AHCI Conundrum

*****UPDATE: If you have already installed VISTA & and are not able to get AHCI working go to Page 2, b/t Flamenko's genious and my fortunate stumblings I was able to get it working WITHOUT re-installing*****


Hello All,

So I just did a clean install of Vista Ultimate x64.
I used Trebuin's guide here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=158277

After boot I edited the registry and was able to boot in AHCI mode. I then installed the Intel Chipset R153997 from Dell, and after that I am unable to boot in AHCI. I have been trying to remedy this all morning.

Any clues?!

P.S. I can't install the Intel Matrix Controller (I'm pretty sure it's b/c I can't boot in AHCI).

 

Why don't you just either download the ACHI drivers from Intel and extract them so you can put them on a USB drive or get them off the Dell Driver Disc that came with your laptop and install them on initial install?

 

Hah, I just spent the last umpteen hours on a clean install, all programs loaded and everything...not really wanting to do that all over again.

 

Frazell is correct. The different AHCI drivers are funny in that they are very particular. This is probably your issue.

As far as your circumstance...are you saying you can boot into normal mode and not getting BSODS?

 

Hey Flam,

On my previous install of Vista, I was able to simply change the 'Start' regkey to 0 from 4, and AHCI worked perfectly. (I do not know if I applied the update mentioned above)

On this clean install I had Vista running in AHCI, until I installed the update above.

For BOTH I did not load any drivers during install (silly me, I know).

So, I know Vista can work in AHCI if you don't use the driver at install. I am evidence of that, twice. I think the update may have ruined that though, but I cannot be sure.

P.S. Just wondering if there's a way I can update the driver manually. Maybe I should have installed the Matrix Controller BEFORE the Intel Chipset update (which I think is irreversible, unless you clean install). Maybe the chipset drivers require the new matrix driver in order to run in AHCI, who knows.

I'm just curious if there's a way to manually load the appropriate drivers (or some other method) to get things working...besides clean install. I know if would greatly help me, and countless others.

 

Go into your device drivers and tell me if it appears as so. You may be able to manually install the driver here if not.

 

Thar she blows!

 

K...if your system is not BSODing, you are running in ATA mode and it will be reflected in the system BIOS. Can you check there and see if ATA or AHCI is selected?

If AHCI was, you should be BSODing right now or, you should be able to install the AHCI driver.

EDIT: I use the AHCI driver downloaded directly from Intel. Consider that as well.

 

I am in ATA mode right now. Before I applied the patch mentioned in original post I was in AHCI mode. I have tried several different version of the Matrix controller & it won't allow me to install it (I think b/c I'm not in AHCI mode).

 

So both times I've been in AHCI mode (before Intel Chipset R153997 on this Installation of Vista, and my previous installation of Vista), it has been with the generic Vista driver (at least I think ).

 

Go into AHCI mode through bios.
Insert the OS disk and shut the system off.
Restart, Hit F12 when the Dell screen comes up.
Boot from the disk and select repair.
You will find a menu to install drivers.
Replace the OS disk with a disk with AHCI or a USB drive.
Install the extracted AHCI driver from Intel.
(You will actually have to direct it to find the driver which will appear).
Once installed, reboot.

On a clean install, this would have been done at the select partition screen

 

Flam, you're amazing! It won't let me rep the brains out of you, or else I would (not like you need it ;D)

Here's the strange part:
It wouldn't load the iaahci.inf, but it did load the iaastor.inf (perhaps this is the corrrect driver, and my assumptions that the first driver is the one I needed to use are false).

Then, I rebooted and got the bloody BSOD. I rebooted again so I could halt my system (as the BSOD only remains on screen for like half a second) and I didn't BSOD, I'm up in VISTA in AHCI mode.

 

UPDATE:
OK, I know this is going to sound REALLY quirky, ...it is:
So I decided to reboot just for kicks...BSOD.
Then I thought "OK, let's try rebooting a second time (the 2nd boot worked last time)"...BSOD
Then I thought, "OK, let's try pausing the boot cycle (like I did the successful boot, so I could see the BSOD screen)"...VOILA!

So what on earth is going on? When I throw a pause or two in , close to the crcdisk.sys (this is where it always BSODs), it loads up just fine and as you can see by the screenshot in the last post, it's in AHCI.

 

UPDATE (again):
I was able to Install the latest Intel Matrix Driver (iata78_enu.exe), and now the system boots without me playing the pause/unpause game! My driver name in Device manager has changed. (see pic)

I'm going to edit the title, hopefully this will work for others.

Flam, since I was unable to load the msahci.inf (but could load the msiastor.inf), do you think that step (doing the repair/driver install) was even necessary in this case? I'm wondering if the random discovery of getting it to boot in AHCI by throwing in a couple of pauses while it loaded crcdisk.sys file was what let me get into VISTA in AHCI so I could install the iata78_enu.exe, thus installing the msahci.inf driver correctly?

 

Ok so we got you fixed...You are running AHCI.

Ask them to delete the other thread if you can to save the frustration of many trying to help.

The AHCI driver is very finicky. Some will install after a cold reboot using the executable file and some will not. Some will install with a USB flash and some will not. Somw will install only with one version of the AHCI and some will not....

Its finding the right combination before getting frustrated...which is the biggest task.

 

Hey Flam, I just posted a reply referencing them here, just in-case they think the problem is what I thought it was originally.

Thanks again.

P.S. Any ideas why pausing/unpausing enabled me to boot in AHCI?

 

Not a clue...never heard of that before...