Precision 7910, SSD, Windows 7, Intallation USB key

Greetings Djibvongenf,

Thank you for your question.

Here's the thing. The T7910 motherboard has 2 storage controllers on it:

1. Intel chipset AHCI SATA - 2 ports @ 6.0Gb/s - this controls the 'SATA' ports ( the SATA ports you see in the BIOS )

2. Integrated LSI 3008 Fury 12Gb/s SATA/SAS Controller RAID 0,1,1E,10 - this controls the SAS ports  ( the SAS ports you see in the BIOS )

Each of these controllers requires a driver in order for the Windows installation to be able to see any drives.

Windows 7 likely has the Intel chipset AHCI SATA driver already included. So this makes me assume that your drive is attached to the SAS ports. The Integrated LSI 3008 driver is not included in Windows like the Intel driver is and requires manual installation during the process of loading Windows.

From another system, download the LSI 3008 driver.

Once downloaded, run to extract and select desired location. The files you will need are in a sub folder: \drivers\preos\winpe3x-x64. Like so:

If it were me, I would move these files to another thumb drive. Meaning, you'd have 2 thumb drives to use during the OS install. One for OS and one for storage driver installation.

Or if you have room, shrink the current drive with the ISO on it and make a separate partition. Put the driver files in the root of that separate partition.

Once you're booted up to install the OS, you'd simply click the 'load driver' option at the partitions screen and point Windows to wherever you have the driver files.

Once the LSI driver is installed, Windows should then see the drive for you to be able to continue.

Good evening Dell stars,

I have a similar predicament except the Windows 7 source media is a DVD+R disk and the SAS3 3008 Fury StorPort (x64) drivers are on a USB flash drive.  I have jumped through every "hoop" imaginable to get Windows 7 to install, but am running into the (rather generic) error of:  "Windows cannot install required files. Make sure all files required for installation are available, and restart the installation."

I have used the Windows 7 install source DVD on one other Dell desktop computer of a different model, so I do not believe the media is an issue.

My research indicates this error is often followed by a '0x00..' code at the end of the status message, but in this case that is not happening.  At first observation, both hard drives were visible and the hard drive with an existing installation (OEM) of Windows 7 had three partitions.  Partitions 1 and 2 were accessible and I could "Delete" them as desired, resulting in "Unallocated Space" becoming available on the hard drive.  Partition 3 contains the Windows system and User files and it was not possible to "Delete" this partition, why I do not know (I am providing this in the hope of it being a clue).  The "Delete" option was greyed out, as if the partition was protected at that point.

The Dell Precision T7910 is running in "(X) Legacy" boot mode with "(X) Legacy Options ROMs" permitted.

Both hard drives are 500 GB Toshiba brand.

I have attempted use of both "Pre-os" and "Production" SAS3 3008 Fury StorPort drivers with no difference observed.

I have updated the Dell system BIOS from "A08" to "A09" and this appears to have had no impact.

The LSI MPT3 firmware appears to be current (as of the August 2015 revision).

The primary hard drive appeared like this when examined with a third-party software utility:

In the BIOS setup, the two hard drives are described as:

#0100 ID09 LUN0 ATA TOSHIBA...
#0100 ID0A LUN0 ATA TOSHIBA...

After some additional experimentation, I am now able to Delete Partition #3, make a "New" logical volume out of it and "Format" the volume as well.  This leads me to believe DISK0 is operating correctly and should be a valid location for the installation of Windows 7.

Swapping the boot devices around in order of occurrence (ID0A first, ID09 second) had no effect.

Temporarily disconnecting the DISK1 by removing it from the system had no effect.  This method was recommended for an XPS 8900 with "M.2" 256 GB SSD and secondary 1.8 TB HDD, and it did in fact help.

The only thing I have not attempted is reenabling the UEFI BIOS and testing to see if this has any effect.

The better parts of two consecutive part-time shift have been devoted to resolving this issue and installing a from "Scratch" install of Windows 7.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

Greetings VAVB05_Site_Rep,

Thank you for the detailed post and question.

I probably won't be able to tell you the exact cause from here but, I do recommend an alternative method for reinstalling Windows. Go here:

http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/Drivers/OSISO

Once there, plop in your service tag and submit then download the ISO. I tried this the other day and the download took about 15 minutes.

There's a whole drawn out document on how to use this ISO but I just use Rufus. It's quick.

Rufus example settings below:

Hello Justin C.,

That sounds great!  I appreciate the tip, but can I ask for some justification reason behind the use of the other tool you mentioned?  A private message would be fine.  I am only asking because the computer belongs to my employer and therefore I need to document the direction Dell pointed me.

If there is something special about the hardware (the 7910) or the Rufus software, I just need a basic understanding of what I am doing and why.

Also, I need to have a more "generic" install of Windows 7 Professional (64-bit) licensed to my employer, not an OEM restore of the Dell licensed version on Win7.  So, by using the .ISO tool, will I end up being able to put my employer's install of Windows 7 on?

V/r,

~ A dedicated support Tech.