Gigabyte MA785GPMT-UD2H SATA AHCI Questions

[LOTL]

Ok im on my 3rd reinstall of Win 7 (or is it the 4th?)
I have tried installing the AHCI drivers during the install and then enabling AHCI mode in the BIOS after and i get the error message shown below.
There is all kinds of info about this issue when googling and i have tried the MS registry trick to no avail.

Tried installing the AHCI drivers from the CDROM that came with the MB and the ones off of Gigabytes website specifically for Win7 64 Bit.

Both times when i select install drivers during Win7 install, it doesnt find any files with the check box checked do not show files this OS doesnt support. (may not be the exact wording) so i uncheck it and select one of the drivers and it completes the install fine. After the install (and subsequent 2 or 3 reboots) i go back in the BIOS and enable AHCI again and while booting i get the error "INF file txtsetup.sif is corrupt or missing, status 18. Setup cannot continue. Press any key to exit."

If i didnt want to plug in my external HD via the eSata port (without having to reboot) id just hang it up.

Has anyone here successfully enabled AHCI mode on their 785GP MB?
If so could you please please let me know how.

And if its not worth the trouble and might make the machine unstable then ill just stick with IDE mode.

Thanks

 

[lopri]

Use the native Windows AHCI drivers. I don't see much benefit to use AMD's drivers over Windows' unless you know the AMD's drivers address specific issues. (likely wrt SSDs) I have installed Windows 7 in AHCI mode on SB710/SB750 over 10 times without a failure.

 

[lopri]

Oh, also please note that you cannot have TWO RAID/AHCI controllers at the time of Windows installation, it seems. So disable (or set to IDE) the JMicron controller (aka G-SATA) in the BIOS. Windows should recognize the volumes without any drivers just fine.

 

[LOTL]

lopri,
Thanks for the quick reply. I dont see anything in the BIOS that says JMicron controller or G-SATA.

There is an option to disable the Onchip SATA Controller. I tried that and got the same error as i got when i enabled AHCI in the BIOS.

Man ive done a lot of builds in the past (been a couple years though) and never had this many issues.

I show no AHCI Sata controllers in the device manager right now.

Would i need to do yet another reinstall of Win7 to get AHCI working?

How did you get the native Windows AHCI drivers to load when installing the OS for the first time? Just by disabling the JMicron controller or G-SATA controller?

 

[heyheybooboo]

~~~

Both times when i select install drivers during Win7 install, it doesnt find any files with the check box checked do not show files this OS doesnt support. (may not be the exact wording) so i uncheck it and select one of the drivers and it completes the install fine. After the install (and subsequent 2 or 3 reboots) i go back in the BIOS and enable AHCI again and while booting i get the error "INF file txtsetup.sif is corrupt or missing, status 18. Setup cannot continue. Press any key to exit."

~~~

For whatever reason it seems the *ahcix64.inf* file is not loading during the install. IIRC it is hidden away on the Gigabyte mobo disk in the 'Drivers' directory under x64. There have been discussion concerning the 'AMD v MS' versions - I don't think it really matters much but I've been sticking with the AMD INF as of late with no problems (currently using the 'port multiplier' on my 785g mobo eSATA for a box of HDs)

Before starting the Win7 install I simply copy the file from the CD over to a thumb drive and then upon Win7 installation browse for it at the appropriate install screen (which for the life of me I can't remember this AM) - I think it's the 'load drivers' link in the bottom left corner after completing the format option ???

Sorry to say but since the drivers don't display in the device manager I think you need to try again with the install



--

 

[tcsenter]

What do you mean you try to provide the AHCI drivers before enabling AHCI in BIOS? Enable AHCI in BIOS, restart the machine, then install Windows using the default MS AHCI drivers. You can install AMD's AHCI drivers after SETUP is complete, but you can't go changing the controller mode mid-stream.

I would recommend using "RAID Ready" mode, anyway. AMD's AHCI drivers appear to suck, from what I'm reading, but AMD's RAID controller and drivers seem OK.

 

[LOTL]

Had some time today to work on this again.
It finally came to me what the problem was after enabling AHCI in the BIOS again and attempting to do another Win 7 install.

As soon as i enabled AHCI in the BIOS and rebooted, it displayed the AHCI BIOS screen which showed both my SATA HD and my SATA DVD Burner. Then it showed "Setup is inspecting your computers hardware configuration."

Right after that i got the error message "INF File txtsetup.sif is corrupt or missing, status 18"

Well when i saw the two devices in the AHCI BIOS screen, it finally dawned on me that the DVD burner wouldnt be supported in AHCI mode.

My BIOS allows separate configuration (thank god) for the first 4 SATA connections. The 5th SATA connection along with the E-Sata ports can be configured differently. I had the DVD drive plugged into the 2nd SATA connection and when i moved it to the 5th, i was able to reinstall Win7.

Now my dilemma is i think im out of luck with hotplugging my E-Sata external HD via the E-Sata port.

Shit after trying to plug in the External HD to the rear ESata port with the PC running, nothing happened. I then shut down the computer, connected an external E-Sata bracket to one of the AHCI Sata connections and rebooted.
Now im getting that same friggin INF file txtsetup.sif error. I shut down, disconnected the sata cable for the bracket, disconnected the DVD drive and still get the error. I tried disabling AHCI in the BIOS and still same error.

I dont get it, it was working fine. I did install the VGA/Chipset/USB driver package from Gigabytes website (did not allow the AMD AHCI driver install), but i had successfully rebooted twice after doing that.

One more install cant hurt, im getting good at them and it only takes about 15 mins.

 

[alexruiz]

Hi there. As the others suggested, I would also support to let win 7 use its generic drivers, as they do fine. Make sure the BIOs is all set to AHCI, and make sure you have the latest BIOS. It will install fine.
Once you are under windows 7, use the maufacturer's generic drivers.

I haver done clean install of windows 7 on several different motherboards with SB700/SB710/SB750 (including 2 laptops) For some reason, if trying to load the AMD AHCI driver in the initial screen of windows "load drivers" in a machine with the SB750, it wouldn't recognize it. Those with the SB700 were recognized though, so I used the AMd AHCi driver. On those with the SB750, just update the driver from the device manager.

good luck!



Alex

 

[LOTL]

Thanks Alex,
I took your suggestion and decided to try updating the AHCI driver via the device manager. I used the driver found on Gigabytes website.

Well now im at least able to connect the Esata bracket and cable and use the external hard drive and its hotpluggable!
Thats the good news. If i try plugging in the external hard drive into the rear ESata port on the motherboard, i get the error again.
I also tried changing the BIOS setting for the 5th sata connection and the Esata port from IDE to "As Sata Type" which then follows the setting for the first 4 sata connections. After rebooting, i still get the error message.

I hate to just leave it the way it is as something still isnt right.
I did update the BIOS earlier this week to the latest (non beta) version F3.

Are the SB710 chipsets considered to be somewhat temperamental?.

I guess while im at it, do you guys think its necessary to install the Gigabyte Chipset/VGA/Sata Raid drivers or are the ones included with Win7 sufficient?

Edit: Well the good news went bad after the next reboot with the external HD attached. The AHCI BIOS screen shows both HD's with Smart Errors and refused to boot. I had to tun off the external in order to boot the computer. Once running i can turn the power switch back on the external HD and it works fine.

Im wondering if i should consider RMA'ing this think and go with the MSI or ASUS.
I see there is a 1.1 version of this GA-MA785GPMT on Gigabytes website. Wondering if it might be a little less tempermental.

 

[LOTL]

Well after tossing and turning last night about this, i got up and had it again.
I went to GameAMD.com and downloaded the Full Catalyst Suite, Soutbridge Driver and AHCI driver. Installed the Suite first, followed by the SB driver and then the AHCI driver.
I had done this previously prior to figuring out the SATA DVD issue and was trying a minimalist approach this time.

This seems to have done the trick. I am now able to plug the external HD into the rear ESata port without issue and leave it plugged into the Esata bracket when rebooting without issue.
I have done this several times in various combination's and so far so good.
I do occasionally get a Smart Error when the AHCI BIOS loads, but i think i had read somewhere that enabling AHCI might be the issue itself with causing that error.

Now on to why the HDMI output is giving me black bands around the screen. Shows as max resolution 1920x1080, but the image doesn't fill the screen. Works fine with both the VGA and DVI-D connections though.
Ahhh the fun of a new build, gotta love it.

 

[TJones2]

Hope you don't mind too much if I slightly hijack your thread? Might help us both in the end.

Here's the deal, I have the MA785GPM-US2H. When it set it up, I set "AHCI and "Onchip SATA type" in the bios then installed Win7. Now, I thought by AHCI being "natively supported" in Win7 meant I didn't have to install drivers before installing Windows?? Anyway, the computer booted up and seems to work fine. I installed the motherboard drivers, video drivers (ATI 4870) and everything seems fine EXCEPT that whenever I rebooted, the hard drive would do four loud thunks.

I thought there was something wrong with the hard drive and tested it. Seagate tools for Windows wouldn't go further than a tiny ways through the long test. Tried the DOS tools and it reported the drive as "pass". Then realized it must be something to do with the AHCI driver. Went back to the bios, set it to "IDE" mode, rebooted, Windows asked me to restart, did. No more thunk.

Question is, can I get the AHCI drivers in at this point without installing Windows again? It was a huge hassle installing Windows this time around (wouldn't accept my key, calls to MS, long story). Don't want to go there again. If anyone has a work around, Love to hear it.

 

[country2]

Have you tried the registery hack for it instead of trying to do it on a clean install? I know I did it a few times on some other intel boards and Vista with success so it might work with W7

Here is the instructions for W7 and the link for it

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

"AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) enables native command queuing and hot-plugging through SATA host controllers (Serial-ATA) for your hard drives. In many scenarios it enables more efficient multi-tasking. Vista was the first Windows OS to support AHCI out of the box, where as Windows 7 does the same. But an issue with AHCI is that if you install the OS without enabling AHCI in the BIOS, enabling it after installation will render your OS unusable. This is because Windows disable the AHCI driver since it is not needed during the installation.

There is one way to fix this, although you need to have knowledge of registry editing. The detailed steps from Microsoft are as follows:

To resolve this issue, enable the AHCI driver in the registry before you change the SATA mode of the boot drive. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Exit all Windows-based programs.
2. Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
3. If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.
4. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESystemCurrentControlSetServicesMsahci
5. In the right pane, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify.
6. In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.
7. On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.

After this you’ll have to restart your computer, go to BIOS and enable AHCI. When you log in to Windows again, you’ll notice the installation of drivers for AHCI. Another restart will be required to finish the driver installation."

 

[TJones2]

Yep. One of the first things I tried. Didn't work. I have it set to 0 and keep changing from IDE to AHCI and it doesn't kick in. No AHCI driver shows up.

 

[country2]

Yep. One of the first things I tried. Didn't work. I have it set to 0 and keep changing from IDE to AHCI and it doesn't kick in. No AHCI driver shows up.

OOPs gues I need to read posts instead of skim them as I see you did.

Anyway I have the gigabyte MA785GM-U22H and just tried it on mine and it works great... Even just clicked on the reg edit file that is on the link I posted and let it load in reg and rebooted and it also worked. So I don't know and is of no help....

 

[TJones2]

Funny though, I clicked on that file and it tried to launch Media Center.

 

[country2]

Funny though, I clicked on that file and it tried to launch Media Center.

you got to remove the .mp3 at the end. Needs to be a .reg file.

 

[TJones2]

you got to remove the .mp3 at the end. Needs to be a .reg file.

Tried that. Still thought it was media center file.

 

[TJones2]

I'm just going to reinstall with AHCI enabled, and loading on the AMD driver for such, but a quick question.

In the bios, do I set "Onboard SATA port 4/5 Type" to "IDE" or "SATA Type"? Don't even know what this means. What'z a 4/5 port?

 

[TJones2]

Reinstalled. Shows up the same as before, maybe "AMD SATA" driver is all it says, it says nothing about AHCI. I then used "update driver" in Device Manager and it offered the Microsoft version 1.0 of AHCI and I took that one over the AMD. Bad or good choice?

It appears to have cleared up that awful "clunk clunk" when I close windows anyway.

 

[In2Photos]

Now on to why the HDMI output is giving me black bands around the screen. Shows as max resolution 1920x1080, but the image doesn't fill the screen. Works fine with both the VGA and DVI-D connections though.
Ahhh the fun of a new build, gotta love it.

Did you get this sorted? It has to do with the ATI overscan. For some reason ATI thinks it should be less than 100% which gives lovely black bars. You can read more about it here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=17698500&highlight=overscan#post17698500

 

[LOTL]

Did you get this sorted? It has to do with the ATI overscan. For some reason ATI thinks it should be less than 100% which gives lovely black bars. You can read more about it here:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=17698500&highlight=overscan#post17698500

I did find the overscan settings after some digging, but havent hooked the monitor back up via the HDMI connection.
Im sure itll work with the adjusted overscan settings.

Im now battling yet another problem where if i plug a USB device into any of the front USB ports on this SilverStone Sugo SG01B-F case, the computer just shuts off and either reboots or i have to hit the power button to restart.

I have replicated this problem with a USB wireless adapter and a USB flash drive. As soon as either device makes contact with the metal around any of the 4 USB ports on the front, the PC shuts down. Both front panel USB cables have the plug on the end and can only be installed one way, so i dont think thats the issue.

Seems like a grounding issue of some sort and im not sure if it motherboard related or case related. The relative humidity in the house is 33% and im suspecting static buildup is the culprit.

I just walked back and forth across the carpet and then touched the bare metal of the case, while keeping my hand on it, i then plugged in the USB flash drive and all was well.
I then tried walking back and forth across the carpet (with flash drive in hand) and walked over to the PC and without grounding myself to the case tried plugging it in. The PC shut right off.

This is a brand new Silverstone PS and all brand new components. I have the PS plugged into a relatively decent Belkin surge protector.

Im going to try removing the front face plate from the case and see if the USB ports are properly grounded. If they appear to be, then im not sure what to check next.
Im open to suggestions on what i can do to prevent this from happening.

Edit: Well i decided to call Silverstone tech support and amazingly got through to someone first try. He suggested removing the front panel and taking the ground wire that is attached to the front aluminum face plate and attach it directly to the steel chassis. I did this and the problem still persists. They are sending me a new front USB board and ill give that a try.
I also tried clipping an alligator test lead i have, directly to the metal on the front USB ports and the other end to the chassis and it didnt help.
If i ground myself prior to touching the ports all is well.

Anyone think this might be a grounding or shielding issue with the MB itself?

TJones2,
No problem with the Hijack. The more info the better on issues people are having with this MB.
The Onboard SATA port 4/5 Type is for the SATA2_4 on board connector and the ESATA port. I had to plug my SATA DVD drive into the SATA2_4 port and set it to IDE mode in order to get AHCI working on the other 4 SATA ports. Pain in the but as this makes the ESATA port non hotpluggable.

 

[LOTL]

Well i couldnt wait for Silverstone to send me the new USB front board.
I found some metal flashing i had in the basement and with a pair of tin snips, cut out a couple of pieces and fastened them as shown in the attached pics.

Worked like a charm. For anyone else with a Silverstone Sugo SG01B-F case, that may be experiencing the same problem, this did the trick for me.

The front panel on this case has a piece of lexan on the inside of the black aluminum. It has some sort of mirror like coating that shows through the
5 1/4" openings, power, reset and front USB, Firewire and Audio ports.
Unfortunately it appears that this doesn't allow proper grounding of the front USB ports. The firewire cable has a ground wire that was connected to the front aluminum cover and i reconnected that to the main steel chassis.

A little off topic i know, but hopefully itll help some poor soul searching around for a way to fix this.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13359446@N07/4206621902/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13359446@N07/4206621878/

For whatever reason im not able to post images, so here are a couple links.

 

[country2]

Tried that. Still thought it was media center file.

I know its too late but I know why it did it as I just went thru the same thing on a computer I just formatted and doing a clean install... You got to go to folder option, view and untick hide extensions for known file types then most likely it will show it as having a .wav just rename it.