Right order to set up new pc?

[monty]

Took me long enough to decide what I wanted.
It's here and ready to set up. I'm going to install everything from discs.
I thought OS, then drivers, then graphics driver but then I remembered Windows 10 needs graphics card. So should I start with the graphics card driver or will Windows 10 have sufficient drivers included?

[djs]

I'd be most surprised if Windows contains the ideal/best/newest driver for the GPU. (Not done a proper Windows 10 on my big rig)

However (either way), I always install my Soundcard (Pro) and Graphics card (medium-gaming level) drivers first once the system is up and running.
I've always done it that way.
It's quite often a mess... I think if I did it tomorrow, I'd use my laptop to download the bang up-to-date drivers from Radeon.

Not sure I can take my Windows 7 up to 10, as the Soundcard has no obvious support from M-Audio.

[thatguy]

1. Network card drivers
2. Download latest drivers for motherboard, graphics card, sound card, network card.
3. Install these in that order.
4. Download and install latest drivers for other hardware such as printers,scanners, keyboard, mouse etc.
5. Update windows if needed.

[calnorth]

I lost count of the times I have loaded a new MB and freaking windows fails to configure the LAN/WAN chipset, usually Realtek. I never learn per 5 years-ish. And always asks to download stuff as its configuring itself? Your'e in safe hands...yeah right!

And on Win8/10 updates its loaded the wrong LAN driver for my Lenovo laptop. And attempts to install the wrong MS Office updates at times.

Hate to say it...Ubuntu Linux never does that...slam/bam straight in and connected in minutes!

[nanotm]

before you update anything make sure to mess about with the power management settings first, don't even do a windwos update until after that, or your system will hit a never ending download icon and refuse to operate at all.....

[monty]

Jan 30, 2016 14:52:49 GMT nanotm said:

before you update anything make sure to mess about with the power management settings first, don't even do a windwos update until after that, or your system will hit a never ending download icon and refuse to operate at all.....

More details /advice please nanotm

[monty]

Thanks for the advice.

I have Windows 10 activated and certified genuine now. I ran to Linux a few years ago but my bro had a spare licence so I thought I'd give it a try.

Would have been an very easy install if...
1) it had told me that the install was complete - instead it just went to the search the web and windows page, threw me as I was expecting at least one restart the computer.
2) it had activated straight away - I fact it took several hours. Constant Windows 10 can't be activated at the moment eventually it had a try and said it couldn't - giving a security error code. It asked me to enter a new licence number and to do that I had to agree to allow Microsoft to alter my software, I re-entered the same licence number and it worked.

So I have had to allow Microsoft to fuff with my computer before I even got started. Other than that it was a major job getting online as it won't connect via my home hub - neither by Wi-Fi nor wired connection. I'm connected via a hotspot.

Boring bit: how I know I entered the licence number correctly. Licence number written on a piece of paper. Typed in during install. Before pressing next, put dashes in place above the licence number on the piece of paper. Fold paper over to hide licence number. Copy licence number from monitor between the dashes on piece of paper. Unfold paper. Now I have the licence number I typed character to character above the licence number on the piece of paper. Easy to be sure of no errors. +1 for anal retention.

[catface26]

Windows 10 will automatically find the best drivers for your hardware(chipset included) unless you have a gaming rig in which case I'd always recommend installing GPU drivers direct from Nvidia or ATI.

I work in IT BTW.

[thatguy]

Jan 31, 2016 2:06:31 GMT catface26 said:

Windows 10 will automatically find the best drivers for your hardware(chipset included) unless you have a gaming rig in which case I'd always recommend installing GPU drivers direct from Nvidia or ATI.

I work in IT BTW.

The problem with this is that we cannot trust WHQL testing, and it takes too long.  By the time a driver is certified it's out of date.  I understand that Microtrash do their best considering the amount of device drivers released but it still leaves users many months behind the current driver releases.

Even when windoh!s does install a driver it may include less functionality than a package from the manufacturer.

[nanotm]

Jan 31, 2016 0:02:12 GMT monty said:

Jan 30, 2016 14:52:49 GMT nanotm said:

before you update anything make sure to mess about with the power management settings first, don't even do a windwos update until after that, or your system will hit a never ending download icon and refuse to operate at all.....

More details /advice please nanotm

i'm going to guess you found those settings, if not then to access power management if not then for the sake of not pulling hair and spitting feathers in the future,

right click on the windows icon on the taskbar, select control panel> (change view to large icons if its in category view) select power options, >hit the change plan settings link>change advanced power setttings> scroll down the list and change the settings> hard disk to never wireless adapater settings to maximum performance (do this even if you don't have a wifi adaptor) usb settings to disabled, pci express to off, processor power management to 100% and active, display to never and off respectively, multimedia settings to optimise vid qual and allow away mode, sleep to never /off/never/disable, slideshow to paused, internet explorer to maximum, hit the apply then ok buttons, do the same thing on all the other power plan settings (because randomly your pc might change to one of them in the future due to an install or update)
next
 go back to the control panel, >network and sharing centre> change adapter settings > right click and select properties then hit the power management tab uncheck all the boxes and select ok.
this prevents your pc randomly disabling things and leaving you wondering WTF why is XYZ not working again ....

next tip to good running is hit the file icon on the taskbar, see the "this pc" in the lhs pane right click on it select properties, hit device manager and see if any yellow or red icons appear.

if you have either then try on each one in turn to find an updated driver, if that fixes the problem then all good, however if that fails then delete the entry for that item and reboot the pc it will take longer to start as windows finds and loads the correct driver .

this was how I got my bluray drive to work after 414 days during the preview trial in January......


on the other hand the installs I did this week had zero problems / because the latest iso changes (thanks to all that telemetry data Microsoft collects) have fixed a lot of the early problems with install problems

[monty]

Thanks

[joeten]

I have some ebooks on win 10 if anyone is interested email and I can drop box a link to you if it does not break any forum rule.