Enabling AHCI on A305-S6916

Hello all!

I recently downgraded my laptop to XP Home SP3. I got most of the drivers installed for everything. My laptop seems to run fine. However, I want to use a E-Sata Lacie Rugged XL and enable my laptop to AHCI mode in Bios.

I looked up my chipset on intel and came up with this exe:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18859&ProdId=2991&lang=eng

I did not try to do anything with it yet because I wanted to ask the pros if running this exe will change the driver for me; so that I can reboot and enable ahci and have xp tun okay... Will it?

HELP

 

Running that exe file won't do a darn thing for you. You have to extract the files from the archive then manually install the SATA drivers from Device Manager, and even then it doesn't always work. I found it easier to integrate the drivers into the XP install disk and use that to install XP with AHCI enabled in the bios. It tends to work better, but it isn't something that you can do after the fact.

This is a guide I found on the Toshiba Support Forums.

- First step is to install the basic Motherboard Chipset Driver and ONLY this driver. Do

not install anything else prior to installing the Intel Matrix Storage Manager Driver as

outlined below.



- Download the Intel Matrix Storage Manager from http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?agr=Y&DwnldID=18859&ProdId=2991&lang=eng

- Once you download the file, run it with the -a switch:
iata96enu.exe -a


This will NOT install the Matrix Storage Manager. What this will do is run the installer, and

ONLY EXTRACT the files to C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager. Again, this

does NOT install anything.



- Your drivers are now located in C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager. They

will be found in either \Driver, or \Driver64, depending on whether you're running a 32-bit

or 64-bit OS.

- Go to Device Manager --> IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. Double-click on the Intel ICH8M 3-port

SATA Controller - 2828... remember, *ONLY* click on the device that ends with 2828.

- Go to Driver tab, and choose to Update Driver.

- Tell the Wizard prompts:
- No, not this time
- Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)
- Don't Search. I will choose the driver to install.
- Click the "Have Disk" button. Point it to C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage

Manager\Driver (or Driver64).
- Choose the driver you want to install....
- After you install the driver and click OK out of every menu, reboot the laptop.


-) During reboot, go into BIOS and turn on AHCI mode

 

Thanks for the reply. In doing this, do you think that this will enable me to use ESata under windows XP?

 

Possibly. I know that several Toshiba's have had problems using eSata according to reports on the Toshiba Support Forums.