SATA controller problem, weird

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MarkTsen

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Nov 16, 2013
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I used AIDA64 to determine whether SATA controller is physically present on my motherboard because something definitely is wrong.
Of course the current HDD is SATA II but windows uses ATI SB600 - IDE Controller, not SATA Controller.
So I entered the BIOS config and there's no option in regards to disk drive controller at all.

1. How do I force windows to use SATA Controller instead of IDE Controller?

2. The BIOS version is Phoenix 1.40, would you be able to provide evidence that its future updates (1.70, 1.80, 1.90, 2.00) included SATA (eventully RAID/AHCI) config options?

The laptop is Toshiba Satellite A210-127. Toshiba tech support was clueless as to the questions I just asked here. I plan on replacing HDD with SSD tomorrow and I'd really use SATA controller which likely supports AHCI.

Below there's a list of all chipset hardware present on my motherboard.
5rQhe.png


Any help is much appreciated.
 
Solution
M



It does not, switching to MSAHCI post-install killed the Windows, had to switch back to PCIIDE.

After countless hours of digging and researching my laptop by VENDOR/DEVICE information I learnt that it's "SATA Controller (No RAID support)". Therefore there's no possible solution to my question. The thread can now be closed and this answer can be selected as a solution for future reference.
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dgingeri

dgingeri

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Dec 4, 2009
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The IDE controller is the SATA controller, AMD just uses an IDE compatability mode that identifies itself as an IDE controller. The only thing you could do different is if you put the controller into raid mode. It would show up as a raid controller then.
 
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MarkTsen

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Thanks dgingeri.
Like I mentioned, can't change IDE/SATA modes in BIOS, can I force controller mode in Windows somehow?
BTW it's Windows 7 x64 Ultimate.
If I can't force it in Windows then I'd need an answer to my 2nd question.
 
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MarkTsen

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Thanks, that's what I was worried about.
However, many sources on the internet claim that:
1. SATA Controller supports AHCI if the laptop came with original SATA II/III HDD
2. AMD SB600 supports AHCI.

So what's to be blamed? Toshiba for putting such a poor BIOS on the mobo?
Then again, can anybody confirm if SATA config was added to, or present in, the Phoenix BIOS 1.70, 1.80, 1.90 or 2.00?
 
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dgingeri

dgingeri

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ah, laptop, that explains it. It's not raid licensed because its not needed on a laptop. Don't worry, it supports all the AHCI commands without it. Just make sure and load the AMD drivers, which the manufacturer probably already has.
 
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MarkTsen

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They (Toshiba) don't seem to have anything, not a driver, not a clue.
However other manufacturers such as Asus provide AMD AHCI drivers for the chipsets SB600 (3.1.x) and SB800 (3.3.x) but they appear to be package installers that are going to check for the manufacturer's info prior to installation.

If anybody has or has seen AMD AHCI drivers compatible with SB600 or SB800 for Win7 x64 I would be grateful, I spent hours trying to find the right ones :/

And you said to load the drivers, I assume that during windows installation, but I have read that external AHCI drivers cause bad alignment checks which result in detecting a bad MBR.
Therefore windows won't detect a valid disk and it's advised that you let windows install MSAHCI drivers, and I doubt it will if the controller seems to be defaulted to IDE mode. What do you think?
 
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MarkTsen

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Nov 16, 2013
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It does not, switching to MSAHCI post-install killed the Windows, had to switch back to PCIIDE.

After countless hours of digging and researching my laptop by VENDOR/DEVICE information I learnt that it's "SATA Controller (No RAID support)". Therefore there's no possible solution to my question. The thread can now be closed and this answer can be selected as a solution for future reference.
 
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