BSOD during Windows 7 installation in AHCI mode

[JureS]

Hi guys, I'll try to explain my problem in as few words as possible.

First thing, my build:
Board: Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4
CPU: Core i7 870 @ 2,93 Ghz
Graphic: Sapphire AMD Radeon 8670
Mushkin 2x2Gb Red Culvert Kit @ 1600Mhz CAS 6-7-7-18
Seagate 320 GB SATA II HDD
+ WD Caviar Black 1TB SATA III HDD
Running: Windows 7 Ultimate
Trying to install: Windows 7 Ultimat
PSU: LC Power Arkangel 850W

Ok so here's the deal. I have Windows 7 Ultimate installed on my 320 Gb HDD and everything is running ok. I just bought a WD Caviar Black 1TB SATA III disk and I want to install Windows 7 there, since the disk is faster.
Here's what happens. When I connect the disk (it is connected GSATA 3 connectors), the disk will be recognized in bios and in Windows, but wont show under My Computer. I figured it must be some software bug so I formatted the disk in diskpart (clean format) and installed Windows 7 on it. At that time the GSATA 3 interface was set to IDE mode. It ran fine but after installing a big batch of Windows updates, the system hung at windows startup screen. After restoring the system to a previous state (i.e. before the updates), the system booted up normally.
I didnt know what was wrong so I formatted again, and this time I set the GSATA 3 to AHCI mode, since I realized this is a better option. When installing in AHCI mode, the computer expands the windows files but when the system is restarted, I get a BSOD (code Stop 0x000000B4 video driver failed to initialize) at Setup is updating registry settings. I really want to use the AHCI mode, but I cant get the system to work in IDE either so its really a bugger. I have no idea what could be causing this as the system works fine when using the other disk.
Can the BSOD be caused by the HDD or the motherboard controller? Anyway, I' open to suggestions, any help would be appreciated.

Note: I have tried installing Windows 7 from a dvd as well as from a USB key.

Thank you,

J

[F5BJR]

* Why you use the Marvell port ?

Because : < disk is faster > connected to this port ? -->  No absolutly , NO

Connect your disks to the INTEL port and you solve your problem  

 Pierre

[JureS]

I know that there is no difference in speed, but the HDD has SATA 3 interface so it should be working when connected to the GSATA3 controller and it bugs me that it isnt, when it should. You think that there is a problem with the interface?

J

[Dark Mantis]

Yes.

It is well known that the Marvell 9128 controller wont support SATA3 as it was supposed to. This isn't Gigabyte's fault but Marvell's and most manufacturer's who implimented this option have the same problem. It will work fine as a SATA2 interface but don't expect anything like the advertised 6 GBs.

[JureS]

The HDDs hardly even utilize SATA 2 speed so there should be no speed difference between connecting it to SATA 2 or 3. I'll connect the disk to SATA 2 port but i have one quick question. I dont have a jumper to use on the HDD to limit the speed to 3Gb/s. Is it necessary to use the jumper like it says on the HDD or can i just connect the HDD to SATA 2 port and it will automatically limit the speed on the HDD interface?

Thank you,

j

[absic]

Hi there,
you shouldn't need to put a jumper on your SATA3 HDD's,  I never have and there have been no issues whichever interface I have used.

With regard to running your HDD on the Marvell SATA3 ports I found that the only way I could get my WD Black HDD's to run on this chip was in Native IDE mode. AHCI and RAID both failed miserably. If you haven't done so you might like to spend some time checking through this thread: http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php/topic,2336.15.html as it goes into the problems we have faced in some detail.

[JureS]

absic thank you for the information. I have looked through the thread and I see this is quite a problem. I guess i will use SATA 3  controllers when I get a SSD, knowing that HDDs have such extensive problems and even if they work, they are actually slower (in non RAID configs). Thank you for your help, I am clean formatting the disk now and will let you know if everything goes as planned!

One quick question if you might know the answer to it. Why wont my WD show under my computer when its connected and windows running on my 320gb drive. I see it in device manager and diskpart but not in my computer. Thet shouldnt be a problem because im only going to be using WD drive but still, it bugs me.

Thanks,

J

[absic]

Not sure why the WD isn't showing in my computer but best guess would be that you haven't assigned it a drive letter.

I've done this myself when I reformatted and initialised an HDD, thought I had given it a drive letter automatically but Windows didn't assign one as I thought. Spent ages trying to figure out why the thing wasn't showing in My Computer when it was showing up in Disk Manager.

[Dark Mantis]

Yes that would be my guess too. You need to go into Disk Management and import the drive.

[JureS]

Ok the disk is now showing up in my computer, thank you for the help.

I did a clean format and installed Windows on the WD in AHCI using SATA 2 controllers and everything seemed ok. But when I was installing different things (I did a re install 3 times and this error never happened when installing the same things), from Wireless adapter drivers to motherboard and graphic drivers and windows updates, I got "Windows has encountered a critical problem and will restart automatically in one minute." After the restart, I either got random restarts or certain services didn't start - basically the operating system did not function.

Now the only thing left to do as I see it is to try installing in IDE mode and then changing the registry settings and switching to IDE. Do you guys have any other ideas?

Ty, 

J