Win7 installation issue in AHCI mode

[Zorander]

Hi all,

I recently installed my old Kingston SNV-125 128GB SSD into my Acer AO-522 netbook (AMD C-50 Brazos) and could not install Win7 using AHCI SATA mode.

I did a secure erase (hdparm), used Win7 installer built-in partitioner and proceeded with installation. Everything went fine up to the copying and packing installation files part. Upon the installer exit (aka restart and boot into Windows installation on the drive), I got an error message that says something like "Windows cannot install on this hardware". I tried the installation again (without secure erasing though) and was greeted by the same error message at the same point. My third install attempt running in IDE mode went flawlessly and this is where I am now.

As expected, switching to AHCI mode results in Win7 crashing upon start-up and I have to revert to IDE mode. I have not yet tried the registry method to load the AHCI driver.

I'm curious why Win7 could not install under AHCI mode when I did precisely this before with the stock HDD. What am I losing by running the SSD under IDE mode? I don't think this SSD supports TRIM so this one's a given.

Thanks.

 

[hennessy1]

I know you should not have to but could you try loading the amd ahci drivers when you are partitioning the drive in ahci mode and see if that matters?

I also saw a couple BIOS updates none that looked like they addressed your issues though.

 

[Zorander]

I did the registry method to load the AHCI driver and re-enabled AHCI from the BIOS. It worked! I'm currently using the AMD AHCI driver just for the sake of it; it's given me no problem so far. I have also updated the Netbook BIOS just for fun.

It's strange indeed why Windows would not install with AHCI enabled on this netbook.