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Solution: GA-P35-DS3 Rev 1.0 BIOS F14 SATA AHCI Native Mode hangs at HDD detection
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The following is the solution for many hangs inside the AHCI controller device enumeration at BIOS startup.
In addition other errors that appear to be strange are also related to a combination of firmware and Windows
Setup CD bugs. If you follow the listed steps I am not responsible for any damage that may occur! Keep in
mind that I am a bloody noob, which still tries to understand how these computers work, but getting better
in it every day.
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Scenario 1
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Error
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- BIOS is set to AHCI native SATA Mode
BIOS > Integrated Peripherals >
SATA AHCI Mode = AHCI
SATA Port0-1 Native Mode = Enabled
- HDD is connected
- at the AHCI device scan we see the following text on the screen:
Serial ATA AHCI BIOS, Version iSrc 1.20E
Copyright (c) 2003-2008 Intel Corporation
** This version supports only Hard Disk and CDROM drives **
Please wait. This will take few seconds.
Controller Bus#00, Device#1F, Function#02: 04 Ports, 02 Devices
- the cursor is blinking infinite and no device can be enumerated
Solution
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- turn off computer
- disconnect HDD
- turn on computer and go to BIOS
- set BIOS to Legacy IDE Mode
BIOS > Integrated Peripherals >
SATA AHCI Mode = Disabled
SATA Port0-1 Native Mode = Disabled
- save BIOS changes and turn off computer
- connect the HDD which caused the problem and a 2nd HDD for launching XP
- in XP use a hex editor, I like to use "010 Editor" and open the PhysicalDrive of the HDD causing the hang
- in the MBR, which is the very first sector, set the 3 bytes starting at offset 0x1C3 to FE FF FF and save
the changes to the PhysicalDrive
- now the controller can be set back to AHCI native mode in BIOS and the hang disappears
Simulate the problem
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- use a HDD with a MBR and an active 1st primary partition, this is normally a HDD for booting an OS
- use a hex editor and set the 3 bytes starting at offset 0x1C3 to 01 08 00
- set BIOS to AHCI native SATA Mode
BIOS > Integrated Peripherals >
SATA AHCI Mode = AHCI
SATA Port0-1 Native Mode = Enabled
- after the next reboot the AHCI device enumeration will hang infinite
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Scenario 2
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Error
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- BIOS is set to AHCI native SATA Mode
BIOS > Integrated Peripherals >
SATA AHCI Mode = AHCI
SATA Port0-1 Native Mode = Enabled
- HDD is connected
- the primary partition start offset is 2048 sectors, which is equal to 1.048.576 bytes (1 * 1024 * 1024),
this is an alignment value normally used for SSDs to improve read / write speed
- Windows 2003 Server x86 with integrated SP2 is used to install the HDD
- you press F6 to choose an AHCI driver floppy disk during setup
- we use the already present partition and do only a quick NTFS format or we choose "Leave the current file
system intact (no changes)" if available
- the OS installs and on the 1st reboot directly after the AHCI Controller device scan you read one of the
following error messages:
- A disk read error occurred
- Unable to load operating system
- Error loading operating system
Solution
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- turn computer off
- connect the HDD which caused the problem and a 2nd HDD for launching XP
- turn computer on
- set BIOS to IDE Legacy Mode for XP to start
- in XP use a hex editor and open the PhysicalDrive of the HDD that you installed Windows Server 2003 on
- in the MBR set the 3 bytes starting at offset 0x1C3 to FE FF FF and save the changes to the PhysicalDrive
- turn computer off
- disconnect XP HDD
- turn on computer
- switch BIOS to native AHCI Mode
- now Windows 2003 Server / Windows XP Setup will boot and continue
- you will now have a properly aligned partition starting at sector 2048
Simulate the problem
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- set BIOS to legacy IDE Mode for XP to start
- use a completely blank HDD, you can also blank a HDD in XP with "010 Editor"
- use diskpar on XP on this blank HDD
- type "diskpar -i 0" and "diskpar -i 1" and look which drive number matches the blank HDD, no partitions
should be shown
- let assume your blank HDD has drive number 1
- type "diskpar -s 1"
- set start offset to 2048 sectors, which is equal to 1.048.576 bytes (1 * 1024 * 1024)
- set partition size to e.g. 25000 MB (25 GB = 25000 * 1024 * 1024 = 26.214.400.000 bytes)
- start XP Disk Manager diskmgmt.msc and format the new partition, also set it to active
- turn off computer
- disconnect XP HDD
- turn on computer
- set BIOS to native AHCI Mode
- run Windows 2003 Server / Windows XP Setup CD
- press F6 to choose an AHCI driver floppy disk during setup
- we install into the already present partition and choose "Leave the current file system intact (no changes)"
- the OS installs and on the 1st reboot directly after the AHCI Controller device scan you read one of the
following error messages:
- A disk read error occurred
- Unable to load operating system
- Error loading operating system
I'm sorry for necroing this topic but I have this exact same board (I know, I shouldn't be using such old hardware) and this exact same problem (scenario 1) but when I try to apply this fix I can't find the required offset. If I go to 0x1C3 the values I have are "65 73 73" which relate to the system message "Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart".
I'd love to be able to fix this but I'd have to ask someone to hold my hand when changing hex values on the MBR. I don't know much (next to nothing about this actually) but enough to know these aren't the bytes I'm looking for.
PS: I looked all over the internet and googled to the best of my abilities but was not able to find a solution. That's why I'm bothering you on this forum again... :/
PS2: This is what I'm talking about:
http://i.imgur.com/Ys0gU3O.png
