Drivers after a fresh install of Windows 11

I use Ryzen Master pretty much exclusively to look at the clocks and speeds of every one of my cores. i don't actually enable the overclocking components that the utility offers.

I had a problem once on my kids Ryzen 3800x which wasn't allowing any of the clocks to come down, so his temps were running warmer than they should have been. Ryzen master, showed me what was happening. Had to uninstall and reinstall the chipset drivers, but that resolved the problem.

I'm noticing a good few people say they yse backup images like Macrium and that they revert to a working backup if something went wrong. It's a great idea. But:

1. Does reverting back to saved backup images with Macrium many times do any damage to your hard drive?

2. Does doing multiple clean installs do any damage also? When I do this next one I think that'll be my third attempt in a few days! Plus that's after the guy's original build and Windows install. So really it'll be the fourth install if you count that.

pparks1 said:

I then downloaded Armoury crate from Asus as I wanted control of my RGB on the mobo to more or less turn it off.

Click to expand...

I just bought an ASUS laptop with RGB lights for the keyboard. The default was for the lights to be constantly changing colors. I found this to be very annnoying. I used Armoury crate to change these to white with a constant brightness. However, my desktop has an ASUS ROG RTX 3060-ti GPU. I use Armoury crate to keep the RGB on the GPU vary the colors and brightness. I use that so that from a distance I can tell when the computer is running. It doesn't bother me when I am using the computer because it is underneath my desk where I can't see it.

You won't have excessive wear and tear on your SSD if you aren't restoring like 1 trillion times. Same thing with installing the OS multiple times. It uses up some of the write cycles of the SSD, but honestly I'm going to be long done with the SSD either based on size issues or the fact that newer devices go much faster long before I've hit any type of endurance limit.

I don't find I restore hardly at all. I installed the OS back on Jan 1, 2021. Aside from a restore at the install time or just before with testing, i have NOT restored since then. I take backups in case I need them.

Now, I do backup and restore my little BeeLink Mini-PC where I run Windows 11 somewhat regularly. I use that little device for testing new buids, Windows 11 and various Linux distros.

pparks1 said:

I use Ryzen Master pretty much exclusively to look at the clocks and speeds of every one of my cores. i don't actually enable the overclocking components that the utility offers.

I had a problem once on my kids Ryzen 3800x which wasn't allowing any of the clocks to come down, so his temps were running warmer than they should have been. Ryzen master, showed me what was happening. Had to uninstall and reinstall the chipset drivers, but that resolved the problem.

Click to expand...

Good to know. The person who built my machine did some tweaks in the BIOS to help optimize the CPU. I couldn't even tell you what it is as I don't fully recall what he said. All that stuff is over my head. I probably should look into learning about it.

Hi @Ghot ,

It's looking like it'll be Saturday by the time I get to do this fresh install. A final set of questions before I do so, so I'm 100% clear and doing no guesswork.

You said "The last time you installed Windows... you did everything correctly... right up until you installed Armoury Crate."

I used Armoury Crate to install them drivers I listed on my initial post. But before that I did the Windows Updates, then the Armoury Crate install, then the drivers install. But you say install any drivers before going near Windows Updates. So I am just a little confused at what you said.

Basically I do this:

1. Before booting to the Windows 11 USB, turn off WiFi and 'forget' the connection.
2. Plug out my WiFi antenna.
3. Go to BIOS and disable the Armoury Crate automatic download.
4. Boot to USB and install Windows 11.
5. Once at the desktop, connect antenna again and connect to WiFi (I have to do this in order to get the required drivers below even though you said connect to the Internet later on in the steps you listed)
6. Download AMD Chipset driver that @Ghot linked. Install this.
7. Also install (From the ASUS motherboard driver page):
- Intel I225/I226 LAN driver V2.1.2.3 for Windows 11 64-bit.
- Intel(R) WIFI V22.130.0.5 for Windows 11,Windows 10 64-bit.(WHQL)
- Realtek Audio Driver V6.3.9600.2322 for Windows 11,Windows 10 64-bit.(WHQL)
- I won't install the Bluetooth one as I don't have any Bluetooth things to hook up.
- I also won't install the Utilities one (WinRAR V6.10.0 for Windows 11,Windows 10 64-bit.)
8. Install NVIDIA graphics card driver. Upon install:
- Select option without GeForce Experience
- Make sure to click the Custom (Advanced) install option. (check boxes 'Graphics Driver, HD Audio Driver, PhysX System Software')
- Check box 'Perform a clean installation.'
9. Install all Windows Updates.
10. Install Macrium Reflect and make a backup at this point.
8. Install my programs.
9. Tweak settings/Windows preferences etc.
10. Make another backup when I have Windows and my programs setup the way I want them.


If this is all 100% corect, I will go ahead with it!

Thanks so much.

@RedLad
Just download the drivers first, and put them on a USB stick. Then you don't need to go online to get them, right after the install.

Post #35 is the proper way to install Windows 11.

Ghot said:

@RedLad
Just download the drivers first, and put them on a USB stick. Then you don't need to go online to get them, right after the install.

Post #35 is the proper way to install Windows 11.

Click to expand...

Haha I had a feeling you'd correct it.

Does it matter if I download and copy them to a USB on my other PC which is a Windows 10 setup??

RedLad said:

Haha I had a feeling you'd correct it.

Does it matter if I download and copy them to a USB on my other PC which is a Windows 10 setup??

Click to expand...

Not as long as you download the right drivers. You can DL them anywhere.

A few clean installs won't damage the drive .

Ghot's post 35 keeps it simple. I have sometimes just let Windows update find all the drivers. It usually finds most. Then checked device manager to see if any are missing and install those. If later something needs a specific driver to work better (rather than the Windows provided one) you can update that driver then. However, these days I find Windows pretty good with finding manufacturer drivers - eg the Intel and Realtek ones etc. The one you might need to add manually, or later update manually, is the graphics driver.

I don't know your system obviously but I'd probably just install and let Windows install everything to get the system up and running - then check what you need. The proviso to that is if there is no graphics driver you can't see anything. But Windows will usually put a basic graphics driver in.

Sometimes the screen is stretched for a while until it finds the right graphics driver, then it rights itself. A bit of time and patience while it's upating everything.

I've had a few issues recently trying to update/change a graphics driver manually as Windows kept replacing it with the previous one. But if you get to that point and have an issue - there are ways to solve it. Depends on the computer as well.

I would only download three drivers ahead of time.
Vid card, LAN/Wireless (just in case), and chipset.

In the off chance Windows doesn't find a driver for your internet... it's a good idea to have one on a USB stick.
As for vid card and chipset... I'd rather have the latest ones from Nvidia and AMD than whatever MS has.

The rest you can let the Windows installer and/or updates, take care of.


Now go outside, and quit overthinking this.

@Hazel123 @Ghot Sorry, I am just getting to reply now. Yes, that is good to know about the drive being OK with a few attempts at a clean install.

Ghot, yes that last reply makes it a bit clearer to me. Cheers!

I am a Pro-Overthinker. I have medals for it.

And wait till all updates are finished (including all the ones in the Microsoft store for the apps). Before trying to install anything. Everything is slowed up while the updates are going on. When all updated and drivers sorted, then start installing programs etc.

Hazel123 said:

And wait till all updates are finished (including all the ones in the Microsoft store for the apps). Before trying to install anything. Everything is slowed up while the updates are going on. When all updated and drivers sorted, then start installing programs etc.

Click to expand...

Hi,

What do you mean by "including all the ones in the Microsoft store for the apps?"

When Windows updates are installing, and after initial set up, you'll notice, if you open the Microsoft store and click on library. That most of the preinstalled Windows apps are doing updates (or need updates) as well. They carry on in the background until they're done. While they're updating they can slow any other downloads or installs. And as Windows updates are downloading too, everything can be slow until they're all finished. So best to let them all finish before continuing with downloading and installing your programs. Some of the apps that appear in the main menu haven't actually finished installing and/or updating at first.

Thanks @Hazel123 I will keep an eye on it.

Cheers for the help everyone, amazing community here!

Ok so I've managed to do the first part of this process. I'm at the desktop, with no sign of Armoury Crate....horay.

I've installed:
The NVIDIA graphics card driver
The Chipset driver

It wouldn't install the WiFi or LAN drivers for some reason. Just no response. I opened the folder, clicked AsusSetup - absolutely nothing happens. Same for the LAN. Why is that?

In Device Manager in Display adapters there's an exclamation mark beside Microsoft Basic Display Adapter.

I can see the NVIDIA driver listed there too which seems to have some other kind of yellow mark on it, but it definitely isn't an exclamation mark, if that helps.

Also, I've an exclamation mark in Other devices>Unknown device

Any ideas? Is it possible to just rubbish down now and do this tomorrow or is it advised to do it in this beginning session without shutting the PC down?

Thanks

Hopefully that helps. Sorry for the bad image..had to take it on my phone!