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AHCI turn on problem.

M

Moffat Cafe

Senior member
Using a "no problems" Gigabyte 785GMT-USB3 Motherboard, I installed a new Intel SSD and inserted my Windows 7 install disc. I then entered BIOS which had "Native IDE" as default and "AHCI" and "RAID" as alternates . I clicked AHCI and saved, then exited BIOS. The PC would not boot! I went back to Native IDE rebooted and posted this plea for help.
 
AHCI is no good, just choose RAID one.

Drives will just not work or not work properly on AHCI on W7 ... hope that helps... gl

Also your gaining nothing by choosing AHCI, You want performance ? stick with IDE or choose RAID and get your drive working and set it up and be a happy man my friend.. thx
 
Every thing I have read until your answer, screamed: SSD AHCI SPEED, SPEED, SPEED!!!
I like your answer and will forget about AHCI. Thanks.
 
tweakboy said:
AHCI is no good, just choose RAID one.

Drives will just not work or not work properly on AHCI on W7 ... hope that helps... gl

Also your gaining nothing by choosing AHCI, You want performance ? stick with IDE or choose RAID and get your drive working and set it up and be a happy man my friend.. thx
Click to expand...

Really? I have read AHCI is supposed to be a significant performance boost, especially if you are using an SSD for your boot drive.

When you say drives will not work properly with ahci on windows 7 what exactly do you mean? Mine is working perfectly...
 
ATF rule number 1: Never EVER listen to tweakboy. No "buts".

As for your issue, what do you mean it wouldn't boot ? You mean POST ? Or boot to the Windows installation after the POST screens?
 
IDE = Legacy IDE commands
AHCI = Advanced Host Controller Interface.
RAID = AHCI + RAID features enabled.
You can set it to RAID mode and just not use the RAID features and still get the benefits of AHCI...

the thing is, it not booting is really weird.

Now, just to clarify, do you mean "windows gives me blue screens on bootup" or "the bios fails to post"?
If the bios fails to post, then your mobo has a problem, get it replaced under warranty (well, try a bios upgrade first).

If its windows giving you blue screens... that is because windows has seperate drivers for legacy IDE and AHCI. If your mobo is set to RAID or AHCI mode it will install both legacy IDE drivers and AHCI drivers, if your mobo is set to legacy IDE it will only install legacy IDE and NOT the AHCI drivers.
This means blue screens on bootup when you try to run AHCI... the solution is to install the AHCI driver before switching to AHCI mode in bios. that is a bit of a pain, so the simpler (but longer to implement) solution is to switch to AHCI mode and then do a fresh install of windows 7.
 
You need to make a change in your Registry for AHCI and RAID to work if you installed Windows under Native IDE. It's actually pretty simple. Follow these steps:

http://www.ithinkdiff.com/how-to-enable-ahci-in-windows-7-rc-after-installation/

However, I have heard that AMD's AHCI drivers are not very good and that unless you absolutely want hotswapping (an AHCI feature), stick with Native IDE mode on AMD motherboards. You can test it out and switch back and forth when you make the registry change.
 
jez006 said:
Really? I have read AHCI is supposed to be a significant performance boost, especially if you are using an SSD for your boot drive.

When you say drives will not work properly with ahci on windows 7 what exactly do you mean? Mine is working perfectly...
Click to expand...

AHCI gives a significant performance boost for SSD's on 4K-64K synthetic performance tests (about 2-3x faster), but sequential and 4K random read and write performance doesn't really change much. I noticed no difference in the feel of speed (or boot times) on either a 60GB Agility or 80GB or 160GB Intel X25-M G2 drives going from Native IDE mode to AHCI mode.

Recently I flashed the BIOS on my motherboard and my 160GB X25-M G2 switched back to Native IDE mode and I just used IDE mode for a couple of weeks until I noticed that hotswapping was no longer and switched back to AHCI mode.

tweakboy said:
AHCI is no good, just choose RAID one.

Drives will just not work or not work properly on AHCI on W7 ... hope that helps... gl

Also your gaining nothing by choosing AHCI, You want performance ? stick with IDE or choose RAID and get your drive working and set it up and be a happy man my friend.. thx
Click to expand...

I'm not 100% sure about AMD motherboards, but on Intel boards, RAID is just AHCI with the RAID features turned on. RAID uses the same AHCI protocols for hotswapping, etc. You only need to turn RAID on if you're actually running RAID.

I recently switched to RAID from AHCI because I am running 2x 1TB 7200.12 drives in RAID1 for drive failure protection.
 
No. He just needs to boot from the Windows 7 installation disc and choose repair Windows start up. It wil install AHCI drivers and the system will boot on the next restart.

Tweakboy you stupid bastard. Get off this forum. You retard idiot!
 
taltamir, In answer to your comments on "not booting":

I enter BIOS and in its Integrated Peripherals, I change Native IDE to AHCI. Then I save and exit setup. Loading Operating System appears followed by Windows 7 starting up screen which appears for a second only to be quickly replaced with Win 7 “Windows Error Recovery. Anything I try while in this Error Recovery, is to no avail. I can't get Win 7 to open. I have to reboot and change back to Native IDE.
 
Moffat Cafe said:
taltamir, In answer to your comments on "not booting":

I enter BIOS and in its Integrated Peripherals, I change Native IDE to AHCI. Then I save and exit setup. Loading Operating System appears followed by Windows 7 starting up screen which appears for a second only to be quickly replaced with Win 7 “Windows Error Recovery. Anything I try while in this Error Recovery, is to no avail. I can't get Win 7 to open. I have to reboot and change back to Native IDE.
Click to expand...

this means you ARE booting successfully...
windows itself is crashing due to lack of AHCI driver. You can either reinstall windows, or switch back to IDE, manually install AHCI drivers, then switch to AHCI.

to quote myself:
that is because windows has seperate drivers for legacy IDE and AHCI. If, when you install windows, your mobo is set to RAID or AHCI mode it will install both legacy IDE drivers and AHCI drivers, if your mobo is set to legacy IDE it will only install legacy IDE and NOT the AHCI drivers.
This means blue screens on bootup when you try to run AHCI... the solution is to install the AHCI driver before switching to AHCI mode in bios. that is a bit of a pain, so the simpler (but longer to implement) solution is to switch to AHCI mode and then do a fresh install of windows 7.
 
Last edited:
Yea yea i know. I apologize. I went berserk up there. I am just so sick and tired of that kind of guys serving lies just to make a post.

I apologize to you all except for tweakboy. I have noticed other misleading posts by him lately. Check out and you will see.
 
AstroGuardian said:
Yea yea i know. I apologize. I went berserk up there. I am just so sick and tired of that kind of guys serving lies just to make a post.

I apologize to you all except for tweakboy. I have noticed other misleading posts by him lately. Check out and you will see.
Click to expand...

you should apologize to tweakboy not to us.
His post contained misinformation, but that is no justification for a personal attack of such type, nor does it justify refusing to apologize after the fact.
You can say someone is wrong without a personal attack.
 
taltamir said:
you should apologize to tweakboy not to us.
His post contained misinformation, but that is no justification for a personal attack of such type, nor does it justify refusing to apologize after the fact.
You can say someone is wrong without a personal attack.
Click to expand...

Yes i know... I am sorry. But that guy is a menace. I can't stand his posts. And i will never apologize to him.
 
jiffylube1024 said:
You need to make a change in your Registry for AHCI and RAID to work if you installed Windows under Native IDE. It's actually pretty simple. Follow these steps:

http://www.ithinkdiff.com/how-to-enable-ahci-in-windows-7-rc-after-installation/

However, I have heard that AMD's AHCI drivers are not very good and that unless you absolutely want hotswapping (an AHCI feature), stick with Native IDE mode on AMD motherboards. You can test it out and switch back and forth when you make the registry change.
Click to expand...

OP - did you try Jiffylube's advice? I successfully switched to AHCI after intalling W7 using this method.
 
jiffylube1024 said:
You need to make a change in your Registry for AHCI and RAID to work if you installed Windows under Native IDE. It's actually pretty simple. Follow these steps:

http://www.ithinkdiff.com/how-to-enable-ahci-in-windows-7-rc-after-installation/

However, I have heard that AMD's AHCI drivers are not very good and that unless you absolutely want hotswapping (an AHCI feature), stick with Native IDE mode on AMD motherboards. You can test it out and switch back and forth when you make the registry change.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I will try this tonight. I actually was reading about AHCI last night and decided to switch from IDE to AHCI in the BIOS but my bootup went into a loop. It'd get to the Win7 "Starting Windows" screen and reboot. After about 3-4 times I decided it wasn't going to work and switched back to IDE.
 
jiffylube1024 said:
You need to make a change in your Registry for AHCI and RAID to work if you installed Windows under Native IDE. It's actually pretty simple. Follow these steps:

http://www.ithinkdiff.com/how-to-enable-ahci-in-windows-7-rc-after-installation/

However, I have heard that AMD's AHCI drivers are not very good and that unless you absolutely want hotswapping (an AHCI feature), stick with Native IDE mode on AMD motherboards. You can test it out and switch back and forth when you make the registry change.
Click to expand...

Very nice link. the .reg file you can run to do the work for you is a nice touch, just run it and restart, it doesn't get simpler than that.
 
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