do I need to download these or will Win 7 have all I need? Windows MAY have all you need, but I would update video card drivers.

Depending on what video card manufacturer grab only the driver, no utilities.

Originally Posted by albee1952

Have I missed anythin? You might want to get Acronis True Image Home11(or 12) so you can image your system drive a few times.

Personally, I use to use Acronis, I find Casper superior, faster, easier and cheaper.

[markus44uk]

Arrrgh! I put in a brand new Black Widow HD and the Win 7 64 Bit Ultimate DVD. I boot from the DVD and get to the install Windows part. Then it shows me the hard drive broken into two partitions and asks which partition I want to install into. I select the 145 meg partition and click OK and it gives me an error message saying that it can't find the partition...would I like to search for drivers. I say YES and let it search the Install DVD and it finds nothing. I click options and select FORMAT, get the warning that it will delete everything, say OK and then get the same FRIGGIN error ! I've NEVER had so much trouble installing an OS before...

Copying the DRIVERS directory from my office Win7 PC onto a CD and seeing if Win7 Installer can find what it needs from there...this is REALLY pissing me off (in my best Cartman voice)

HELP!!!!

[filosofem]

This Black Widow HD is an internal SATA drive, yes? You could connect your XP drive back and reformat that Black Widow HD then run Windows from the Boot Menu.

[markus44uk]

Did that already...I am wondering if there is a 32 bit vs 64 bit issue. Perhaps the sata port I am using on my Motherboard is only 32 bit? I've tried everything so far and still get the same damn error message....ARRRGH... It all seems to be driver related...I don't understand why a clean install to a brand new drive with a Win 7 64 bit DVD isn't just doing the job. Even when I click FORMAT in the install, it doesn't seem to work...32 bit no better....ready to dump HCL acid on the whole thing...


Motherboard is GA-EX58-UD3R which is 64 bit compatible....kill me now

[filosofem]

What BIOS version are you running? And what Motherboard revision? Can you use the old system drive again and reformat another older HDD, using that HDD to install Windows. Perhaps where is a problem with those new HDD?

[markus44uk]

Version 1.6 I think...can't seem to get the boot sequence to pause long enough to see which rev I have. I built the PC in 2009 and updated BIOS then to most recent available version....the mobo is 1.1 I believe.

The error message I am getting is

Setup was unable to create a new system partition or locate an existing system partition

I have tried TWO differnet brand new black widow from Western Digital...and both times, I have clicked on the FORMAT option during setup which only goes hourglass for about 2 seconds and then nothing...would have thought that the FORMAT option would have taken me through the formatting of the hard drive...but no. Tried using the 32 Bit Win7 install disk and get the same errors...do you really think I could have TWO faulty brand new WD 650GB black widow hard drives? Maybe I will try one of my old Maxtor drives and see what happens...

The screen clearly shows the HD and the two partitions already setup and labelled. I've also reformatted the HD from Win XP using Norton Partition Magic...and still the same error every single time. Should I try a different SATA port on the MOBO? I'm really at the end of my rope now

[filosofem]

Yes for sure, use another SATA port. What I don't get is why Windows has partitioned your HDD without displaying options.

[filosofem]

...and if you are using motherboard rev. 1.6 your BIOS should be FI, no?