AHCI

[Whitestar127]

Hi folks. I just installed Win7 64-bit on my new ASUS P8P67 mb. When I did, AHCI was enabled in BIOS.

But in Windows my DVD drive did not work. I went into BIOS again and changed from AHCI to IDE. Now when I got back into Windows the DVD drive worked like normal.

I noticed that on the P8P67 driver CD there was a tab called Make disk. And there I had the option of making a disk with AHCI drivers. Do I have to make that disk and install those drivers for the DVD to work with AHCI under Windows?

Then I read this article: http://forum-en.msi.com/faq/article/ide-sata-and-ahci-all-you-need-to-know
So it seems there really is no huge benefit in using AHCI? Is this the general consensus?

 

[Stayfr0sty]

Check your mobo manual to see which SATA ports are the AHCI ones.
Plug only the HDDs into them. Some optical drives dont play well with AHCI ports.

 

[Whitestar127]

Thanks, but it seems they are all set to AHCI.

There are 2 Intel P67 Serial ATA 6.0 connectors (7-pin SATA6G_1/2 (gray))
Manual says "These connectors are set to [AHCI Mode] by default."

Then there are 4 Intel P67 Serial ATA 3.0 connectors (7-pin SATA3G_3-6 (blue))
Manual says "These connectors are set to [AHCI Mode] by default."

Then there are 2 Marvell Serial ATA 6.0 connectors (7-pin SATA6G_E1/E2 (navy blue))
Manual says "These connectors are for data drives only. ATAPI device is not supported." I don't know what that means.

There's no way to set just one SATA connector to IDE. Either all have to be IDE or all have to be AHCI. This is done with the SATA Mode option, which can be Disabled, IDE, AHCI or RAID.

 

[postmortemIA]

ATAPI device is not supported -> means don't put DVD drive on them

 

[Whitestar127]

Ok, so what now then? Should I just continue to run i IDE mode? Does it matter?

Btw, I have two OCZ Vertex 2 Sata3 drives and one WD 500 Black. Plus the DVD burner.

Here is the link to the manual if anyone is interested: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/P8P67_DELUXE/#download
Scroll down to Manual (12) and download whatever language suits you.

 

[DigitalWolf]

ATAPI device is not supported -> means don't put DVD drive on them

This reply confuses me a bit. I suppose its because I assumed they were using an Optical drive with a SATA plug (bad to assume I suppose) and I don't believe I've ever had a motherboard that said don't plug an optical SATA drive into this sata port.


My general experience is that a motherboard set to AHCI won't even detect the SATA optical drive. For example you were trying to install windows you can't boot from CD/DVD etc with it set to AHCI (some may work in that mode mine have not). However, while in windows on an AHCI system I've nver had an issue with my optical drive being detected.


On my second system which uses a Gigabyte 990XA board... there is an option to run SATA ports 5/6 the same as 1-4 or in a different mode. So I run ports 1-4 as AHCI and 5/6 as IDE. The only time I'd ever notice this as noted before... is if I had to boot off the optical drive.

 

[dealcorn]

An add in card that provides a sata port may be helpful is you desire AHCI. Do you desire the hot swap feature?

 

[Whitestar127]

Not going to use hot swap. So I guess I'll just continue to use IDE then, until someone can convince me that I will benefit from using AHCI.

 

[krose]

What port is the DVD drive plugged into? It should be Intel SATA II port 5 or 6. I have used two SATA DVD drives in AHCI mode on P45, X58, and Z68 chipset boards without issues. It is best to use AHCI if you are using SSDs. Use the latest Intel AHCI drivers available here.

 

[Stayfr0sty]

ATAPI device is not supported -> means don't put DVD drive on them

Waht he said!!

 

[Whitestar127]

What port is the DVD drive plugged into? It should be Intel SATA II port 5 or 6. I have used two SATA DVD drives in AHCI mode on P45, X58, and Z68 chipset boards without issues. It is best to use AHCI if you are using SSDs. Use the latest Intel AHCI drivers available here.

Well, according to the article in my first post it shouldn't make much diff if I use IDE with SSD, but of course I don't know if that's true or still valid.

It's connected to port 3 or 4 now. I didn't think it would matter if I tried port 5 or 6, because they seem to be exactly the same, but I will give it a try. Oh, and thanks for the driver link.