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Windows XP and AHCI after install

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Zerix01

Zerix01

Member
​
Joined
Mar 12, 2007
I have Windows XP installed on a 160GB drive on ports that are set to IDE mode. I don't want to re-install it so that is where it will be staying. Now I have two Crucial m4 SSD's for my Linux boot drives but I left the second half of each SSD with an empty partition (standard DOS partitions). I would like to use these partitions to run my games off of but they are on SATA ports with AHCI enabled and Windows XP does not see them in the Disk Manger. How do I get these drivers installed? I select SATA/RAID controller from add hardware and point it to my drivers but it doesn't do anything as if I didn't select the driver. There is no executable to run so I'm stuck doing this manually.

System is in sig.
 
Can you elaborate a bit? I'm confused. You have XP installed on a 160GB drive, which is a SATA drive on a port set to IDE mode, right?

Then you have 2 SSDs for Linux. 2 Partitions on each SSD, right?

If I remember correct, you can't have both IDE mode and AHCI mode enabled at the same time. Not unless the 160GB HD is connected to a third party on-board controller (like a Jmicron or something). Then you could run the 160GB in IDE mode independently of the other SATA ports because they are on a different controller.

I had a similar issue with Windows 7 a while back. I installed Windows 7 onto a drive running in IDE mode, but wanted to change to AHCI. Apparently Windows either installs the regular SATA/IDE driver if your drive is running in IDE mode and dosen't install the AHCI driver. Therefore, changing modes in the BIOS would result in a BOOT_DEVICE_INACCESSIBLE error. The trick is to install the AHCI drivers BEFORE rebooting and selecting AHCI mode in the BIOS. There is a hotfix out there for this, but again, this is for Windows 7.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that Windows XP is probably similar in that regard. See if you can't find the AHCI drivers for your board (NOT the same as RAID drivers). Install them, reboot and set AHCI mode in your BIOS. Then try booting back into Windows and see if your drives are reported.

-Dave
 
With the AMD 890FX and SB800 I am able to select the six SATA 3 ports as AHCI and leave the two SATA 2 ports in IDE. The Windows drive is still on one of the SATA 2 ports and it still boots fine. I do not care about that drive being in AHCI. I just want it to be able to detect the two partitions on the SSD drives that are in AHCI mode. Either way it looks like I need those drivers installed. But like I said there is no executable for it. Gigabyte lists it as a pre install driver specifically stating press f6 during install. So how do I get this installed now?
 
I am going to suspect that windows does not care that you can leave part of the controller in IDE mode and have another part of the controller be something else. That unless you see the controller subdivided in Device Manager.

So the best thing to do is g00gle change to AHCI mode after install of Win7 and there are many guides there for so doing. Then the AHCI drivers will be in the install and likely your SSD's will be seen. My best guess of what to do. YMMV and others may come up with another way.
 
Usually I would go into your device manager and just manually update the drivers that way. If you're using the Device Wizard, try selecting Disk Controller instead of SATA/RAID Controller. My memory on XP is a bit fuzzy, so bear with me.
 
Ok I feel dumb. Yeah it was showing up as a PCI device in the device manager. For whatever reason yesterday I thought those were related to the on board sounds card and USB 3 ports that I don't care about having installed.

So I installed the driver, didn't need a reboot, and I see my other drives. I won't be able to format and use them till later, need to get to work, but it is looking good.

Thanks.
 
And by the way switching to AHCI in Windows 7 is easy but difficult in Windows XP.


To be able to power on / plug in your internal hard drive without shutting down your Windows XP computer:


1. Check to see if file iaStor.sys is in your \Windows\System32\Drivers\ folder. If not, go here and download the Intel Matrix Storage Manager: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=17882

File names change for updated versions but for the example of IATA89ENU.exe file downloaded to C: drive: Start Menu > Run... > C:\IATA89ENU.exe -a -a

Now go to \Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager\Driver to find and copy iaStor.sys to your \Windows\System32\Drivers\ folder.


[Note that you can't just double click on IATA89ENU.exe]



2. Figure out which ICH your motherboard uses by looking it up here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_chipsets

If it's ICH8R, ICH9R, or ICH10R, then copy and paste the corresponding lines below into Notepad and Save As a file with a .reg extension. Double click on it > Yes.


3. Reboot into BIOS and switch to AHCI mode.


4. When prompted, select Install from a list or specific location (Advanced) > Next > Don't search. I will choose the driver to install. > Next > Next > Have Disk… button > Browse… to
\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager\winall\Driver

Done and here are the reg files:



For ICH10R:

Code: 
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

;
; Important: The File iastor.sys has to be present in the System32\Drivers folder.
;


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_3A22&cc_0106]
"Service"="iaStor"
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor]
"Type"=dword:00000001
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Group"="SCSI miniport"
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"ImagePath"=hex(2):73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,44,00,\
  52,00,49,00,56,00,45,00,52,00,53,00,5c,00,69,00,61,00,53,00,74,00,6f,00,72,\
  00,2e,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,00,00
"Tag"=dword:00000019
"DisplayName"="Intel AHCI Controller"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor\Parameters]
"queuePriorityEnable"=dword:00000000
"BusType"=dword:00000003

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor\Enum]
"0"="PCI\\VEN_8086&DEV_3A22&SUBSYS_B0051458&REV_01\\3&13c0b0c5&0&FA"
"Count"=dword:00000001
"NextInstance"=dword:00000001

For ICH9R:


Code: 
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_2922&cc_0106]
"Service"="iaStor"
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor]
"Type"=dword:00000001
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Group"="SCSI miniport"
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"ImagePath"="system32\\drivers\\iaStor.sys"
"tag"=dword:00000019
"DisplayName"="Intel AHCI Controller"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor\Parameters]
"queuePriorityEnable"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor\Enum]
"0"="PCI\\VEN_8086&DEV_2922&SUBSYS_B0051458&REV_02 \\3&13c0b0c5&0&FA"
"Count"=dword:00000001
"NextInstance"=dword:00000001


For ICH8R:


Code: 
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_2821&cc_0106]
"Service"="iaStor"
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor]
"Type"=dword:00000001
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Group"="SCSI miniport"
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"ImagePath"="system32\\drivers\\iaStor.sys"
"tag"=dword:00000019
"DisplayName"="Intel AHCI Controller"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor\Parameters]
"queuePriorityEnable"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor\Enum]
"0"="PCI\\VEN_8086&DEV_2821&SUBSYS_B0051458&REV_02 \\3&13c0b0c5&0&FA"
"Count"=dword:00000001
"NextInstance"=dword:00000001





c627627 said:
Of course, for Windows 7/Vista:

Before switching to AHCI, simply change the value of the following registry keys to 0

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\IastorV
Click to expand...






_____________________
Intel i7 920 [200] BCLK x 19 = 3.80 GHz @ [1.4000] CPU Voltage & [1.35000] QPI/DRAM Uncore Voltage, Batch 3836A394
3 x 1GB G.SKIL DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) [DDR3-1691MHz] 10-10-10-24 @ 1.64 DRAM Bus Voltage
ASUS P6T Deluxe v.1 [LGA 1366 Intel X58]BIOS 1606
Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme 1366 RT with 120mm Scythe S-Flex F fan
ASUS EAH4850 Radeon HD 4850 1GB DDR3 @ 625 MHz GPU & 1986 MHz Memory
OCZ Agility 60GB SSD
Asus Xonar DX sound card
Antec nine hundred case, two front 120mm fans, one back 120mm Fan, one top 200mm fan
Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750W
 
Last edited:
Yeah all the instructions I found were related to Intel controllers. Luckily it looks like a simple enough fix for how I have everything configured. It sounds like the big pain would be if I was switching the OS drive to AHCI.
 
c627627 said:
And by the way switching to AHCI in Windows 7 is easy but difficult in Windows XP.


To be able to power on / plug in your internal hard drive without shutting down your Windows XP computer:


1. Check to see if file iaStor.sys is in your \Windows\System32\Drivers\ folder. If not, go here and download the Intel Matrix Storage Manager: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=17882

File names change for updated versions but for the example of IATA89ENU.exe file downloaded to C: drive: Start Menu > Run... > C:\IATA89ENU.exe -a -a

Now go to \Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager\Driver to find and copy iaStor.sys to your \Windows\System32\Drivers\ folder.


[Note that you can't just double click on IATA89ENU.exe]



2. Figure out which ICH your motherboard uses by looking it up here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_chipsets

If it's ICH8R, ICH9R, or ICH10R, then copy and paste the corresponding lines below into Notepad and Save As a file with a .reg extension. Double click on it > Yes.


3. Reboot into BIOS and switch to AHCI mode.


4. When prompted, select Install from a list or specific location (Advanced) > Next > Don't search. I will choose the driver to install. > Next > Next > Have Disk… button > Browse… to
\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager\winall\Driver

Done and here are the reg files:



For ICH10R:



Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

;
; Important: The File iastor.sys has to be present in the System32\Drivers folder.
;


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_3A22&cc_0106]
"Service"="iaStor"
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor]
"Type"=dword:00000001
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Group"="SCSI miniport"
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"ImagePath"=hex(2):73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,44,00,\
52,00,49,00,56,00,45,00,52,00,53,00,5c,00,69,00,61,00,53,00,74,00,6f,00,72,\
00,2e,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,00,00
"Tag"=dword:00000019
"DisplayName"="Intel AHCI Controller"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor\Parameters]
"queuePriorityEnable"=dword:00000000
"BusType"=dword:00000003

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor\Enum]
"0"="PCI\\VEN_8086&DEV_3A22&SUBSYS_B0051458&REV_01\\3&13c0b0c5&0&FA"
"Count"=dword:00000001
"NextInstance"=dword:00000001




For ICH9R:


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_2922&cc_0106]
"Service"="iaStor"
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor]
"Type"=dword:00000001
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Group"="SCSI miniport"
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"ImagePath"="system32\\drivers\\iaStor.sys"
"tag"=dword:00000019
"DisplayName"="Intel AHCI Controller"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor\Parameters]
"queuePriorityEnable"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor\Enum]
"0"="PCI\\VEN_8086&DEV_2922&SUBSYS_B0051458&REV_02\\3&13c0b0c5&0&FA"
"Count"=dword:00000001
"NextInstance"=dword:00000001




For ICH8R:


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_2821&cc_0106]
"Service"="iaStor"
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor]
"Type"=dword:00000001
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Group"="SCSI miniport"
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"ImagePath"="system32\\drivers\\iaStor.sys"
"tag"=dword:00000019
"DisplayName"="Intel AHCI Controller"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor\Parameters]
"queuePriorityEnable"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor\Enum]
"0"="PCI\\VEN_8086&DEV_2821&SUBSYS_B0051458&REV_02\\3&13c0b0c5&0&FA"
"Count"=dword:00000001
"NextInstance"=dword:00000001












_____________________
Intel i7 920 [200] BCLK x 19 = 3.80 GHz @ [1.4000] CPU Voltage & [1.35000] QPI/DRAM Uncore Voltage, Batch 3836A394
3 x 1GB G.SKIL DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) [DDR3-1691MHz] 10-10-10-24 @ 1.64 DRAM Bus Voltage
ASUS P6T Deluxe v.1 [LGA 1366 Intel X58]BIOS 1606
Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme 1366 RT with 120mm Scythe S-Flex F fan
ASUS EAH4850 Radeon HD 4850 1GB DDR3 @ 625 MHz GPU & 1986 MHz Memory
OCZ Agility 60GB SSD
Asus Xonar DX sound card
Antec nine hundred case, two front 120mm fans, one back 120mm Fan, one top 200mm fan
Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750W
Click to expand...
The last part of step 2 did not work. There seem to be some errors in the bit pasted into notepad. I have got ICH9R (ASUS Maximus Formula) and I am trying to enable AHCI under Windows XP so I can run dual boot with Win 7 on a new SSD (Samsung 830 256GB). I have got registry editor 5.1 . How do I get this stuff in there ? Do I generate 3 files with .reg extension ? Lost how to import this into my registry.

Any thoughts or is this advice out of date anyway ?
 
It's because of the spaces in a few of the entries, since the entire registry edit wasn't enclosed in CODE tags. I've fixed the entries for you, after which the edit being pasted into Notepad should be saved w/ a *.reg extension. You can then just double-click the registry edit you created to merge it into the registry...

Code: 
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_2922&cc_0106]
"Service"="iaStor"
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor]
"Type"=dword:00000001
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Group"="SCSI miniport"
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"ImagePath"="system32\\drivers\\iaStor.sys"
"tag"=dword:00000019
"DisplayName"="Intel AHCI Controller"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor\Parameters]
"queuePriorityEnable"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor\Enum]
"0"="PCI\\VEN_8086&DEV_2922&SUBSYS_B0051458&REV_02\\3&13c0b0c5&0&FA"
"Count"=dword:00000001
"NextInstance"=dword:00000001
 
Brilliant . Many thanks for that !

I have completed step 2-4 and XP sees all drives with the new AHCI driver. I should now be able to get a dual boot with Win7 and XP (I hope).

Great advice, thanks.
 
Last edited:
I edited my post to now make entire registry edit enclosed in CODE tags and avoid this problem. I also searched the forum wherever I posted this code and edited that too.


Thank you redduc900 and thank you new member wolbur for posting about this which lead to this being corrected.
 
wow nice c6! never saw it done that way

there u can also inject achi through the minixp disk , if you got it working then cudos
 
You mean before installing Windows XP? Yes, but this is about doing it post install, and yes it worked on my system without me having to reinstall with injected AHCI Windows setup disc.

_____________________
Intel i7 950 [206] BCLK x 20 = 4.12 GHz @ [1.4000] CPU Voltage & [1.35000] QPI/DRAM Uncore Voltage, Batch 3029A40
3 x 1GB G.SKIL DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) [DDR3-1691MHz] 10-10-10-24 @ 1.64 DRAM Bus Voltage
ASUS P6T Deluxe v.1 [LGA 1366 Intel X58] BIOS 2209
Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme 1366 RT with 120mm Scythe S-Flex F fan
nVidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti PNY XLR8 1GB GDDR5 822MHz Core Clock
ASUS ATI Radeon HD 5450 [used for HDMI HD sound only]
OCZ Agility 60GB SSD
Asus Xonar DX sound card
Antec nine hundred case, two front 120mm fans, one back 120mm Fan, one top 200mm fan
Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750W
 
no through a minixp cd (WinPE Modified boot cd) and run a similar command that is called something like "AHCI/RAID driver inject.bat" if you get the blue screen because you didnt install ahci drivers.

the bat file to inject drivers into windows xp that is already installed included on couple of the latest releases of minixp cd versions ;)
 
I have been searching for this particular problem all over the internet. I have Win XP Pro installed and I need to add AHCI drivers for my Asus P8b-E/4L motherboard. I have the Intel C204 controller and non of these reg tweaks have helped. Can anyone help me out?
 
Sounds like you are stuck on Step 2. Figure out which ICH your motherboard uses by looking it up here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_chipsets

I posted files only for select Intel chipsets, others, including AMD chipsets require different reg files for Windows XP. I don't know what they would be, but should you figure out links for additional chipsets, post back here so others can get them when they search for the solution for their Windows XP systems.
 
I hope someone is still monitoring this thread. I have both Win7 and XP installed on seperate drives, my Win7 is on an SSD and XP is on a mechanical drive. I have been switching the SATA mode in the BIOS from AHCI to IDE depending on which OS I want to boot. I then get my boot loader and select the right OS. If I select the wrong OS I get errors and the system won't boot, as I expected. If I boot up correctly, I can see all the drives on all partitions. I'm not sure if I can fix this issue or have to reinstall eveerything. My goal is to not have to switch modes in the BIOS.
 
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