BSOD on boot when SATA in AHCI mode

[Ryland]

This is on a Dell M1730 laptop.

I downloaded all of the drivers for Vista64 from the Dell website before installing but even with doing a "Load driver" during installation and pointing it at the AHCI driver I would still BSOD on the first reboot. I was able to get Vista to install by setting the SATA drive to IDE but now want to switch it back to AHCI mode. I followed the regedit instructions that MS posted on this but I still get the 0x00000007B BSOD if I have the bios set to AHCI mode. Is there something else I can do?

 

[ViRGE]

You basically have to install Windows with the mode you want already set up. Switching after the fact causes exactly the kind of problems you list. You're going to have to find a way to install Vista in AHCI mode if you want to use it. I'd start with a Vista SP1 install disc and work from there.

 

[HdwGuy]

Just my 2 cents worth dont bother installing AHCI mode if your hard drive does not support NCQ (Native Command Queing) in the SATA spec. If you do you the drive performance will be absymal. I will second Virge statments you can not change modes without a fresh install. I know it is a pain!

 

[Ryland]

According to MS it is possible to change modes but I found out that for some reason the SATA AHCI driver is probably not installed so I have to figure out how to shoehorn it in.