How to install Intel Matrix Storage Manager in XP????

I stumbled onto how to get it to work, a combination of sheer luck and educated guesses.  If anyone else is struggling let me know in this thread and I will document what worked for me.

Here's how I was able to install the Intel Matrix Storage manager to get
ACHI support in XP.

First, you need to get the "Intel Matrix Storage Manager" driver for XP
(either on Dell's website or look on the utilities disc).   That allows the
1545 motherboard to support RAID and AHCI/SATA.

Note that there are two different downloads under "SATA Hard drives" on
Dell's website called "Intel Matrix Storage Manager" if you go to their
support page for  via using "1545" as the model or your service tag #;
confusingly both are named the exact same thing, and both show the same
revision# (8.2.0.1001).

The one you need will say "Intel - Driver" above it; the one you don't need
says "Intel - Application".

The DRIVER file is named R197861.EXE and is about 550KB.  The APPLICATION
file is named R197868.exe and is about 21MB.  I'm not exactly sure what the
"application" does and think it might be related to more advanced stuff like
RAID, or controlling RAID.  In any case I didn't need it to get ACHI/SATA
working so I did not mess with it.

This is the full link to the INTEL MATRIX STORAGE MANAGER driver file at
dell:

Note that unlike other drivers you download from Dell, the Install
instructions on the Dell download page are rather cryptic - they only say
"Custom"!!



After you get the file, run it.  If I recall right it is only a self
expanding zipfile and after it unzips it just ends rather than running any
kind of installer.

By default it will create a directory path on your hard drive like this:

C:\dell\drivers\R197861

Under R197861 there will be 2 subdirectories, \f6flp32 and \f6flp64.   The
one you'll need for XP home or Pro is the "32" one (for 32 bit operating
systems).  I guess if you are using XP 64 bit (is anybody?) you'll need the
"64" bit directory.  Btw all of the readme files will pretty worthless for
what we are trying to do (install AHCI support after XP has already been
installed).  I think the actual purpose of these 2 f6flp directories is as
different floppy disks to make, so that during an XP install you can press
"F6" at a particular point in the install, which then lets you load drivers
from a floppy disk.

Follow these steps to install the driver.   They may not be 100% accurate
but should be close enough to guide you through - please let me know if I
missed anything major though, I only documented this rough for myself and
would like to have it for 100% in case I ever need to go through this pain
again.  Also, although this should go without saying, but I recommend you
create a restore point b4 trying anything, just in case this mucks anything
up!

(1) Run Device Manager. [My Computer / Properties / Hardware / Device
Manager  or Control Panel / Hardware / Device Manager].

(2)  Go to IDE/ADAPI CONTROLLERS choice and expand it by pressing "+".  You
should see several controller choices under there.

(3) Select the controller that says "Intel ICHM/M-E 2 port Serial ATA
Storage Controller 1 - 2928".

(4) Right mouse click and select "Update driver".

(5) The "hardware update wizard" will come up and ask to connect to windows
update server - select the last choice which is "No, not at this time".
Click next.

(6) At next screen select the last option for "Install from a list or
specific location (advanced)" and click Next.

(7) At next screen turn off the SEARCH options and select the option at the
bottom for "Don't search, I will choose the driver to install" and click
Next.

(8) At next screen UNCLICK the option for show compatible hardware and click
the Have Disk option.

(9) At next screen click the Browse button and navigate to the f6flpy32
folder (for example C:\dell\drivers\R197861\f6flpy32).

(10) At next screen, click on the iaAHCI.inf file.  [ Actually I can't
remember this part for sure.  It may have just wanted to know the f6flp32
folder than having to pick a specific driver from the directory.  I tried so
much different stuff to get AHCI installed I can't recall it all]

(11) Click OK at next screen, where that file will be selected.

(12) From there I don't recall exactly what happens next and can't recreate
it exactly to document (nor do I want to for fear of screwing up my PC!!),
but basically follow the prompts, and if it asks you to select a device from
a list, choose the one that mentions "ICH9M".

(13) If it warns you that the driver may not be compatible, tell it to use
it anyway.

(14) When it finishes it will ask to reboot; but since I had problems
rebooting when installing a different DELL specific driver (the chipset
update), I now say NO to the reboot for any of them, and instead I do a
SHUTDOWN at that point and then power back on myself.

(15) Restart PC. Press F12 to get into the BIOS.  Go to System
Configuration, and section SATA Operations.  Set it to ACHI.  Exit (saves
ACHI choice), boot into windows.   If everything worked then the PC should
boot into XP fine.   But if the Matrix Storage Manager driver isn't working
then I think XP will fail to load and you'll get blue screen of death type
message since BIOS is back to ACHI but XP can't use it.

Assuming all worked, go to Device Manager & expand the IDE/ADAPI CONTROLLERS
choice.  It will no longer have multiple choices there, instead there will
only be "Intel ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller.

Good luck!

These steps were wonderfully written and this update just made a HUGE difference in the performance of this laptop (Inspiron 1545)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS - F2 to get into the BIOS, not F12.  Otherwise, spot on perfect!