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106058

September 18th, 2009 09:00

SATA AHCI mode and Windows XP

Will Windows XP not work with SATA Operation set to AHCI? Tried to install XP on my OptiPlex 760 and got a stop error before the actual installation even started. I was advised by tech support to set SATA Operation to ATA. That solved the problem, XP installed fine, but I'm concerned that AHCI cannot be used if one chooses to run XP instead of Vista.

 

6.4K Posts

September 18th, 2009 09:00

AHCI drivers are not native to an off the shelf Windows XP installation CD.  Dell computers that have SATA drives and are ordered with Windows XP are usually shipped with an installation CD that has had the SATA/AHCI drivers incorporated into them.  If you want to use a Windows XP installation CD you bought commercially with the AHCI of your computer, you will either need to have a 3.5" diskette drive in order to load the drivers at the F6 prompt during installation or you will need to use something like nLite to slipstream the drivers into a new installation CD made from your existing CD.

10 Elder

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45.2K Posts

September 18th, 2009 15:00

After you complete the XP install with BIOS set to ATA, you should be able to re-run BIOS setup again and change the setting back to AHCI.

Ron

4 Operator

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14.4K Posts

September 18th, 2009 15:00

only if you go to the drivers and download page and download and install the SATA  drivers large file..that has been my experience..

6.4K Posts

September 18th, 2009 20:00

Is it possible to load the "large" file with the SATA controller set for IDE compatibility?  One user I was working with tried it but it refused to load since the installer couldn't detect an AHCI setting.  I have often wondered if it might be possible to install the small file as you would any other driver and then restart, setting the controller back to RAID On along the way.  I've been too chicken to try it on the machines available to me since they belong to my wife and son.

 

10 Elder

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45.2K Posts

September 19th, 2009 19:00

Read this.

Ron

6.4K Posts

September 20th, 2009 09:00

Cool.  I don't know when I'll get the courage to try it, but it looks like a slick procedure.

Thanks Ron.

10 Elder

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45.2K Posts

September 20th, 2009 21:00

Jack,

Aawww, go on, be the brave one.. And then let us know what happens.

Easy to say when it ain't my system! :emotion-4:

Ron

 

6.4K Posts

September 20th, 2009 22:00

Ron,

I've been playing with computers since they required good sized rooms, and one thing I've learned over the past 40 years is that the less a user knows about his machinery, the less they want someone playing with it.  I've been threatened with bodily harm if I mess something up, and since my son has several programs installed to help with his community college work, he naturally requires me to put everything back together if my experiments meet with less than success.  As a consequence one of them will have to experience a complete crash before I'm allowed to use it for my own education.

If such a catastrophe should occur, however, I will certainly be pleased to take advantage of the opportunity!

:emotion-14:

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