Windows wont boot while in AHCI mode

By the way sorry not to mention my laptop's model , it is dell studio 1536 with AMD chipset and all drivers all uptodate

Hi Zakhail,

In order to run in AHCI mode, you must install the operating system in AHCI mode. That may require installing the RAID drivers during the setup process.

I am aware of registry edits that will enable AHCI post installation but cannot vouch for them. But some searching on your part might be worth the effort.

hi , as i stated above in my answer I set the controller every time prior to the installation to AHCI . and as for the RAID driver, I have also installed raid driver during installing windows in 'load driver' option and also tried AHCI driver during installation provided for my dell studio 1536 model in download page .

I also tried to install windows without dell RAID or AHCI drivers as somebody in other forum suggested that since win vista and 7 has pre-loaded AHCI drivers you dont need to install it unless otherwise if needed for troubleshooting purposes.

I have also tried install windows in IDE/ATA mode from which windows boots without problems and the after installation tweaked registry values in order to switch to AHCI, but as soon as it restarts to take affects it gave me the same error with manuall boot .

This is a Windows issue rather than a mass storage driver problem.  For whatever reason, the boot sector hasn't been written at the time of installation.  I would boot the Vista DVD, choose custom install, and delete any existing partitions.  I would then create a new partition and perform the install.  If the disk still refuses to boot, use the tools on the disk to fix the start-up file.

Your disk must have the AHCI driver on it or you would be getting a blue screen when the setup program attempts to write files to the hard drive.

I have downloaded the latest serial ATA R184456.exe driver available for my dell system at download page and loaded from USB during installation . please read through my post you may find that this is my third time stating that i have also tried installing windows Vista and WIN7 with dell RAID and AHCI competible controller driver , but every time when it boots it will gave me the above error.

now there are different things which i am suspecious about .Either these drivers which i downloaded from dell are outdated or not SIGNED .

or they do not support 64bit windows , now the first point which you made has made sense to me , it's as though that windows is trying to detect HD but cant read it's the first boot sectors.

I dont have factory made back up DVD's i cant say this is not the driver issue . I may consider it again and will try searching but as i have already searched tons of forums i coudnt find someone with same problem , yes the error is same but the situation and symptoms are different , they cant manage to start from scratch or bieng noobs they couldnt install windows but in my situation i have installed it without problem , problem arises when it go to boot.

the first time i put it in my laptop it gave me error "No boot sector on internal hard drive" with 3 options. cool it's quite simple and the answer is that there is no system file, no windows, no partition etc.

You may need to add drivers to the installer as it is booting; with XP there was a prompt to press 'F6' to install custom hard drive adapters, and I presume there is one for Windows 7 .

The error you describe appears when there is no boot device, and in your case it would be due to the drivers not being installed. Download the appropriate drivers from the manufacturer's site and follow the Windows install prompts to add them.

BTW' I dont need to install windows xp as my laptop doesnt support it , It was loaded with windows Vista 32/64 bit i installed it on both 32 and 64bit same things appearing again.

Something i would like to add is that i have read many post and all says that without AHCI drivers installed you cant even boot system to windows . You will get BSOD if the drivers are not installed but, in my case it will boot without BSOD and device manager also confirms it , but the problem is that it wont boot by it's own unless i do it manually to boot windows

I agree that you already have the AHCI driver.  As I suggested it might help to perform a custom install.  This allows you access to a tool that allows you to remove all existing partitions and create a new one.  In the process of creating the new partition the initial boot code will be re-written.  You can also try one of the tools to fix the Vista boot manager.  See this:  How to Repair and Restore Windows Vista Master Boot Record and Bootmgr is missing.

HI, Do you mean by custom installation starting from scratch right? which includes formating C: and repartition drives and so on . If that is so ,I have went every with custom installation which starts from cd rom from bios not from running system . I have never tried installing windows from running windows , do you think should i also try this method as well

Again, the first thing I would try is to boot the installation disk, choose custom installation, delete all existing partitions, and then choose to install Windows into the unallocated space that results.  Windows setup should automatically create a bootable partition and install the Windows system files into it.  If you need a special partitioning arrangment you would normally create a first partition that is smaller than the entire disk and install Windows into that.

When Windows is installed to the first partition, that partition is normally automatically made "active" so that the computer will boot from it.  Your description indicates that this action has not occurred which is why I have given you the links in my last post.

Another point to remember is that a Dell BIOS normally looks only at the first SATA port for the initial boot code when a hard drive has been selected as the boot device.  When using a single hard disk it should be plugged into SATA 0.

Jack! I followed what you have suggested , but came up with the same 'no boot sector' error with manuallt start up process it will boot otherwise no boot.

Please check to see if your hard drive is plugged into SATA 0.  No Windows setup disk I have ever used fails to put a boot sector on a drive.  The only way this can logically happen is if the port that is being searched for boot code has no bootable device plugged into it.

EDIT:  Forgot that there is one other way, and that is if the port is disabled.  You should also check to see that SATA 0 is set to Enabled, Auto, or On, depending on what setting is available.

This is laptop and the only port it uses for internal hard drive is port 0 and I have enabled the port as AHCI , I dont know where you want me to look for enabling port , If you say BIOS then i have enabled it as said above. It has three option in bios for controller  ATA , AHCI and OFF . when i set it to ATA it will boot fine withoutany key .

I have already done tones of troubleshooting with no results . Here is something i found out during troubleshooting and was shocked ,

My brother has an Acer apire laptop with intel 9x chipsit . I borrowed his hard drive (hitachi 320gb) to plug in my laptop while his laptop's controller is also set to AHCI and installation must have done in AHCI enabled mode , So i put that in my laptop, guess what , it can boot fine , but giving BSOD that is not a problem because the installation and drivers are not matching .

I have put my own hard drive in his laptop and it will boot fine and gives BSOD , so one thing is abvious that problem is coming from nowhere so where to search from.

I findally went ahead and took the permission from my brother to borrow his HD for more time and i installed windows on that hard drive in my own laptop and i also delet and format C drive in order to know that problem is not at this point and the installation went fine and also it boots without problem ,

Now the situation is that my laptop can install windows fine on my own hard drive which is Toshiba 120gb but cant read back at first atempt when it starts , and when i put it in Acer laptop while windows is already exist installed in Dell it will boot fine . and if i install windows on that 320gb hard drive in dell laptop it will install and will also boot without any delay.

when it starts on that that problemetic HD that indicator for HD will blink once or twice with couple of cliks and then it will completely go calm and the screen remain black with a blinking cursor at left top corner for about 10seconds and will show the no boot sector error . sometime it will appear over 10seconds later.

My apologies; forgot that you were working with a laptop.  It is beginning to look like the hard drive you are trying to install is not compatible with your computer.  Your Windows disk obviously works and can write the boot sectors, and you have shown that it works with another drive.  The only problem you have left is the hard drive itself.  Perhaps the firmware on the drive is giving a problem to the BIOS.  What model hard drive are you trying to install?

Hi . This is Toshiba MK1246GSX 120GB

Dont you think there is a bug in my bios ? While if dell updated it for to support the larger capacity HDs they may have simply missed the smaller capacity one , Since he hard drive is in mint and fresh condition and also works in other laptop without any problem , while sometimes i disagree with my own point because if that is so then why does it works in IDE mode , I have noticed the laptop when it starts and try to detect the HD on first attempt, the HD will make 2 or 3 rapid cliks and the indicator will also blink for couple of time rapidly and then it will go calm with black screen with blinking cursor until it fails and gives the error .

Now in my opinion there is different another things which i am taking responsible for this problem , either the point you just mention that the firmware has to be updated in order to detect or there must be a driver issue

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