Known driver issues with Maximus VII Formula and Win10 creator's update?

[flyinion]

Hi guys, I'm getting ready to put my first SSD in my system which means a windows reinstall. My current drive was formatted as MBR format under Win 7 on an old P55 series board without a UEFI BIOS and I had no way to get all the info off it in order to do UEFI mode with GPT partitions when I built this system in 2014.

I was going to switch the BIOS to UEFI mode and set up the SSD with GPT partitions but one of our network admins at work mentioned that if the board doesn't have updated drivers for it for the UEFI "system" to keep up with Windows version updates that eventually windows updates might break the install. So now I'm thinking I should stick with non UEFI mode and set the SSD as an MBR style partitioning since this board hasn't had driver updates in quite a while.

What do you guys think? Anyone having any issues with this board in UEFI mode with the latest version of Win10? My mechanical hard drive I'm keeping around for data and some apps is only 2TB so I'm not running into the MBR partition/drive size limits and I'll probably update the system with a new board and CPU next year which would fix the potential driver issue for a while.

[Nate152]

Hi flyinion

Windows should create the partitions automatically, I never had to create any MBR or GPT partitions as windows takes care of that during installation. I'm using the Toshiba VX500 256GB sata III ssd.

A UEFI install should work no problem, give it a try and let us know how it goes.

I didn't have much luck with the creators update, I'm on the standard version of windows 10.

[flyinion]

Yeah I'm just worried that even if it works now, that future updates between now and when I replace the board might break it. I'm currently running Creators Update with zero issues in legacy mode except the non-updated Asus control panel for the realtek audio sometimes crashes when turning on the virtual surround option. Yeah last time I did a drive install was on a non-UEFI board so the only thing to create was MBR anyway. My understanding is GPT partitions will only work if I'm in UEFI mode and not the legacy mode though.

[Nate152]

Windows will automatically create the partitions, you shouldn't have to fool with the partitions even when installing in UEFI mode.

When you upgrade to a new motherboard you'll have to reinstall windows anyway because of drivers.

Windows 10 will install all the necessary drivers but may not be the latest ones, I let windows 10 install the drivers then I update the Nvidia driver.

[flyinion]

Going to give it a shot with UEFI and secure boot on (not decided for sure on secure boot). A couple of my WoW guildies work for MS and I talked to them about it tonight and it sounds like my sys admin coworker was being overly cautious with his statement about windows updates potentially breaking my install with outdated motherboard drivers. Worst case if it breaks down the road I'll just have to go back to legacy mode and reinstall windows I guess or roll back the update etc.

[Nate152]

If all your components are UEFI compatible, before installing windows disable CSM and set secure boot to Other Os. It should work no problem, I was doing UEFI installs on the Maximus V Extreme which is two generations older than your motherboard.

[flyinion]

Nate152 wrote:
If all your components are UEFI compatible, before installing windows disable CSM and set secure boot to Other Os. It should work no problem, I was doing UEFI installs on the Maximus V Extreme which is two generations older than your motherboard.

Do USB devices matter for that? I have a Saitek X52 flight controller from 2004 that I use still.

[Nate152]

Naaa, it should work in a usb 2.0 port.

Worst case is you may have to update the firmware.

It says compatible with windows 10.

http://www.saitek.com/uk/prod/x52.html

[flyinion]

Nate152 wrote:
Naaa, it should work in a usb 2.0 port.

Worst case is you may have to update the firmware.

It says compatible with windows 10.

http://www.saitek.com/uk/prod/x52.html

Yeah there's no firmware update. There hasn't been a driver update since their initial Win10 drivers for it. I think I'm going to go with UEFI mode and with secure boot turned off and see what happens. If I was reading correctly secure boot also can prevent unsigned drivers from loading and I believe I have 1 or 2 things that use unsigned drivers (including the Saitek).

[Nate152]

Disable CSM

Set Secure Boot to Other Os

Then install windows and all should be good, the only thing you should have to do after installation is update the Nvidia driver. You can check device manager for any yellow triangles but there shouldn't be any.