New SATA2 Drive - AHCI or IDE?

[Deleted member 24505]

Did it reboot ok after you switched it to ahci mode? If so,i guess it means it IS running in ahci mode.

have a look at this,post no.5.Hope it helps.

http://www.everythingicafe.com/foru...h-and-reboots-after-itunes-install-14145.html

 

[Huxley2k7]

Did it reboot ok after you switched it to ahci mode? If so,i guess it means it IS running in ahci mode.

have a look at this,post no.5.Hope it helps.

http://www.everythingicafe.com/foru...h-and-reboots-after-itunes-install-14145.html

When i reboot, it started a little differently - there was a little boot-up page highlighting my Sony drive in green, then it went through the normal boot-up process and straight to desktop as normal...

This time round, no 'found new hardware' wizard started up too. How can it work in AHCI mode then, without installing the Intel Storage Manager?

 

[Deleted member 24505]

coz you already have the ahci driver installed.the thing from that link changes the registry to enable it(i think)

check you device manager like this-

 

[Huxley2k7]

Hmmm! I just went into Bios, and noticed i may have missed a setting. I had originally just set the Onboard SATA/IDE CTRL mode to AHCI in Integrated Peripherals. I had not 'Enabled' AHCI mode with the other setting. Upon doing this, PC reset, went through some hard-drive AHCI function which i couldn't quite catch, then went to the blue BSOD screen and reset again. Luckily i got back into the Bios and switched it back to Disabled. I don't know if this will allow me to install the Matrix Storage Manager since it won't go back to Desktop.

Attached picture.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

I wonder if that means it wont work then?

On mine i set it to ahci from ide,rebooted and it booted fine to windows and did the installing driver for new hardware thing.

Leave it as it was with the other setting off,and look at device manager.

 

[Huxley2k7]

I wonder if that means it wont work then?

On mine i set it to ahci from ide,rebooted and it booted fine to windows and did the installing driver for new hardware thing.

Leave it as it was with the other setting off,and look at device manager.

Basically, in my Bios, the Onboard SATA/IDE mode i have on AHCI. Thats fine,as you can see, im getting to Desktop etc. However, when i ENABLE the SATA AHCI Mode in Bios, thats when i get the BSOD and can't get to desktop.

So you think i should switch it back to Onboard Sata/Ide mode - IDE?

 

[Deleted member 24505]

It seems that way ,by the looks of the pic,it is still in ide mode.

 

[Huxley2k7]

It seems that way ,by the looks of the pic,it is still in ide mode.

Wtf... This is what i got now that i switched it back to Onboard IDE mode.

 

[Huxley2k7]

Well, here is one way you can reinstall without floppy.

I think you can also use a USB floppy to install the drivers, but the above method wont cost you anything (other than a CD and some download time).

edit: you can also use this great guide by rado354, if you have the time/inclination, but if you don't plan to reinstall too often, may not be worth your time.

Well Hawk, i've resorted to the contingency plan! That is a full-format OS reinstall using this method. I selected Win32 Drivers and assigned them to the new SATA compatible windows install CD created with Nlite. The driver was only 0.5Mb, im hoping its right. Im hoping this works!

It seems that way ,by the looks of the pic,it is still in ide mode.

Well thanks for your help Tigger mate! It's as i thought though, seems this method is not compatible with my board or something. Doesn't like it. I'm going to go with the old-skool reformat and see how it goes. I'm sure you'll be hearing from me soon! So stick around! I'll be sure to thank you!

Well wish me luck dudes!

 

[Hawk1]

Good luck and it should work out fine.

 

[Huxley2k7]

Good luck and it should work out fine.

Bah, i get to the F6 part, where i select to instal the SCSI driver to run this thing in AHCI mode, i follow the steps, then it says it can't find any hardware/CD Rom/Floppy with the drivers on it and tells me to press F3 to quit. I did make some progress though - i put the SATA in the GSATA motherboard socket, and now it seems to be recognizing my HD as a SATA in AHCI mode during boot-up. Still says PCI/IDE mode in Device manager though and i haven't noticed much difference, so its probably not changed anything. AHCI is still disabled as well, since it gives me BSOD during bootup to desktop if i leave it on.

 

[Hawk1]

Bah, i get to the F6 part, where i select to instal the SCSI driver to run this thing in AHCI mode, i follow the steps, then it says it can't find any hardware/CD Rom/Floppy with the drivers on it and tells me to press F3 to quit. I did make some progress though - i put the SATA in the GSATA motherboard socket, and now it seems to be recognizing my HD as a SATA in AHCI mode during boot-up. Still says PCI/IDE mode in Device manager though. Then again, AHCI is still disabled since it gives me BSOD during bootup to desktop if i leave it on.

Hmm, interesting. I'm not familiar with the Gigabyte, as my Asus board has the ICH7R SB. Anyone else want to chime in (tigger?).

 

[Huxley2k7]

Hmm, interesting. I'm not familiar with the Gigabyte, as my Asus board has the ICH7R SB. Anyone else want to chime in (tigger?).

I don't think there is much else anyone can do, i'm really on my last tether with it. Believe me, if i have some questions, ill be sure to come back and ask. I think it's just a matter of me trouble-shooting this crap and hoping for the best. SATA is one big pain in the ass IMO.

 

[Hawk1]

Well if its really important to you and you want to give it a try(and you can afford the expense), get a USB Floppy. Check this if you do want to give it a try to make sure you get a supported USB Floppy.

Good luck with troubleshooting it.

 

[Deleted member 24505]

Sata is not a pain in the ass,only when things go wrong.

For the future tho',make sure you buy a board that has the "R" version sb,which supports all the sata options.

I hope you suss it out tho'.

 

[ntdouglas]

I'm trying it now Tigger, thanks mate, might as well take the plunge. Wish me luck.

@ Hawk - If the AHCI method does not work, i will definitely try out those links. Thanks for finding those for me, i searched google a few pages back with no luck! Cheers.

Okay, so i downloaded the



Replaced those entries in the text document with 2821.

Ran the Install.CMD

Enabled AHCI mode in Bios.

Downloaded latest storage manager.

Ran install and i get the error ''Do not meet the minimum requirements for this software''.

What gives?

Does the hdd have jumpers on the back of it? I had to remove the jumpers on my Seagates to enable sata 2.

 

[Huxley2k7]

Okay guys, after lots of trial and error, i think i've finally made progress, HOWEVER, wondering if you dudes can help me out?

Here's the deal - I managed to install a slipstreamed SP2 version of XP with SATA drivers. ALL the while in AHCI mode! After a lot of trial and error, i got XP installed. BIG performance increase! The XP load bar barely goes past the screen once before its booting into windows. I noticed a big performance increase, accessing files etc was very quick.

...Then, i decided to plug in my old 80GB which has all the files i need on it (EG: Mobo drivers) into the SATA ports. It didnt find it at first, so i fiddled with Bios and adjusted its IDE settings since i figured it would run under IDE. It still didn't find it, so i plugged it into the GSATA2 port (Next to my new HD) as my Bios was still in AHCI mode. The mobo found it, i went into windows and immediately noticed it taking at least 5 progress bar-passes on the windows bootup before getting to desktop. Also, when on windows, i think that freakin 'found new hardware' crap installed something to work the old HD properly, i can't remember whether the performance hit came before or after this though since i made a few reboots during the process! It originally showed up as 'Generic Volume' then the found new hardware did something automatically and then it showed up as D drive. Accessing the HD's felt slow again (Like pre-AHCI) and it just feels shitty. Upon restart, i notice that during the boot-up phase (After the Gigabyte screen flashes up) what once said 'AHCI Bios installed' now says 'AHCI Bios Not Installed'. Im still in AHCI mode etc, but alas, the performance has taken a hit. I unplugged the old HD after grabbing the files, and now the PC still feels the same! Ever since plugging in that HD! Im pretty sure i set the Bios settings back the same now.

Why has this happened? What can i do? Re-install OS again? I don't see how this found-new-hardware thing (If that is the culprit) would affect the 'AHCI Bios Installed' during bootup either.

Thankyou guys for any help.

EDIT: Added a pic of my Device Manager. Note: I haven't installed anything but the onboard network device so i can get online. I'm not sure, but it looks like its reporting the drive as AHCI/SATA correctly? Or is it? Also, in the bottom right you can see the 'Removable Hardware' icon, which contains the HDD. (WD 5000AAKS).

 

[ntdouglas]

You have an 8 pin jumper block on the back of that drive.

 

[Mussels]

Whats up guys,

Hate to keep making new threads for issues, but when i'm unsure about something, i like to be sure, before taking the plunge.

I've got my new SATA2 HDD, it's a 500GB Western Digital (5000AAKS). Since installing XP and optimizing my PC fully, i'm just not noticing any performance increase over my old 80GB SATA, in fact, it seems worse! Opening up simple files (Like My Documents) on the drive presents an hour-glass with at least a 1 second delay or so before the file opens! Deleting tiny files of around 8MB sometimes brings up the progress bar? This is a fresh format, with nothing but maintenance programs, registry optimizers, diskeeper, and a couple of games on it. I've optimized XP to the fullest, and the HDD is always defragged, including the page-file. The HDD should not be as slow as it is im sure of it.

So i think, maybe, i did something wrong, or there is something i need to do. One thing i haven't installed yet, is the 'SATA RAID drivers' from Gigabyte's website. Should i?

Should i be running the HDD in AHCI mode instead of the generic motherboard IDE mode? If so, would it really require me to completely re-install Windows with a boot-disk containing specific drivers? The manual is a little hazey in this regard.

I have the latest Bios already installed and all other motherboard drivers too. Here is my motherboard page. The Gigabyte site is SO slow for me, a real pain in the ass. Hope it isn't for you to!

Input, thoughts, criticism, help appreciated.

Thanks,

Hux.

Simple answer: AHCI is best, even tho they are the same speed.

IDE mode is the same speed, AHCI adds the extras like NCQ, hot swap, etc - so its the same speed only that IDE is more compatible (often doesnt need drivers to install windows) whereas AHCI needs the drivers on a floppy, but has the extra features.

there is sometimes a 'raid' option as well, which is best to have disabled if you run AHCI but arent running RAID.

 

[Kursah]

Alright, I just got my ACHI working without re-installing XP or crashing! I have an ICH8R southbridge though, so whether or not it can help here, hard saying. I found too many instructions to fail when I tried them. So I found a guy who did this to his laptop and it worked for me...I'm sure instructions given are the same or very similar...I'm just posting what worked for me.

1- download Intel Matrix Storage Manager exe.
2- Put in C:\ Dir
3- Go to Start, Run, type c:\iataxxx.exe -a
This will extract the files to C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager
4- Go to Control Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager
Then go to IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers, right click one of the first Intel PCI Storage 802xx controllers, not the primary or secondary below them, Click Update Driver, manually find the drivers, don't search, then click Have Disk,

Copy and Paste:
C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager\Driver

Then locate 82801HR/HH/HO SATA ACHI Controller (very bottom one, at least for ICH8R)

It will come up with a warning, click okay, it will ask to restart, do so...and go into Bios, set your SATA to ACHI and voila, you should be ACHI. This took all of 5 minutes from download to completion, without digging into the case, no floppy/cd, all good to go. Again, sorry if it does not help, I was stoked I could pull it off in XP since it is easy in Vista...pretty much the same deal in XP I just realised. Dunno why there are so many sites with more complicated instructions (even for ICHxR's) if it's this easy.

 

[Huxley2k7]

You have an 8 pin jumper block on the back of that drive.

There is an 8 Pin block, i didn't know that was the jumper block though? Surely if i needed to activate that, i wouldn't be able to have installed XP with a slipstreamed XP disc, all in AHCI mode in Bios etc? If that is the jumper, is it worth switching it then?

I just looked at this http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc....php?p_faqid=1409&p_created=1138290141#jumper and there's no actual Jumpers on my HDD, furthermore, its an OEM HDD.

Alright, I just got my ACHI working without re-installing XP or crashing! I have an ICH8R southbridge though, so whether or not it can help here, hard saying. I found too many instructions to fail when I tried them. So I found a guy who did this to his laptop and it worked for me...I'm sure instructions given are the same or very similar...I'm just posting what worked for me.

1- download Intel Matrix Storage Manager exe.
2- Put in C:\ Dir
3- Go to Start, Run, type c:\iataxxx.exe -a
This will extract the files to C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager
4- Go to Control Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager
Then go to IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers, right click one of the first Intel PCI Storage 802xx controllers, not the primary or secondary below them, Click Update Driver, manually find the drivers, don't search, then click Have Disk,

Copy and Paste:
C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager\Driver

Then locate 82801HR/HH/HO SATA ACHI Controller (very bottom one, at least for ICH8R)

It will come up with a warning, click okay, it will ask to restart, do so...and go into Bios, set your SATA to ACHI and voila, you should be ACHI. This took all of 5 minutes from download to completion, without digging into the case, no floppy/cd, all good to go. Again, sorry if it does not help, I was stoked I could pull it off in XP since it is easy in Vista...pretty much the same deal in XP I just realised. Dunno why there are so many sites with more complicated instructions (even for ICHxR's) if it's this easy.

Kursah, thanks for taking the time to write out the guide, but i think my PC is in AHCI mode. It's all turned on in Bios, where originally i would get a BSod with it all activated. I'm now just trying to find out if its actually working as AHCI, since during POST, there's a little screen named something like ''AHCI Intel Bios Version 7.1 SrCi'' then below that it says 'AHCI Bios Not Installed' where before, right after the OS reinstall with Slipstreamed XP, it said 'AHCI Bios Installed'. All the details are in my previous post regarding that, im just trying to find out why its saying that now.

@ Mussels - Thanks, but your a little late buddy.

EDIT: Here is the FULL page i get during POST. It's always been on since i enabled AHCI Mode in bios, it runs through every bootup.

[CENTER]Serial ATA AHCI Bios Version, iSrc 1.07
Copyright Intel (bla bla)
##This Version Supports Only HDD's and CD Roms##

Controller Bus#00, Device #F, Function #02: 04 Ports
............
No Device Found
AHCI Bios Not Installed[/CENTER]

Anyone got any ideas?

 

[ntdouglas]

There is an 8 Pin block, i didn't know that was the jumper block though? Surely if i needed to activate that, i wouldn't be able to have installed XP with a slipstreamed XP disc, all in AHCI mode in Bios etc? If that is the jumper, is it worth switching it then?

I just looked at this http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc....php?p_faqid=1409&p_created=1138290141#jumper and there's no actual Jumpers on my HDD, furthermore, its an OEM HDD.



Kursah, thanks for taking the time to write out the guide, but i think my PC is in AHCI mode. It's all turned on in Bios, where originally i would get a BSod with it all activated. I'm now just trying to find out if its actually working as AHCI, since during POST, there's a little screen named something like ''AHCI Intel Bios Version 7.1 SrCi'' then below that it says 'AHCI Bios Not Installed' where before, right after the OS reinstall with Slipstreamed XP, it said 'AHCI Bios Installed'. All the details are in my previous post regarding that, im just trying to find out why its saying that now.

@ Mussels - Thanks, but your a little late buddy.

EDIT: Here is the FULL page i get during POST. It's always been on since i enabled AHCI Mode in bios, it runs through every bootup.

[CENTER]Serial ATA AHCI Bios Version, iSrc 1.07
Copyright Intel (bla bla)
##This Version Supports Only HDD's and CD Roms##

Controller Bus#00, Device #F, Function #02: 04 Ports
............
No Device Found
AHCI Bios Not Installed[/CENTER]

Anyone got any ideas?

Remove the jumper. Has your drive performance increased? Post a hdd tach screenie, that will show if your running sata2.

 

[Huxley2k7]

Remove the jumper. Has your drive performance increased? Post a hdd tach screenie, that will show if your running sata2.

I just installed it and ran the thing straight off (Quick 8MB), never used it before, dunno what these results mean.

I'm really at my wits end with this whole HDD thing, not knowing whether its even setup properly etc, I really appreciate all the help.

 

[ntdouglas]

Thats a pretty good score for a single drive. Is that with the jumper removed? With Seagates, the jumper is in there so it can also run on sata boards, and drive defaults to sata. Removing it enables sata2.

 

[Huxley2k7]

Thats a pretty good score for a single drive. Is that with the jumper removed? With Seagates, the jumper is in there so it can also run on sata boards, and drive defaults to sata. Removing it enables sata2.

There is no jumper to remove, unless i physically remove the entire socket...

So what is that score? Is my HD in AHCI/SATA mode then?