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Problem installing Windows 7 onto SSD with ahci enabled

PingSpike

PingSpike

Lifer
So I have a Biostar H67 chipset motherboard. Nothing is overclocked, memtest passed. It has been running in IDE mode for awhile fine with no problems with XP x64.

So I bought an intel 320 SSD and decided to install windows 7. I have an upgrade version so I installed and then installed again over it in upgrade mode. I installed it without trouble (and it was a pretty fast operation) and then remembered I forgot to enable AHCI in the bios. So I enabled that and started over, cleaned the partitions and started the install again. It took forever (which seemed odd) to do the initial install, then I ran upgrade and it stalled out at transferring files. I gave up after maybe an hour and a half and restarted. I wiped out the partitions and started again...this time it got stuck at completing installation and I never got the initial install done.

Any idea what the problem is here? Is there something I'm missing with AHCI? It seemed to work fine without. Do I need it for trim in windows 7?
 
you don't need it for trim, but you're going to cripple your ssd without it. is there a reason you're reinstalling with xp, then upgading to 7? did you only buy the windows 7 upgrade? installing from start to finish with just 7 with ahci enabled should work fine. it's also a good idea to unplug any other HDDs you have in your computer during the install. sometimes windows likes to put your boot partition elsewhere. trust me 🙁
 
When I do custom install with windows 7, it doesn't accept the license key. So I install windows 7 without it, then I run upgrade after it is installed (and not activated). The key works fine then. I never installed XP on this drive, I just left it on the other one since I might want to go back to that install occasionally.

I disconnected my other drive for installation from the start.

I'm going to try loading a newer driver for the SATA controller during windows installation tonight. The copy of Windows 7 does not have SP1 slipstreamed AFAIK.
 
Windows 7 upgrade needs to have another OS installed on either the drive you are now installing to or from another drive to get a complacency test. This is why you have/had freeze ups and KEY errors. Here is how I Solved that issue: Have your XP OS installed onto another drive and have it set as a slave or secondary drive. When you install windows 7, It will look for that and then it will install without a problem. Once you have installed the new OS, pull the secondary drive and the go on with your normal duties. Just remember to keep your Xp OS (or any other OS) as a saved backup for future installations of Windows 7.

Also, Make sure you have set the Bios to AHCI and disable the Raid IF you are not using it. This is why it is asking for that Marvell controller, You probably put that drive on a SATA port that supports the Marvell Raid controller. It will make boot ups a bit quicker using the Intel controller since you are using a single drive without Raid.
 
I think you should do a complete secure erase of the drive and start over. It will not solve your driver problem, but since you have more than 1 install attempt on this drive you should start with a clean slate.
 
So I never did the suggested thing for the marvel controller because
1) I actually don't have a marvel controller (brain fart on my part) just 6gbps SATA intel ports.
2) The issues went away when I switched SATA ports from port 2 to port 1 and replaced the SATA cable with the one that came with the SSD.

I replaced the cable because a saw a few google discussions where people had similar problems and reported replacing the cable fixed it. I did not actually expect that to work because in my experience...its almost never the cable. But you always try because its an easy fix. I guess it was the cable. Maybe its my ignorance of SATA but are there special cables for SATA2 versus 3? The cable likely worked in IDE mode because it wouldn't have been running beyond spec I guess.
 
PingSpike said:
So I never did the suggested thing for the marvel controller because
1) I actually don't have a marvel controller (brain fart on my part) just 6gbps SATA intel ports.
2) The issues went away when I switched SATA ports from port 2 to port 1 and replaced the SATA cable with the one that came with the SSD.

I replaced the cable because a saw a few google discussions where people had similar problems and reported replacing the cable fixed it. I did not actually expect that to work because in my experience...its almost never the cable. But you always try because its an easy fix. I guess it was the cable. Maybe its my ignorance of SATA but are there special cables for SATA2 versus 3? The cable likely worked in IDE mode because it wouldn't have been running beyond spec I guess.
Click to expand...
You have no idea how much I appreciate you posting this. Someone scoffed at my advice yesterday to try a different cable. Glad it was a cheap fix for you.
 
SATA2/3Gb and SATA3/6Gb cables conform to the same spex. But, I think you nailed it. A cable could easily be falling a bit below standards but you'd never see it until you tried to run some really high bandwidth thru it.
 
Drsignguy said:
Windows 7 upgrade needs to have another OS installed on either the drive you are now installing to or from another drive to get a complacency test. This is why you have/had freeze ups and KEY errors. Here is how I Solved that issue: Have your XP OS installed onto another drive and have it set as a slave or secondary drive. When you install windows 7, It will look for that and then it will install without a problem. Once you have installed the new OS, pull the secondary drive and the go on with your normal duties. Just remember to keep your Xp OS (or any other OS) as a saved backup for future installations of Windows 7.

Also, Make sure you have set the Bios to AHCI and disable the Raid IF you are not using it. This is why it is asking for that Marvell controller, You probably put that drive on a SATA port that supports the Marvell Raid controller. It will make boot ups a bit quicker using the Intel controller since you are using a single drive without Raid.
Click to expand...

I've been able to get away with this check by just keeping a copy of the Windows folder from a previous installation on an external hdd. I copy it over to a new hdd using one of those ext. sata docks, install it in the system, and then just do the install. The only drawback is that you'll have to have an extra machine lying around.
 
Also,always buy cables at monoprice.com. They cant be beat. If me mentioning a vendor in the forum is against the rules feel free to moderate.
 
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