"AHCI BIOS not installed!"

That discussion seems to imply that the message is normal. I suspected this but could not find anything backing that up.

Can anybody here confirm that the message is normal?

ConteRules

Check out the discussion HERE, about the error message.

Bev.

Cannot find any other source that claims this is normal. Can anyone please confirm?

ConteRules,

Don't remember seeing that message on my Inspiron 530 when it was in IDE mode, as you said it did go by fast. 

It might be just letting you know that you aren't in SATA AHCI/RAID mode, but using IDE mode. I did find several sites that said AHCI mode will let the hard drive use it's SATA improvements, and I did notice an overall increase in speed when I switched from IDE to SATA - RAID mode. If you have a SATA HD then you might want to change the BIOS to SATA - AHCI mode.

I did a lot of searching on the IDE - SATA RAID mode when I was trying to get my eSATA external HD connection working, most sites were saying you had to re-install your OS to change the BIOS setting from IDE to AHCI/RAID. I did find a method in a couple of different sites that stated it can be switched without re-installing the OS. Found a thread where a guy with a Inspiron 530 changed his BIOS from IDE to AHCI/RAID without re-installing the OS, Original post on this subject, and Another thread on this subject. You can load the AHCI or RAID drivers then when you restart go to the BIOS (F2) and switch it to AHCI or RAID when the computer boots you can load Matrix Storage Manager if your using RAID setting in Bios. You don't have to have any hard drives in RAID if you don't want to.

If you want to use an eSATA external HD you can download and install the Hotswap program from the HotSwap site.

In order to get the hotswap program to run automatically check here How to Create a Task in Vista Task Scheduler, just remember to set it to start at log in.

Worked for my Inspiron 530, now I can hot swap my eSATA external hard drive. 

If your happy with how your computer is running, IMO it is fine how it is setup now.

If you want to see if it will speed up a little, or are thinking about using an external hard drive with eSATA (I use mine for backups and the eSATA connection is as fast as the internal HD - same connection), you might want to give this a try.

I was running Win7 from my eSATA external HD, just testing it, Now I only use Win7 so I moved it to the internal HD.

Reply here if you have any questions.

Good luck,

Dave

Hi, My setup is the same as yours, its normal. The RAID side is only if you intend to setup 2 hard drives in RAID format.

Thank you all for your replies. 

Hi Robin,

Sorry, you posted while I was typing.

ConteRules,

Like Robin and I said, If your not planning on using RAID or eSATA, your setup is fine.

ConteRules

You are welcome.

Just for the fun of it, I checked my two year old 530 MT [no RAID] and it's the same.    

Bev.

Hey guys i have the same problem, mine just wont go further than the error message, it just freezes, if i press f12, it also pops up, and if i press f2, the screen become all black with a blue line in button..                    please help im a little nervous for it ...

Ps. i am about my English :D

If you are trying to change from IDE to AHCI or RAID mode in BIOS you can try this tutorial, It works for Vista also.

also make sure correct time and date are set in bios

go into bios under advanced bios features, find the IDE selection, then hit enter and change to AHCI. Save settings, let bios run for a few min if it takes this long, then if you don't see AHCI BIOS INSTALLER RUNNING, restart computer. I just went through the same issue. i hope this helps :)

Hi,   Machine is a Inspiron 530 purchased early 2008.  Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @ 2.4GHz 3GB RAM Windows Vista Ultimate x64   The machine works great but every boot a message was flashing really quickly. Curiosity caused me to record a video of startup and try to examine what this message was. The picture is a screenshot from the video. That flashes on the screen for about 1/4th a second. Too quick to read. The system boots fine into Windows every time.   It has been doing this for as long as I can remember. I have flashed the BIOS to the latest version. The SATA mode is set to "IDE" in CMOS as I installed Windows with this mode and changing it to "RAID" now would be a hassel.   I do not know if this is something to worry about, but I am curious as to the cause of this error message. As I said, the machine works fine other than that.   Thanks. EDIT: Forgot to mention there is one HDD installed and one DVD-RW installed.

cghorm

Not having a RAID configuration and this seems to be a common issue with the Inspiron 530 Series, maybe the following discussion can help:

http://www.ephotozine.com/forums/topic/dell-pc-crashed----ahci-bios-not-installed-64778

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&tbo=d&q=ahci+bios+not+installed+dell+530&revid=1293055943&sa=X&ei=nRgYUe_-MZTvqAGL1YCgBw&ved=0CIoBENUCKAA&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=e552f9cb503139c2&biw=1219&bih=559

Bev.

The machine works great but every boot a message was flashing really quickly. Curiosity caused me to record a video of startup and try to examine what this message was. The picture is a screenshot from the video.

That flashes on the screen for about 1/4th a second. Too quick to read. The system boots fine into Windows every time.

It has been doing this for as long as I can remember. I have flashed the BIOS to the latest version. The SATA mode is set to "IDE" in CMOS as I installed Windows with this mode and changing it to "RAID" now would be a hassel.

I do not know if this is something to worry about, but I am curious as to the cause of this error message. As I said, the machine works fine other than that.