For users with an Intel 7-Series Chipset desktop system I recommend to concentrate their interest on INF files, whose names are starting with "pant". The newest Intel Chipset Device INF and CAT files for Z77 mainboards running Win7/Win8 are attached.
Very sorry Fernando excuse me that one and the next, thats a saying of us where I from when we do mistakes, But I have to update my Profile signature, my new board is ASUS X99 Deluxe with the i7 5960X Cpu, sorry. Now guide from this specs. TIA
I did update my Profile Signature but is not showing I guess till my next post
For Intel 9-Series Chipsets you cannot use the old Intel Chipset Device Software v9.x.x.xxxx series, you have to take one of the new v10.0.xx packages. According to my knowledge only the Intel SMBus Controller will need an INF file (to tell him, that no driver is needed). The Intel 9-Series SMBus INF file is attached.
I cannot extract the INF files either. Even the tool named "Resource Hacker" doesn’t find any of them within the SetupChipset.exe. The only thing I can do for you is to attach the INF file I got within my Windows\Inf directory after having executed the SetupChipset.exe. Furthermore I have added a chipset.cat file I found within my system drive.
And here is my general note about the INF drivers. Recently I installed Windows 7 x64 Ultimate on a new ASRock Z97E-ITX/ac mobo. During the installation my usb mouse, connected to one of the rear usb 2.0 ports, was without any function. When, at the end of the win7 installation, the INF driver was installed, the mouse finally was recognized. So, installing the INF drivers is not just the cosmetics of removing a yellow exclamation mark inside device manager, but telling the OS which of it's build-in sys-drivers to use for a certain device (like in this case a standard USB 2.0 controller) and thus making it work.
it did the job without any problem !?!Thanks for the tip! I didn't know this internal extraction command.
The "old" Win7 Setup doesn’t know the secrets of an Intel Z97 chipset mainboard, which was developed much later than the OS. That is why you will get after the Win7 installation a yellow mark within the Device Manager regarding a "missing SMBus driver". So it really makes sense in this case to run the SetupChipset.exe file of the latest "Intel(R) Chipset Device Software" or let the OS search for the suitable INF files after the extraction of the package.
Since hcwuschel gave me the tip how to get the INF files extracted from the Intel Chipset Device Software packages v10.0.xx, I have executed the related command and got (besides the common .CAT file with the digital signature) the following INF files:
Chipset_SMBus.inf
Chipset_System.inf
Chipset_Thermal.inf
Chipset_USB.inf
Chipset_Win78only.inf
To make it easy for you to get them, I have attached the content of the already extracted latest Intel Chipset Device Set v10.0.0.22. Note: These INF files are only suitable with Intel 9-Series Chipsets.
Just wanted to point out that the latest v10 utilities seem to contain very little .inf files so for most people it’s best to install the older v9 versions. I remember coming to that conclusion some months back after using the -extract command myself. Keep in mind that unfortunately this command does not exist on modern packages from Intel anymore. An example would be the ME drivers and other stuff from Intel. There is always the manual way of course, run the installer and before clicking Next go to %temp% and grab any files you want directly from the extracted folder.
The latest Intel Chipset Device Software v10 just contains 5 INF files, because the Set is only usable for Intel 8-/9-Series Chipsets. The big amount of INF files within the v9 INF Update Utilities is caused by the variety of Intel Chipsets, which has to be supported by them. Each Chipset doesn’t require more than 5-6 Chipset specific INF files.
The "old" Intel Chipset Device Software v9 Series doesn’t contain any suitable INF file for Intel’s newest Chipsets (from 8-Series up). Vice versa the "new" Intel Chipset Device Software v10 Series is not suitable for Intel Chipsets up to the 7-Series. So there are not so many users, who will have the choice between both Intel Chipset Device Software Series (v9 and v10).
@ all: For users with an older Intel Chipset up to 7-Series I have attached the extracted INF files, which are within the Win7 folder of the Intel Chipset Device Software v9.4.4.1006 dated 04/09/2014, which seems to be the latest complete Set. So you can search yourself for the 5-6 INF files, which are suitable for your Intel Chipset. The first 4 letters of the INF file name means the special chipset, which needs them (examples: "coug" files are for Intel 6-Series, "pant" ones for 7-Series Chipsets). Notes: 1. All included files are dated 08/01/2014, but that does not mean, that the INF files themselves have been created by Intel at that date. Many of them are much older. 2. These INF files do only support the recent Windows Operating Systems from Vista/Win7 (32/64bit) up.
Yes I know that the v10 is mostly for 8/9 series and assuming that a lot of people still have 7-series & older then v9 would the better choice. Basically what I meant to say is that if you have an older system do not install v10 but the latest v9.
Thing is that I’m not sure that v10 is not for older systems. Intel hasn’t placed a restriction on whether the latest packages should be installed on older platforms. The latest v10 package does not extract properly unless you actually install it. If you check %temp% before installing it extracts something like 5 inf files which are definitely not enough for the devices that get “updated” at Device Manager after it’s installation. It’s been some months since I dealt with this utility so I don’t remember much but what I said above is what I noticed.
Also, the v9 packages (maybe v10, don’t remember) have a special command to extract only the relevant-to-the-system INF files so users don’t really have to search themselves on what to install when choosing the Have Disk Method way of updating them. Check the included Readme or run -? command and a special little window will show the supported commands of each version.
You are right regarding this point. The INF files of the v10 package do support much more than just 8- and 9-Series Chipsets. On the other hand I remember, that I often have tried to run the SetupChipset.exe of the v10 Series package with 6- and 7-Series Chipset Systems and nothing had been installed. Maybe it will work, if the user tries to install the INF files manually from within the Device Manager.
As I just have learned from hcwuschel, the installer of the v10 package can be properly extracted by the command "SetupChipset.exe -extract <target folder>".
And how many INF files did it extract? Something like 5-6 if I remember properly. The v9 tools would extract 100 (maybe exaggeration, random number) INFs with the same command. Maybe that’s because it’s only for 8/9 series. Sure. But, at my Z77 system I used in the past v10 with the -overall command and I remember actually installing v10 “drivers”. That’s why I said it doesn’t extract everything unless the installation process actually begins (unlike v9).
I do not recommend to force the installation of unneeded or already present Intel Chipset INF files by running the "-overall" command, because this way the registry will get blown up and the Windows\INF folder filled with dispensable oemxx.inf files as well.
Intel Chipset v9 supports 8/9 series systems just fine. I just checked. INF v9.4.4.1006 supports up to 8-series systems. However, the latest v9 INF is actually v9.5.0.1005 which also added support for Wildcat Point which is the codename for Haswell refresh or 9-series systems (Z97 & H97, there are only two). The new files start with WildcatPointx…x.inf. I have attached it below.
Thanks for the info and for having attached the v9.5.0.1005 INF Update Utility Set.
That is interesting, because both v9 packages are dated August 2013, whereas Intel has officially released its latest v10 Set for Win7/8 at 10/28/2014 (look >here<). This indicates, that Intel has stopped last year the further development of the v9 Sets as the "All-In-One" solution for all Intel chipsets.
INF v9.4.4.1006 has the exact same date as v9.5.0.1005 so the latter is basically the first utility to support 9-series and thus they called it Alpha. But what does Alpha really mean when it comes to dummy/fake drivers? Nothing. The only thing that updated INF drivers offer is either new hardware support or new Device Manager names.
I don’t know how the v10 branch actually works since it doesn’t include any Device Manager names. Just dummy drivers without the corresponding strings. Funny thing is that OEM’s still release v9.4 releases even for their newer hardware (example: October 2014) since it actually supports everything released up until 8-series. For 9-series, v9.5.0.1005.
The way I see it, v10 is for Broadwell and up. Also judging by the DEV_ID’s the v10 drivers are for 6-series and up if I’m not mistaken. But as I said, I don’t really know how it actually works & assigns new names to Device Manager. Not that it’s important, Intel INF is fairly useless either way.
Thank you both for infos, i think intel is confused himself sometimes and Oem’s too, V9 series chipset work properly for my Intel C600, V10 series chipset seems to install almost nothing (one driver, if i remember).
Just a little side note: An information (=text) file is not a driver.
@ plutomaniac and Ghostearth: Thanks for your contributions. As plutomaniac already has stated: The relevance of the "Intel Chipset Drivers", which are no drivers at all, is almost overestimated by the users. I know many users, who are forcing the installation of all INF files of any "new" INF Utility package by using the -overall command.
@ all: Here is my statement regarding the Intel Chipset Device "Drivers" again:
There are no Intel Chipset Drivers (drivers are .SYS files). The related Chipset Device Utilities just contain text files with the extension .INF.
The OS doesn’t need the Intel Chipset Device Software. That means, that none of the .INF files are required for the function of the Intel Chipset devices. Proof: You can install any Windows OS without integrating or installing any Intel Chipset Device INF file and you will not get any problem or functional deficit. The only (optical) disadvantage may be, that the Device Manager may show a yellow "Missing Driver" or "Unknown Device" mark.
The related .INF files contain nothing else than
a) the information for the OS, that no driver is required for the related Intel Chipset Device, which has been detected by the OS hardware detection, and
b) the command to the OS to give the related device a specific name with the word "Intel" in it (only valid for the v9 INF Update Utility packages). By the way: The renaming of the Intel Chipset Devices by the Intel INF files is irritating resp. misleading for many users. Example: The Intel Chipset Device INF file named ibexahci.inf renames the "Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller" (managed by the MS AHCI driver) to "Intel(R) 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Family 6 Port SATA AHCI Controller - 3B22". The renamed Controller is still managed by the MS AHCI driver, but many users think, that the on-board Intel AHCI Controller is now managed by an Intel AHCI driver.
Since there are neither hidden (hex code written) nor important informations within the Intel Chipset Device INF files, the user cannot expect, that Intel will update or even optimize them from time to time.
That is why the installation of the complete Intel Chipset Device Software Set is neither required nor useful. Recommended is just the installation of certain INF files for Intel Chipset Devices, which are yellow marked by the Device Manager.
Forcing the installation of a not required or already present Intel Chipset Device INF file (e.g. by using the -overall command) doesn’t make any sense, but will blow up the user’s registry and the Windows\inf folder with garbage (unused resp. unusable oemxx.inf files).
More importantly, this command also replaces the actual RST driver with a dummy one. I mentioned it above only in the context of "testing" what get’s installed with each package. I don’t use it to install new INF utilities. Other than that, everything that Fernando said.
@Fernando@plutomaniac The overall switch is not a good idea, but if you install in normal mode only yellow missing files are installed (may i’m wrong confirm please Fernando and plutomaniac???).
For example when i install Windows 7 on my old Dell Dimension 9200 (intel P965 express), no device is yellow or missing, so i don’t have to install any others Intel chipset files, and all others devices (graphic card…), will work properly and all features of the motherboard are fully exploited.
On a other computer with Windows 7 installed, this time i get some yellow device or missing (i don’t remember), the graphic card driver (nvidia 9200 gs), caused BSOD when restart, when i install the related Intelchipset files, no more BSOD, also transfert performance with usb key is better with chipset enabled and i 'm sure that all motherboard’s features are enabled.
I’m agree with you guys, this is just my own experience, anyway i think that some configuration with no chipset files installed (yellow or missing) work fine.
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