980a AHCI question

[McLovin]

So I bought the new Asus MoBo (M4N82 Deluxe) and will be setting it up tomorrow but jsut had a few questions that maybe someone here could answer.

I have been told that running all my sata drivers in AHCI mode will show a difference in transfer speeds, any truth to this? If so, Asus has apparently made the smart decision to not include a floppy controller on the MoBo but the only way to get the AHCI/RAID Drivers is to make a floppy disk. Anyone know how to get the driver so I can slipstream it into vista?

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: BillyAZ1983
I have been told that running all my sata drivers in AHCI mode will show a difference in transfer speeds, any truth to this?

No.

Anyone know how to get the driver so I can slipstream it into vista?

You don't need an AHCI driver to install Vista. Vista already has generic AHCI drivers in-box. Install Vista using the generic AHCI drivers, then install the NVIDIA drivers. Just like you use the generic VGA driver included with the OS for display output, then install the vendor-specific display drivers after.

 

[McLovin]

Ok so here we are almost a week later and I STILL am having issues. :-

I ended up with a bad set of Corsair out of the box, but no biggie as tigerdirect is sending me another set. But the problem I am running into is that whenever I install windows whether its a standalone install or I do an "upgrade" install so I can use my Vista Ultimate, I cannot get most of the windows updates to install and SP2 flat out says no when I try to install it. That being said, I haven't been able to do an upgrade install because when I attempt to do the Upgrade install from windows, that fails as well so the only was it works is installing as a full install (yes , I have other legit keys).

If I run the sata ports in IDE or AHCI mode, no change. Trying different Vista discs, no change. Ran my 640GB WD through WDs diags and it passes. I've tried one stick of memory in every slot, no change.

I am throwing my hands up at this point and chalking it up to a bad MoBo. Here's hoping my next MoBo does the trick.

Oh and has anyone else figured out how to get the AHCI drivers from NVIDIA or ASUS to use during the vista install instead of using the default drivers? ASUSs utility tells you it needs to make a floppy to get it and well this MoBo didn't even come with a floppy port nor do any other PCs in my house have a floppy drive. Any thoughts?

 

[McLovin]

Am I the only member of Anandtech Forums that owns this board? lol

 

[Juddog]

Your best bet is to download vlite, and incorporate all of the latest update patches (including vista SP2) along with your latest AHCI drivers into the base build. That way when you install windows, you'll have the latest drivers from the get-go without all of the accompanying bloat that you would normally get from installing several sets of drivers in a row.

http://www.vlite.net/

 

[nenforcer]

I looked into AHCI on my 680i board and last I heard from I believe the nVidia forms is that they do not support AHCI on every motherboard up to the 790i I believe.

Since your 980a is essentially no different than a 780a I think you may be out of luck getting AHCI mode to work.

Again I have not actually tried myself after reading the Nvidia forums which is what I suggest you do.

I am surprised SATA has beet out for several years now and yet their motherboards still do not support it. I think even AMD has problems with AHCI.

I believe the only manufacturer with true 100% working AHCI are the Intel server motherboards.