Enabling SATA mode to AHCI after XP Install (applicable to most laptops, or systems)

If you want to enable SATA mode as AHCI after installing Windows XP, then read on. It's a bit of a long read because of step-by-step instructions, but worth it.

I did this on on Acer Aspire 5315-2153, it seems like the basic strategy should work on other laptops or systems.

For whatever reason, you may have installed Windows XP on your new laptops with SATA Native Mode disabled in the BIOS. Once XP is installed, enabling it in the BIOS will result in a BSOD upon loading Windows because XP doesn't have the correct drivers.

I read that enabling SATA native mode will give you a slight performance inrease and slightly increased battery life, so it seems worthwhile to me

Here's how I did it on a Acer Aspire 5315-2153 running Windows XP (32 Bit version):

- Download the Intel Matrix Storage Manager software from Intel (I think it's iata_enu.exe)or AHCI_Intel_v7.5.0.1017_XP.zip from Acer web site.

- Extract files from AHCI_Intel_v7.5.0.1017_XP.zip to e.g. C:\AHCI_Intel_v7_5_0_1017_XP files need: (you may delete the rest)

iaahci.cat
iaahci.inf
iastor.cat
iastor.inf
iastor.sys
TXTSSETUP.OEM

- Now go to Device Manager, under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers you should

see: Intel 82801HEM/HBM SATA AHCI Storage Controller

- Right-Click on that and select Update Driver
- Say no to connecting to Windows Update to search, hit Next
- Select Install fro a list or specific location (Advanced), hit Next
- Select "Don't search. I will choose the driver to install", hit Next
- Select Have Disk
- Browse to C:\AHCI_Intel_v7_5_0_1017_XP and highlight the iastor.inf file, hit Open
- Select OK
- Now you should have a list of controllers, for the Acer 5315-2153 choose Intel 82801HEM/HBM SATA AHCI Storage Controller, hit Next
- You'll get warned that installing the device driver is not recommended, click Yes to continue installing
- Click Finish
- Click Yes to restart your computer

When your computer boots up, you need to hit F2 to enter the BIOS. Change SATA mode to AHCI, save changes and exit.

After you log into Windows, your computer will find the "new" hardware. Wait until you get the popup message to restart your computer, say Yes to restart one last time.

You may download also from Intel the RAID/AHCI Software - Intel® Matrix Storage Manager (iata70_enu.exe 5640KB) and install it in your system, it may fix in case you got the wrong Intel 82801 AHCI controller.

I give credit to Jamie Rybarczyk at HP Business Support Center forum for doing most of typing.

 

sorry, neither of those worked for me...any other suggestions?

 

hey man just tried ain't working...downloaded sata drivers for nforce but not working

 

Thank you Xwin, this procedure worked like a charm for my Acer Aspire 5920g. Unlike many other posts I found by Googling...

By the way: I used the AHCI_Intel_v7.5.0.1017_XP.zip instead of the Intel Storage Manager, but it is better to download both. Catching the ZIP-file from the Panamese ACER site is gruelsome, so it is better to get it from here: http://depositfiles.com/en/files/4100537.

After going through your procedure of updating the driver, restarting and changing the BIOS settings, my machine booted into Windows and I got the message 'new hardware found'. I let Windows do its job untill it cannot go further because it cannot find the right drivers, and then installed the Storage Manager. After restarting everything works. Hurray!

 

NFORCE?? that means that you are using an AMD CPU and Nvidia CHIPSET?

i'm not informed on those at all.... but i think you either need to use Nlite to embed the NFORCE drivers into the XP install.... OR i've heard tale that the NFORCE drivers need to be LOADED FIRST THING after XP INSTALL....
and the SATA device entry for NVIDIA chipsets shows up under SCSI CONTROLLERs on under the HDD Controller as it does on INTEL CHIPSET machines

hope that helps ya

 

Hi, i stumbled upon this post googling and it helped a lot. I have an Extensa 5630Z. I had to choose a diferent driver to update (kinda obviuos, after 2 years they might have changed a few things on acer laptops motherboards ). Anyway it wasn't hard, choosed the only SATA controller available to update, and then used the closest name in the controllers list, everything else went just as posted here. Thks again

 

I found this thread while searching google, and while the information I'm about to provide is specific to desktop computers I hope it won't be removed as it may be helpful to other google searchers.

I have an asus M2N-SLI Deluxe motherboard with a system hard drive (windows XP installed on it) located on sata_raid1, the internal connection of a JMicron JMB363 controller. This controller also controls the external esata connection, which won't allow hot-swapping without the correct drivers. Using the latest drivers from jmicron (simply unzip and run setup) ftp://driver.jmicron.com.tw/jmb36x/XP_Vista_Win7/ enabled the policy settings tab under device manager > drive properties, which allowed me to turn off write caching on the external drive while enabling hardware cache writing on the system drive. I can also now select AHCI mode in the BIOS without causing a STOP: 0x0000007B (0xBACC3524,0xC0000034,0x00000000,0x00000000) BSOD.

I hope this information helps somebody.

 

if you're lucky the above works, but sadly most of the time it wont... i bought 70 laptops for our network and had a lot of trouble with ahci and ide... i had to have the bios set to ahci because i was using windows deployment to image the pc's but xp pro just doesnt like it.. it took me a lot of stress and time to work it out but here it is...

if the above suggestions dont work for you, try this, type in nlite in google, download and install the software, you will need your windows cd and sata drivers (or maybe storage drivers)... run nlite, select your copy of windows xp and choose add driver, add the sata driver and nlite will create an iso for you... burn this iso to cd (there are a lot of free iso burning programs on the net)....

from there, select ahci in the bios and boot from your new cd and it will format, install windows with the sata driver and will work...

okay, it may seem like a lot of hassle but it does work and itsn't as complex as it sounds, the big problem you may have if you dont do it this way and leave the bios as ide is when installing the chipset drivers it may throw up a blue screen when rebooting because they expect ahci in the bios and it isnt there...

hope that helps....

 

Matt, please refrain from bumping old topics in the future.
This thread hasn't been touched since October 2009.

That aside, welcome to NBR!