AHCI/ATA confusion

Question

Hi all,

I am really hoping to find and answer to my issue here. I didn't call Dell tech support because I was pretty sure that it is beyond their scope.

I recently bought a new computer. It's an Inspiron 1720 and here's the config:

Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 Ghz
2GB RAM
160 GB 5400 rpm HDD
nVidia GeForce 7300 GS with 128 MB VRAM

It came Windows Vista Home Premium preinstalled and I upgraded it to Windows Vista Ultimate with an installation disc that I have and it upgraged fine. I didn't like the partitioning system on the HDD and so I decided to do a clean install. I partitioned the drive and installed Vista and got the BSOD during the installation. After a lot of reading around and chat with MS support I figured out that the way to bypass the issue was to disable AHCI and Turbo Memory in the BIOS. I want to enable AHCI and Turbo Memory and get the performance boost out of it. I have tried reading the installation notes for Intel Matrix Storage and I am confused.

I have checked in my registry to see if AHCI driver is enabled and it is. But even then when I enable AHCI in my BIOS, I get the BSOD at boot. I want to avoid this and enable AHCI and Turbo Memory.

My device driver currently reads this under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers
ATA Channel 0
ATA Channel 0
Intel(R) ICH8M 3 port Serial ATA Storage Controller - 2828
Intel(R) INH8M Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 2850
Ricoh Memory Stick Host Controller
Ricoh MMC Host Controller
Ricoh xD-Picture Card Controller

I want to change this to a SCSI/RAID device using the Intel Matrix Storage Driver that can be used during installation. I am given the following choice to choose from during the installation

- Intel(R) 82801HEM SATA RAID Controller (Mobile ICH8M-E)
- Intel(R) 82801HEM SATA AHCI Controller (Mobile ICH8M-E)
- Intel(R) 82801HBM SATA AHCI Controller (Mobile ICH8M)
- Intel(R) 82801HR/HH/HO SATA RAID Controller (Desktop ICH8R)
- Intel(R) 82801HR/HH/HO SATA AHCI Controller (Desktop ICH8R)
- Intel(R) 631xESB/632xESB SATA RAID Controller (Workstation ESB2)
- Intel(R) 82801GHM SATA RAID Controller (Mobile ICH7RM)
- Intel(R) 82801GBM SATA AHCI Controller (Mobile ICH7M)
- Intel(R) 82801GR/GH SATA RAID Controller (Desktop ICH7R/DH)
- Intel(R) 82801GR/GH SATA AHCI Controller (Desktop ICH7R/DH)
- Intel(R) 82801FR SATA RAID Controller (Desktop ICH6R)
- Intel(R) 82801FR SATA AHCI Controller (Desktop ICH6R)
- Intel(R) 82801FBM SATA AHCI Controller (Mobile ICH6M)

WHICH ONE SHOULD I CHOOSE?

I also would like someone who's been through the entire process to shed some light on the procedure of enabling the driver natively and getting Vista to install with AHCI enabled.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Kaustav

Message Edited by b_kaustav on 12-07-2007 07:22 PM

cp165 · Answer

i had the same problem.  called dell and they mailed me a new hd and a new cd.  dell support is really hopeless.

b_kaustav · Answer

You will have to install the drivers 'natively'. The drivers are in the Intel Matrix Storage driver package that are available on the Dell website. When you boot from the Vista disk. You can choose Advanced and Install additional drivers. Burn the extracted drivers on a CD and then install. When prompted for Install additional drivers insert the driver CD and Vista installation will take the driver from the disk. Carry on with the installation as before. Make sure that you have enabled AHCI and Turbo Memory from the BIOS before this installation. Good luck!

cp165 · Answer

think i found the solution(without reinstallation and F6 to drive A, most of us do not have a floppy anyway) to everyone who has trouble to install xp on inspiron laptop with ahci and flash cache turned on.   here are the steps:   1. download R154200.exe(drivers) and R154198.exe(intel matrix storage manager). 2. download http://sinrsw03.sg.dell.com/fileup/at.asp?fn=200792810585320059.rar. 3. run R154200.exe and unzip the rar file you downloaded from step 2.  you should create 2 directories with the names like R154200 and ATA2AHCI 4. go to ATA2AHCI directory and right mouse click on ahciraid.inf and select install from the menu. 5. go to R154200 directory and right mouse click on both iaahci.inf and iastor.inf and select install from the menu.   NOTE: someone said step 4 is enough, but i did both step 4 & 5 and it worked.   6. reboot your system.  press F2 at startup screen to go inside bios.  change SATA operation from ATA to AHCI.  change Flash Cache Module from Off to Enable. 7. save and exit bios.  now xp should boot normally. 8. in xp, run R154198.exe. 9. after reboot, you should see Intel 82801 HEM/HBM SATA AHCI Controller is installed under device manager / IDE ATA/ATAPI controller.  DONE!   good luck to all........

Pocket29 · Answer

Wait! There is another way to enable AHCI and Turbo Cache – a very simply way which involves only one, maybe two reboots and not a complete system reinstallation. I used this strategy on a Inspiron 1520 after reinstalling Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit, but it should work on any Vista system which is AHCI capable. This involves a manual registry edit, so be careful to follow directions exactly and have a system restore point saved prior to making any registry changes just in case.

Before you begin, download ALL the latest SATA drivers available for your system from the Dell support site. You will need them.

-First, go to start, run, and type “regedit”, then press enter.

-In the registry screen, follow this subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci

-In the “Msahci” key, double click on “start” in the name column.

-In the “value data” box, change the value to “0”, then click ok.

-Close the registry and restart your machine.

-Upon your reboot, press F2 at the Dell splash screen to enter the bios.

-In the bios, change your hard drive setting to AHCI. Save your changes and exit, this time allowing the system to boot into windows. At this point, you’ll know if your registry edit worked. If windows does not boot, simply go back into the bios and change your HDD settings back.

-In windows, the automatic hardware installation wizard will install new drivers for AHCI and related things. Pay no attention to this, and DO NOT RESTART when the wizard prompts you to. Rather, install all of the SATA drivers you obtained for your system from the Dell support site without restarting in between them. Once the final driver is installed, then restart your machine again.

-You may now also enable Turbo Cache mode from the bios menu. On this reboot your system may install one final HDD driver, making you do an additional restart.

That should do it! Hope this helps someone.

johnsap · Answer

I would like to run raid performance mode (200gb x 2 = 400gb), but it wont do both turbo memory and raid performance.  Is this an impossibilty?  Or is there a work around?   Thanks

Storage, Drives & Media

AHCI/ATA confusion

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