Tutorial : How to switch from IRRT to AHCI mode - E6400/E6500 (Vista)

I was curious what my DCP latency is , so I've checked and ... 16 000us (microseconds) anyway ... bad. I did all steps that was suggested but I did one mistake ... after changing to AHCI I've installed Intel Matrix Storage manager 8.7 (newest). I have looked at DCP .... still 16 000 , 15 000 ... bad. Then I've got second stupid idea ... uninstall Intel Matrix Storage Console (I wanted to install after restart old 8.2 version) . I did uninstall them... and after restart ...BSOD. Recovery from partition failed ...so ... fresh install from DVD was my only option ... I don't know why but I choosen IRRT in BIOS. I have installed Vista (+drivers) and Intel Matrix Storage 8.2 ! Shockingly ! latency is less than 500us ! On IRRT ! With second disc on eSATA... conclusion ... I'am saying this with full resposibility , it is not IRRT that is sh...t rather last drivers are useless ! I don't know why but new IMSM 8.7 is crap !

 

That's microseconds (greek letter mju = micro), not picoseconds.

 

OK I finally was able to go from AHCI mode to IRRT mode. Here are the instructions:

E6400 How to change AHCI or Sata mode to IRRT after vista OS is installed

Boot into vista OS
Grab the dell storage drivers and extract

Copy IASTOR.SYS file to %windir%\SYSTEM32\DRIVERS

Copy IASTOR.INF and IASTOR.CAT files to
%windir%\INF

Add this reg file:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\PCI#VEN_8086&DEV_282A&CC_0104]
"ClassGUID"="{4d36e97b-e325-11ce-bfc1-08002be10318}"
"Service"="iaStor"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iastor]
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"Group"="SCSI Miniport"
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Tag"=dword:00000019
"Type"=dword:00000001
"DisplayName"="Intel RAID Controller"
"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

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iastor\Parameters]
"queuePriorityEnable"=dword:00000000
"BusType"=dword:00000008

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iastor\Parameters\Port0]
"AN"=dword:00000000
"LPM"=dword:00000001
"LPMSTATE"=dword:00000000
"LPMDSTATE"=dword:00000001
"GTF"=dword:00000000
"DIPM"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iastor\Parameters\Port1]
"AN"=dword:00000000
"LPM"=dword:00000001
"LPMSTATE"=dword:00000000
"LPMDSTATE"=dword:00000001
"GTF"=dword:00000000
"DIPM"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iastor\Parameters\Port2]
"AN"=dword:00000000
"LPM"=dword:00000001
"LPMSTATE"=dword:00000000
"LPMDSTATE"=dword:00000001
"GTF"=dword:00000000
"DIPM"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iastor\Parameters\Port3]
"AN"=dword:00000000
"LPM"=dword:00000001
"LPMSTATE"=dword:00000000
"LPMDSTATE"=dword:00000001
"GTF"=dword:00000000
"DIPM"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iastor\Parameters\Port4]
"AN"=dword:00000000
"LPM"=dword:00000001
"LPMSTATE"=dword:00000000
"LPMDSTATE"=dword:00000001
"GTF"=dword:00000000
"DIPM"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iastor\Parameters\Port5]
"AN"=dword:00000000
"LPM"=dword:00000001
"LPMSTATE"=dword:00000000
"LPMDSTATE"=dword:00000001
"GTF"=dword:00000000
"DIPM"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iastor\Parameters\oromVersion]
"MajorVersion"=dword:00000008
"MinorVersion"=dword:00000000
"HotfixNumber"=dword:00000000
"BuildNumber"=dword:0000040f

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iastor\Enum]
"0"="PCI\\VEN_8086&DEV_282A&SUBSYS_02331028&REV_03\\3&2acf1e9&0&FA"
"Count"=dword:00000001
"NextInstance"=dword:00000001

Reboot the e6400, go into bios set IRRT mode. Apply, exit

OS will not load, loading the MS raid drivers, after loaded will ask for reboot. Reboot
Go to device manager; under scsi drivers it will list Intel® 82801HEM SATA RAID Controller
Update driver, Browser to the Dell storage driver and load the vista drivers. Intel® ICH8M-E/ICH9M-E SATA RAID Controller will load and ask for reboot.
E6400 will now be running in IRRT mode.

 

Hmm, I've got a new M6400 running our corporate image of XP. As you might expect, I had to boot it up set for ATA mode (AHCI BSOD during XP startup). I tried adding the reg key as outlined, but it still BSOD at the same point when switching to AHCI. I'm sure I'm missing something and am hoping someone out there might know how to get this going.

Thanks!

 

Having just side-stepped a Vista update disaster (where the update left my E6500 littered with orphaned files and required an extensive repair before I could boot back into the OS), I'm a bit hesitant to move from IRRT to AHCI. Why? When I change the settings in the BIOS (A11), I get a warning message that gives me pause:

"SATA Operation is being changed. Attention! Changing this setting may prevent your operating system from booting or require a reinstall. Are you sure you would like to continue?"

Normally, I'd just go ahead and do it and see what happens, but in this instance I thought I'd ask first.

I've got the factory Vista install, and although both of the registry keys are there, the settings are slightly different. Sigh.

This is a case of "better safe than sorry" for me -- that's why I'm asking: do you folks think I can safely risk it, or should I change the registry settings to what's written above?

 

Never mind -- I answered my own question: I just went ahead and changed from IRRT to AHCI with the stock Dell Vista installation. Vista installed the "new" device at login without a hiccup. Now to see what this does in terms of latencies.

 

@MIB: Thanks so much for the tutorial, my machine was finally working with nice low latency.

That is, until I decided to install the new Intel Matrix Storage Manager 8.8. As soon as I uninstalled the MSM 8.2 and rebooted, my system blue screens immediately on loading crcdisk.sys and won't even boot in safe mode. I tried switching to IRRT and ATA in the BIOS in hopes that I could get Vista running in safe mode, but to no avail. This system is hosed!

Any ideas?

 

I don't follow...
The system was working fine after applying the tutorial +IMSM 8.2. Then you installed 8.8 and result was not good, so you uninstalled 8.2 ?

Before i can help I need to understand where you left off.

 

No...the system crapped out after simply uninstalling MSM 8.2 and rebooting. I didn't even get back into Vista to install MSM 8.8.

 

Ok, so you removed 8.2 and rebooted....system is without any IMSM drivers installed.

You created a restore point before you uninstalled right ? If not the system would have made one automatically.

1. Set the system bios back to AHCI (if that's the last mode the system was working in correctly, then shut down.

2. Insert your Vista install DVD and boot from it. Then choose the "Repair your computer" option on the lower left hand side

3. Click next on the next screen, and then choose System Restore from the System Recovery dialog. It will take a few seconds to come up, and you'll see the same screen that you would see in Windows, listing restore points with dates and times that you can select. Choose one just before uninstalling the 8.2 drivers.

4. Click next, and on the next screen select the drive that your copy of Windows Vista is installed on.

Click Finish, and Vista will roll back to the previous restore point.
You should be good to go now