Enabling AHCI after-the-fact?

[Weatherlite]

In an effort to get my son engaged in more than just playing games on his computer, I sometimes have him install components, software, etc. For his birthday in July (he's 15 now) I got him a SSD. I had already installed the same exact model SSD into my setup and had learned what to do and not to do. So, I gave him his instructions and set him off to his task. Now he's telling me he's not seeing much of a change from his WD Black and the SSD. I did a few tests and found he wasn't getting the kind of performance (drive-wise) that I was. Long story short, he somehow didn't save the changes in the BIOS when he switched it to AHCI. Of course simply changing the BIOS to AHCI now doesn't work....just flashes a quick BSOD about halfway through the Windows loading screen and automatically reboots.

I know there is a way to change it by altering the registry, and I have done a search, but I just can't seem to find the answer. Anyone have the solution perhaps? If he has to wipe and reinstall then so be it. It'll be a good lesson for him to pay attention to detail, but I sure wouldn't want to reinstall all the programs he has! lol

He's running W7 Home 64, Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3 motherboard, FX4100 CPU, 750GB WD Caviar Black HDD, and 120GB OCZ Agility 3 SSD. I made sure the SSD had the latest firmware before he installed it and the BIOS is the latest revision as well.

 

[RGone]

I cannot say how many links there are in g00gle for your particular issue. A whole bunch of them though.


Switching from IDE to AHCI after installing windows 7. HELP!

 

[drosera01]

Change to AHCI from IDE Mode after Installation:

1.Exit all Windows-based programs.
2.Press [Win] + R or take the RUN option from the start menu.
3.Now type Regedit there and press Enter Key to open up the Registry Editor Window. (If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.)
4.Locate and then click the following registry sub key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\msahci

5.In the right pane right-click Start in the Name column and then click Modify.
6.In the Value data box, type 0 [3 is default], and then click OK.
7.On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.
8.Restart your computer
9.Go to UEFI/BIOS and enable AHCI, Save & Reboot
10.Another restart will be required to finish the driver installation.

copy & paste from another forum.

 

[trents]

I've done this several times. No big deal. It's just about making one small change to the Windows registry. You just add a value that would have been added automatically had you chosen AHCI mode in bios before installing Windows.

 

[Weatherlite]

RGone--I apologize because I wasn't clear in what I was looking for. I had done a Google search and found lots and lots of links. The problem I had was that I found so many different instructions that I wasn't sure which one was legit and which would screw something up. I'd rather trust what you guys say than some random link I found on Google. lol

drosera01, I've seen that one a bunch so I guess I'll give it a try on my son's system. Thanks.

 

[RGone]

@ "Weatherlite", "trents" says it very accurately >> You just add a value that would have been added automatically had you chosen AHCI mode in bios before installing Windows. That is all it is really.

Now you say that the whole exercise was to be for 'teaching' rather than just using after you did all the 'work'. Well I too have been in a teaching mode. Teaching myself n0t to make this AHCI error more than once or twice. I taught myself by RE-installing the operating system rather than crutching that registry entry.

Here I must admit that my own learning of the lesson by forcing myself to do the RE-install of the operating system, was not too too difficult since I learned (1.) to just enable raid in bios before an install and then Windows 7 installs raid drvers which RUN in AHCI mode and then at any time I am already in AHCI mode and ALSO have raid drivers installed in case I wish to setup a raid array. (2.) I install Win 7 from a Usb stick and installing Win 7 is about a 12 minute job. (3.) I learned my lesson pretty readily after those forced RE-installs. I have not made that mistake in a year or so now. I forced myself to learn.

I have used the Registry tricks to insert an SSD into a system that was done by someone else at an operating system installation. But forcing my ownself to RE-install even if done so quickly from a Usb stick, did teach me to pay attention. I am a little slow, but after a self-forced RE-install of Win 7, did teach myself to pay attention and now my first move on most DIY boards is to enable Raid and install the O/S and feed drivers at install and then I am good to go. Even a slow learner like myself, got the meesage. Hehehe. I have not shot myself in my own foot in a good while now.

Luck man and have some fun computering.