Getting AHCI to work in Windows 8

[basiltherat]

Hi, after doing a bit of searching (both generally online and in this forum), I seem to have a specific instance of a fairly common problem:

The problem is: you install Windows with your BIOS set to 'IDE' mode for your boot (C:) drive. You then hear about 'AHCI' mode and that it will make your SATA3 drive go faster. So you change the BIOS setting to 'AHCI'... and Windows won't boot any more.

Microsoft have described a simply registry tweak to solve this for Windows 7.

However it doesn't work for Windows 8 (the registry key is different).
I've also seen advice to just boot Windows 8 into Safe Mode (using bcdedit /set {current} safeboot minimal at the command prompt), and then it will pick the Microsoft ACHI drivers, and all will be well next time you boot normally.

However this latter Win8 fix doesn't seem to work for my Gigabyte motherboard, because it needs to use a Marvell AHCI driver instead (I think?).

Here's my system:
I have a Gigabyte  GA-X58A-UD3R (rev. 2.0) with the latest FH BIOS http://uk.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3449
Windows 8 Pro (64 bit)
And my boot (C:) drive is an Corsair Neutron GTX.
Most of the SATA ports on that motherboard are SATA2, but there are two SATA3 ports (labelled GSATA3_6 and GSATA3_7).
I have the Corsair attached to port 6.
The SATA3 controller is a Marvell 9128.

There are Windows 7 64bit drivers available to download for it on the Gigabyte site, but nothing labelled for Windows 8.

If I set the GSATA3_6 & _7 ports to "AHCI" in my BIOS, Windows just will not boot, it always hangs.

Anybody got a solution?
I'm guessing that I need to get the right Marvell AHCI driver to be loaded by Windows at boot time - not sure how to do that though!

Thanks

[absic]

Hi there,

you can change Windows 8 from IDE to AHCI Mode and once again it is a simple registry tweak that you need to apply. The only difference is that Windows 8 uses a different location for this now, which is probably why you can't find it.

Exit all applications
Go to the start screen and type in regedit, or press the Windows key and r on your keyboard to bring up the run command.
If you see the UAC (User Account Control) dialogue box, just click continue.
Locate the the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\storahci\

Locate the Error Control entry which should have a value of 3. Right-click on the entry name, select Modify, change the value from 3 to 0 and click OK.
Open the StartOverride folder and locate an entry named 0 with a value of 3. Change the value to 0 by following the procedure in step 5.
Restart and enable AHCI in your system BIOS.

You shouldn't need to install any drivers as the Marvell SATA Controller will run with the native Microsoft version but you can install them if you want to after you have rebooted and the PC is running in AHCI Mode.

[basiltherat]

 thanks for the reply!

I'm afraid that registry tweak doesn't work on my system.

If you google "windows 8 AHCI" it comes up in several of the top results - but if you read the discussions on most of those pages (like I spent several hours doing last night in between reboots ) you'll a significant number of people report it doesn't work on their machine - sadly I seem to be in that category

[absic]

Sorry to hear that.

I did a couple of tests with the registry hack & it seemed to work OK but these were on boards using the 68 and 77 chipsets, but I wouldn't have thought that would be an issue.

I will do some more digging and testing but my time is limited, so it may take me a while before I can post back. Hopefully you, or someone else, will be able to find the solution before I can.

[basiltherat]

Thanks absic!

This is one of these things where I was perfectly happy with my desktop PC until I read about AHIC and that my SSD hard drive could go faster  Now I wanna turn AHIC on! 

As far as I can tell, the registry tweak isn't even necessary for Windows 8: if you simply boot up in Safe Mode (...tricky to get into in Windows 8, though - F8 doesn't work any more - you need to use the command line I mentioned above, or faff around in the Settings Charm...) with your BIOS set to AHIC on the boot drive, Safe Mode will load the MS ahic driver, and amend the registry for you. (This solution is on an official MS page - I forget the link though)...
...but that MS ahic driver doesn't seem to work for that X58/Marvel controller combination.

[absic]

I'm still looking into this but am struggling to find the answer for you.

If it were my PC I know that I would just do a clean install of the OS in AHCI Mode and start again, but that's me! 

I am a little surprised that the MS AHCI Driver doesn't seem to work with your system and Windows 8. This could be because Windows 8 is an upgrade and the drivers were not installed in Windows 7.

That said, if I remember correctly, the Intel SATA2 ports actually perform better than the Marvell 9128  SATA3 ports on this motherboard so you might do better to run your SSD on one of those. If you do a search for Marvell 9128 on the forum you'll see what I mean.

[basiltherat]

Thanks absic.

I upgraded to Windows 8 at the end of November, I've been tweaking and playing with it and making lots of little changes until now - I don't think I could face blowing it away and re-installing!  I've got so many different applications installed with all sorts of manual config!

But it's funny you should mention the SATA2 ports, cos I was thinking the same thing -
because did I mention that I did manage to successfully set the SATA2 ports of AHIC and still boot?
So I was definately wondering "which is faster? A SATA2 port set to AHIC, or a SATA3 port set to IDE?" - cos that seems to be the choice I'm faced with (barring a reinstall of Windows!)

[absic]

Use the SATA2 ports. Check here for the reason that I am saying that: http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,2336.0.html

[basiltherat]

Ah! So basically, that Marvel SATA3 controller chip turned out to be a turkey...

Nothing wrong with Windows 8 at all. 

OK, SATA2 ports it is, then! 

[Scoots]

Exit all applications
Go to the start screen and type in regedit, or press the Windows key and r on your keyboard to bring up the run command.
If you see the UAC (User Account Control) dialogue box, just click continue.
Locate the the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\storahci\

Locate the Error Control entry which should have a value of 3. Right-click on the entry name, select Modify, change the value from 3 to 0 and click OK.
Open the StartOverride folder and locate an entry named 0 with a value of 3. Change the value to 0 by following the procedure in step 5.
Restart and enable AHCI in your system BIOS.

absic,

I just registered here for the sole purpose of thanking you very much for this procedure.   I have a H61M-S2PV fresh install of 8.1 RTM installed that was pristine and then tried to go from BIOS FE -> FH.  The system went from AHCI to IDE when rebooted and would hang and go into system restore mode if I just tried changing the BIOS back to AHCI.

Your method worked perfectly and saved me from having to do hours of work redoing the install.   Thanks again.