AHCI mode causing stuttering on WD Raptor?

[deanx0r]

I have this 160GB Raptor drive for 4-5 years now and never had a problem with it until enabled AHCI for a SSD I recently installed. It came to my attention that the drive would stutter whenever it had to be accessed constantly.

For instance, I have a few DVD images that I ripped on this drive. When loading them on a virtual drive to watch with Power DVD, the video would stutter. It never happens when in IDE mode, and my Intel SSD doesn't have problem in either mode.

Is there some kind of specific settings I need to enable in the BIOS? or is it maybe a driver or OS issue?

 

[RebateMonger]

If you have an Intel SATA controller and are using the Microsoft AHCI driver, you might "update" it to the Intel AHCI driver. My fresh install of Windows 7 was barely running with the default MSAHCI driver (Intel ICH10R controller). Updating it to the Intel AHCI driver made a world of difference.

 

[extra]

I was going to suggest the same thing. I enabled AHCI and my wd caviar green drives had stuttering issues. Mp3's and video played off of the drives would "stutter". This was using the ms ahci driver, the default one. I downloaded the drivers off of the intel website, installed them, and problem solved.

 

[deanx0r]

I am gonna give the Intel driver a try then.

Thanks a lot for the info.

 

[phillyman36]

Sorry for the newbie question but when i do a search for ahci on the intel website i get this
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/SearchResult.aspx?lang=eng&keyword=%22ahci"
I see results for home server os etc etc. If im running windows 7 64 bit and an evga p55 what do i look for? Only drivers ive used were the same chipset drivers from mobo manufacture. Not to familiar with ahci as ive always set my sata to ide

 

[sub.mesa]

You first have to set your controller to AHCI. If you do that, Windows won't boot. You first have to change a registry value then change the controller to AHCI in the System BIOS.

See here for more information:
http://www.ithinkdiff.com/how-to-enable-ahci-in-windows-7-rc-after-installation/

 

[phillyman36]

Sorry for the newbie question but when i do a search for ahci on the intel website i get this
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/SearchResult.aspx?lang=eng&keyword="ahci"
I see results for home server os etc etc. If im running windows 7 64 bit and an evga p55 what do i look for? Only drivers ive used were the same chipset drivers from mobo manufacture. Not to familiar with ahci as ive always set my sata to ide

What about when its a fresh install?

 

[malch]

What about when its a fresh install?

Set the BIOS to AHCI before the Windows installation.

This should result in the default msahci driver being installed.

Then it becomes your choice if you want to replace that with the Intel iaStor driver. However, if you do this on a SSD, make sure you grab one of the very recent versions that support TRIM.