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Switching From IDE to AHCI Mode in WIN7/Vista


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In the past, users have used a manual registry tweak to enable the system to load Windows after changing from IDE to AHCI mode. The only other option was to reload the OS with the drive in AHCI mode and load the proper driver.

 

Apparently this little tool has been out since AUG of 2010. It's an AUTOMATED SCRIPT FROM MICROSOFT TO MAKE THE REGISTRY CHANGE.

 

::pirate::

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Will this fix the issue of changing it first in the BIOS? Per Corsair SSD instruction, I changed to AHCI from IDE for better performance (my Performace 3 Series 128) is only getting Sata 3 gp/s speeds, and appears such in Speccy). However, when i change it to AHCI mode i cannot boot.
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  • 1 month later...
I've used the Microsoft automated tool and also followed instructions from the other thread but I still cannot find any option for changing from IDE to AHCI mode in my bios, does anyone or has anyone done this on a Striker Extreme mobo ?
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I've used the Microsoft automated tool and also followed instructions from the other thread but I still cannot find any option for changing from IDE to AHCI mode in my bios, does anyone or has anyone done this on a Striker Extreme mobo ?

 

Check with Nvidia or ASUS but I don't think your chipset supports AHCI.

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  • 1 month later...
In the past, users have used a manual registry tweak to enable the system to load Windows after changing from IDE to AHCI mode. The only other option was to reload the OS with the drive in AHCI mode and load the proper driver.

 

Apparently this little tool has been out since AUG of 2010. It's an AUTOMATED SCRIPT FROM MICROSOFT TO MAKE THE REGISTRY CHANGE.

 

::pirate::

Yellowbeard: I just tried switching as JEFF GRUNDY suggested to AHCI

on MSI ECLIPSE with I7 965. I use WD RAPTORS HDDs and was not impressed

with what Windows INDEX showed. It dropped my index from 5.9 to 5.2.

So, unless I did something wrong, WINDOWS 7 PROffessional drivers

all showed in SYSTEM for AHCI but not worth the effort. NOTE I AM

NOT USING RAID. ANY COMMENTS . THANKS.

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I've used the Microsoft automated tool and also followed instructions from the other thread but I still cannot find any option for changing from IDE to AHCI mode in my bios, does anyone or has anyone done this on a Striker Extreme mobo ?

 

Worked for me on an ASUS H55 chipset board.

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Yellowbeard: I just tried switching as JEFF GRUNDY suggested to AHCI

on MSI ECLIPSE with I7 965. I use WD RAPTORS HDDs and was not impressed

with what Windows INDEX showed. It dropped my index from 5.9 to 5.2.

So, unless I did something wrong, WINDOWS 7 PROffessional drivers

all showed in SYSTEM for AHCI but not worth the effort. NOTE I AM

NOT USING RAID. ANY COMMENTS . THANKS.

 

I cannot comment on how this may or may not work with another manufacturer's drives. You should check with WD.

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  • 5 weeks later...

I'm still not able to load Windows with the drive in AHCI mode despite applying this registry fix and also doing it myself (the parameter was already at 0). The only option I have is to to reinstall Windows with the drive in AHCI mode. I've done that but a recent BIOS upgrade reset the changes and now I'm forced back to IDE mode.

 

In any case, having my drive in AHCI mode has still not enabled me to upgrade the FS3 firmware, as I've described here.

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  • 3 months later...
I have the Force 3 240GB in a 2011 MBP 15" i7. Do I need to install Windows 7 on the SSD in order to update from 1.2? Can I attach to Lenovo W510 via eSATA and update from that machine which is already Windows 7?

 

The best answer is "probably". The only way to know is to try it. I have updated via eSATA but it has to be Intel or AMD eSATA, not some 3rd party chip eSATA. Your controller must also be in AHCI mode.

 

And, yes, you can do the update from the disk while it is running the OS if you want to try it that way. Either is fine and won't harm your disk.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi,

 

I've been looking around on ways to enable ahci on my laptop but so far no luck. :(

 

my Specs

Specifications:

AMD Llano Dual Core A4-3300

8gb DDR3 1333ram

60gig Corsair Force 3

ATI Radeon HD6480G

ATI Radeon HD6470M

 

there is no option in the bios to change to AHCI

my read and write is only 190 and 70

 

hwinfo64 can see 6gb/s controller

on registry msahci is 0

device manager it's amd sata

is there any way to enable ahci to get the max speed..

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Yellowbeard: I just tried switching as JEFF GRUNDY suggested to AHCI

on MSI ECLIPSE with I7 965. I use WD RAPTORS HDDs and was not impressed

with what Windows INDEX showed. It dropped my index from 5.9 to 5.2.

So, unless I did something wrong, WINDOWS 7 PROffessional drivers

all showed in SYSTEM for AHCI but not worth the effort. NOTE I AM

NOT USING RAID. ANY COMMENTS . THANKS.

 

First saying you use "RAPTORS" is a vague statement, there are many models of Raptors, it would help to know which one.

 

Next, AHCI mode, which enables Native Command Queuing (NCQ), among other things, was created to increase the performance of standard HDDs, not SSDs. Of course, the HDD must support AHCI protocols in order to use them, which I would think a newer Raptor HDD would, but I'm not an expert on them. Also, an SSD not used in AHCI mode with an AHCI driver, is my definition of "self-gimped".

 

You have an Intel CPU board, so you should have the X58/ICH10R Intel chipset. Does your board have a Marvell or other SATA interface too? If you're not using the Intel SATA interface, then your change to AHCI may have been on the other chipsets. Or, you changed it on the Intel, but you don't use it. Or the other chipset driver was changed to the Windows AHCI driver (msahci), which does not work as well with it.

 

Windows 7 Professional does not have different drivers, you should be using the Intel IRST (RAID) driver in AHCI mode on the Intel chipset for the best performance. Your boards download page has the Intel Matrix or IRST driver for your board, if you are now in AHCI mode on the Intel chipset, download and install that driver and if it does not perform better, your Raptors must be old.

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Hi,

 

I've been looking around on ways to enable ahci on my laptop but so far no luck. :(

 

my Specs

Specifications:

AMD Llano Dual Core A4-3300

8gb DDR3 1333ram

60gig Corsair Force 3

ATI Radeon HD6480G

ATI Radeon HD6470M

 

there is no option in the bios to change to AHCI

my read and write is only 190 and 70

 

hwinfo64 can see 6gb/s controller

on registry msahci is 0

device manager it's amd sata

is there any way to enable ahci to get the max speed..

 

If AHCI mode for your chipset is not available in your BIOS, then there is nothing you can do about it, sorry to say. Many laptops are like yours, the BIOS is minimal and short of a major BIOS update, nothing can fix this.

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  • 2 months later...

I recently upgraded my system to a Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD4 with an i7-2600k, Corsair ForceGT 120 GB SSD as my system drive (running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit). my files are on a 1TB WD Caviar Black. My problem is that my system will still not boot even after making the registry edit explained in the tutorial.

 

A little background on how I got where I am now might help in figuring things out. My original system was configured as Raid 1 on an Intel DP35DP mobo. My c: partition was for OS and programs. I had separate partitions for photos, music, files, etc.

 

I first built the system with just my HDDs, but the RAID was lost. There was an IADStor error that I didn't bother messing with because I knew I was going to install the SSD as my new system drive. I never set the BIOS to AcHI and it must have defaulted to IDE and windows switched the drivers.

 

I transferred my system partition by taking one of my HDDs and using Partition Wizard to delete all but my c: partition. I used ATI2012 to clone my c: drive onto my SSD. Prior to cloning onto the SSD, I used an elevated command prompt to align the drive to 1024k per the tutorial.

 

I made sure the system booted and all my programs were included and then rebooted with my other HDD from the RAiD that still had my file partitions. Everything worked fine, though my Windows experience score only changed from 5.5-6.5. So the last thing to do was enable ACHI.

 

After creating a complete system backup, I edited my registry to change the MSAchi start value to 0, restarted and entered the BIOS and switched the PCI to ACHI,

But the OS won't load.

 

I switched back to IDE and booted. I subsequently tried the Fix It script on Windows Support and I tried using the EZSmart Storage utility from Gigabyte. That doesn't even seem to run.

 

So I'm flummoxed. I really don't want to have to start all over with a fresh install. I have so many apps and plugins... Well, you know.

 

I wanted to run in ACHI for performance and to enable TRIM. Does it really matter? It would be a shame to not utilize the SSD capabilities I paid for.

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

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I was going to upgrade the firmware on my 120 and 240 drives, when I installed Windows 7 I set the controller as RAID so that I could mirror the data disks.

 

I notice that the notes talk about always being in AHCI mode but if I change the BIOS from RAID to AHCI it blue screens.

 

Can I run the upgrade in RAID mode as it is not mentioned anywhere ?

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  • 1 month later...

For people that have Intel CPU/chipset mother boards, there is no reason for or advantage to changing from RAID mode to AHCI, except when required for updating firmware in a SSD.

 

Intel RAID mode has all the functionality of AHCI mode, such as NCQ and Hot Plugging. Intel provides one SATA chipset driver that works in either RAID or AHCI modes, that is Intel Rapid Storage Technology (IRST), whose driver file name is iaStor. The Intel X79 chipset platform uses the RSTe driver, which is also a RAID or AHCI driver.

 

Intel actually recommends that when installing Windows with the intent to use AHCI mode, to just set the SATA mode to RAID instead. That way if you decide to create a RAID array, you can do so any time, without any mode changing, BSOD issues, which is actually a Windows problem.

 

SSD users may think that if they use RAID mode, they won't get the benefits of the TRIM command. That is true, but only if you create an actual RAID array out of two or more SSDs. The small but very important detail is, if your SATA mode is RAID, and the RAID driver is installed, any SSD (or HDD) that is not part of a RAID array (ie, just a single, normal, drive) will receive the TRIM command just as it would in AHCI mode. Actually, any single drive connected to a SATA controller in RAID mode, is just operating in AHCI mode. When SSDs are part of a RAID array/volume, is the only situation where the TRIM command will not work with them. Intel seems to be fixing the no TRIM for SSDs in RAID volumes (but only for RAID 0 arrays) but if and when that does happen is unknown.

 

The TRIM command, which actually is generated and sent to SSDs from the Windows 7 NTFS file system, does not depend on any SATA mode or SATA driver. It works in IDE, AHCI, or RAID mode, with the exception for RAID volumes, described above. It does not need to be enabled, it is on by default.

 

If you are required to perform a firmware (FW) update in AHCI mode, and have been using RAID mode, there is no need to be concerned about this, it can be done very simply. Don't forget that when using the boot to DOS FW update method, you don't boot your usual copy of Windows, so any SATA mode changes will not affect Windows as long as you prevent it from booting. Have your FW update media ready (disk, USB drive), start or restart the PC and run the UEFI/BIOS. Change the SATA mode to AHCI, and then change the boot order so the FW update media is used first. If you are worried about booting into your OS in AHCI mode, just move your normal boot RAID volume to the bottom of the boot order. Save the changes and exit, but insert the FW update media first. Let the FW update complete, hopefully fine, and restart the PC. Get into the UEFI/BIOS again (DON'T forget this step!), reset your SATA mode to RAID, reset your boot order to the RAID volume, save and exit. You should see the Intel RAID Option ROM run during POST, and verify that all is correct. Keep your finger ready to start the UEFI/BIOS if something is not right.

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with respect to raid or ide etc, i just ordered a 45 gb Corsair Accelerator SSD drive to use as a cache drive. when i install it do i set the bios as ide or AHCI

 

do want any RAID period and double period. I have a NAS right next to my puter that as a more than a TB and it's on all the time for anyting i need, plus i create a mirror back up from time to time for any restore and also keep some of my key daily files on a cloud

 

so just would like to hear pros and cons of setting it up each way

 

tks in advance

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In the past, users have used a manual registry tweak to enable the system to load Windows after changing from IDE to AHCI mode. The only other option was to reload the OS with the drive in AHCI mode and load the proper driver.

 

Apparently this little tool has been out since AUG of 2010. It's an AUTOMATED SCRIPT FROM MICROSOFT TO MAKE THE REGISTRY CHANGE.

 

::pirate::

 

 

I'm not sure about any others but I did my last two OS installs in IDE mode and did the registry tweak.. The first one lasted 4 months then BSOD's.. I thought the drive was the issue so I checked it and it was fine.. The second I couldn't even get all the Windows Updates installed before it was BSODing.

 

My latests OS install I just enabled AHCI in the BIOS prior to installing the OS.. and guess what.. No problems at all.

 

It really makes me wonder if that was the cause of my mysterious BSOD's as the drive has been solid now after doing a fresh install of Windows 7/64bit in AHCI mode rather than in IDE and doing the registry tweak.

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  • 3 months later...

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