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Questions about GIGABYTE products => Motherboards with Intel processors => Topic started by: hal8000 on August 24, 2010, 07:52:14 am

Title: GA-P55A-UD3 Enabling AHCI Mode after Install
Post by: hal8000 on August 24, 2010, 07:52:14 am
I have several OS, on my hard drive, Ubuntu 10.04, Windows 7 (32bit)  Windows XP Pro (64bit)
After installing with the SATA hard drive in IDE Mode, I found setting to AHCI is much quicker
at booting ( BIOSsplash screen disabled, fast boot enabled).

Changing to AHCI had no effect on linux and worked no problem, Windows crashed but
I followed this link and succesfully got windows 7 working without reloading:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/61869-ahci-enable-windows-7-vista.html


For windows XP 64 bit not so lucky, wont load with SATA drive set to AHCI mode.
I followed this tutorial:
http://expertester.wordpress.com/2008/07/27/how-to-enable-ahci-windows-xp/

but it did not work for my, my XP Pro is SP2, not SP3.

As there's not much data on XP I may do a fresh install integrating the AHCI/RAID driver
on floppy disk or merging into the XPdisk with Nlite.

Looking through the motherboard disk, does anyone know which is the correct driver for AHCI/RAID?
I think it is on the CD on Bootdrv, iMSM, 64bit,  reading  txtsetup.oem:

; Copyright (c) 2003-09 Intel Corporation
;#############################################################################
;#
;#    Filename:  TXTSETUP.OEM
;#
;#############################################################################
[Disks]
disk1 = "Intel(R) Matrix Storage Manager Driver", iaStor.sys, \

[Defaults]
scsi = iaStor_8ME9MEPCHM

;#############################################################################
[scsi]

; iaAHCI.inf
iaAHCI_ESB2         = "Intel(R) ESB2 SATA AHCI Controller"
iaAHCI_7RDH         = "Intel(R) ICH7R/DH SATA AHCI Controller"
iaAHCI_7MMDH        = "Intel(R) ICH7M/MDH SATA AHCI Controller"
iaAHCI_8RDHDO       = "Intel(R) ICH8R/DH/DO SATA AHCI Controller"
iaAHCI_8MEM         = "Intel(R) ICH8M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller"
iaAHCI_9RDODH       = "Intel(R) ICH9R/DO/DH SATA AHCI Controller"
iaAHCI_9MEM         = "Intel(R) ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller"
iaAHCI_10DDO        = "Intel(R) ICH10D/DO SATA AHCI Controller"
iaAHCI_10R          = "Intel(R) ICH10R SATA AHCI Controller"
iaAHCI_PCHM         = "Intel(R) PCHM SATA AHCI Controller 4 Port"
iaAHCI_PCHM_1       = "Intel(R) PCHM SATA AHCI Controller 6 Port"
iaAHCI_PCH          = "Intel(R) PCH SATA AHCI Controller"

; iaStor.inf
iaStor_ESB2         = "Intel(R) ESB2 SATA RAID Controller"
iaStor_7RDH         = "Intel(R) ICH7R/DH SATA RAID Controller"
iaStor_7MDH         = "Intel(R) ICH7MDH SATA RAID Controller"
iaStor_8R9R10RDOPCH = "Intel(R) ICH8R/ICH9R/ICH10R/DO/PCH SATA RAID Controller"
iaStor_8ME9MEPCHM   = "Intel(R) ICH8M-E/ICH9M-E/PCHM SATA RAID Controller"

;#############################################################################



My hard drive is SATA II on connector  SATA2_0 so I will check using lspci in linux to find controller chipset


Rest of Hardware
Intel i5 750
4G Crucial DDR3 1333 (kit)
XFX HD5770 Radeon Graphics
LG50GS22 SATA DVD/CD writer
Antec Modular 650W PSU


Anyon successfully enabled AHCI driver on XP after install?
Thanks in advance for help
N.B
(I will add that XP is installed  because windows 7 does not work with some of my older games)
Title: Re: GA-P55A-UD3 Enabling AHCI Mode after Install
Post by: Dark Mantis on August 24, 2010, 09:23:07 am
Well you seem like you have covered most of the bases already. I would only add that you might be better off using the Intel ICH10 drivers off the Intel website as they will be more up to date. I have nothing to help regarding the XP install except good luck. ;)
Title: Re: GA-P55A-UD3 Enabling AHCI Mode after Install
Post by: dialtone on September 08, 2010, 11:28:07 am
You can have success installing support for AHCI or RAID after Win XP 64 bit is installed. I was booting from one of the 6 ports and enabled AHCI on the Marvel SATA ports and rebooted. Windows asked for drivers which I supplied. After that I had to Shut Down and swapped my boot drive to the Marvel SATA port and rebooted. While rebooting, I enabled RAID for the other SATA ports and supplied the drivers when Windows found new hardware.

The trick here, is that you can't install drivers for the port that you're trying to boot from. It is nice to have two different SATA interfaces.

Good Luck

Title: Re: GA-P55A-UD3 Enabling AHCI Mode after Install
Post by: Dark Mantis on September 08, 2010, 11:38:42 am
Interesting. I can't say I have tried it out but I may do some tests when I have time. It is a novel and simple way of approaching the problem.  8)
Title: Re: GA-P55A-UD3 Enabling AHCI Mode after Install
Post by: Peteruk on September 08, 2010, 12:11:00 pm
The trick here, is that you can't install drivers for the port that you're trying to boot from. It is nice to have two different SATA interfaces.
No the trick here is that AHCI was not set when you installed windows in the first place not that you can't install drivers for the port(s) you're trying to boot from.

But hey it works. :P