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    Reformatting M1330 and AHCI question

    Discussion in 'Dell XPS and Studio XPS' started by chiew, Jan 8, 2009.

  1. chiew

    chiew Notebook Consultant

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    This is my 3rd attempt trying to reformat.
    With the AHCI driver. When i reached that part to install the driver, i clicked on that "drivers", connected my USB and added the AHCI driver.

    Am i suppose to leave the USB stick on until Windows starts operating, or do i have to take it off once it has added the driver and before i click on Next?
     
    chiew, Jan 8, 2009
    #1
  2. Hirohata

    Hirohata GBF Danchou

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    Once the drivers are installed, there should be no problem removing your USB key. Just to know, this is XP and not Vista, right? If it's Vista, there's no reason to install any AHCI drivers.
     
    Hirohata, Jan 8, 2009
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  3. chiew

    chiew Notebook Consultant

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    No this is for VISTA ...?
    im just following the steps in that STICKY thread by LES .. "Removing bloatware and formatting..."
     
    chiew, Jan 8, 2009
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  4. chiew

    chiew Notebook Consultant

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    Am i suppose to install AHCI when reformatting with vista??
     
    chiew, Jan 9, 2009
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  5. cowgaR

    cowgaR Notebook Enthusiast

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    Of course you should. Forget the "knowledgable" guy above you, Vista DVD has some old AHCI drivers (even SP1) which in some cases (mostly desktop though) will give you all sorts of problems with not able to install Vista in extemne cases (happened on my Desktop with Q965 chipset).

    So prior to installing Vista, download/unzip the Intel "floppy" AHCI driver to a root directory on your USB stick, insert it, start installation and before formatting select load Driver, select ICH-8M as southbridge and load the driver and click next (it is safe to remove USB stick now), format/partition the Disk and Install Vista.

    When done Vista should have the latest AHCI driver from Intel installed (you can check it in Device Manager), so there is little need of installing Intel Matrix Storage manager later on, if you don't require some of its function.
    The latest driver fixed a lot of bugs but unless you are mirroring disk and doing weird things you don't need the fresh one and the one from the DELL site will suffice.

    hope it helps
     
    cowgaR, Jan 14, 2009
    #5