Intel Motherboards : Z170 Extreme7+ Problems

Author: parsec
Subject: Z170 Extreme7+ Problems
Posted: 25 Nov 2016 at 2:18pm

mchrist152 wrote: It's a USB mouse but a PS2 keyboard.  Even if your theory is correct, at least the keyboard should work then.  And that's really all I need to work on the bios. But also, there are USB 2.0 ports on the back panel which I am using with the mouse.  Hopefully, that wouldn't be a problem with the 2.0 ports, right?

wardog's statement is not a theory, it is a fact with any Intel 100 series chipset board, such as your Z170 Extreme7+. I own one too.

Your Z170 board will ONLY install USB 3.0 drivers for ALL the USB ports, including the USB 2.0 ports. Intel did that. Yes, this affects the USB 2.0 ports, as I said above.

Windows 7 does not have a native USB 3.0 driver in it installation package. This situation was recognized when the Intel 100 series chipsets were released. That's been known for over a year, since the release of the Skylake platform. This really is not discussed very much in the PC media for some reason, so unless you own a Skylake system you won't be aware of it. This issue does not affect Windows 8.1 or 10.

If you go to your board's information page, you'll find a link just under the pictures of the board, How to install Windows 7. Not particularly obvious, but it is there. Here's a direct link to that page:

http://www.asrock.com/microsite/Win7Install/index.html

This guide for installing Windows 7 gives you a few options, depending upon the hardware and Windows 7 installation media available to you.

If you happen to be using an NVMe SSD as the OS drive, you have another issue waiting for you.

The Windows 7 installer suggesting a repair might simply be a side affect of the lack of the USB 3.0 driver, or your OS drive might have an OS on it now.