Cannot get my Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD to boot-up using AHCI Mode - Please Help!

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caragon80

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Dec 6, 2013
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Hi Everyone!

I recently installed a Samsung 840 Evo 120GB SSD drive in my computer (see serve as my boot up drive for Windows 7 Home Premium OS. Per normal practice I went into my BIOS and changed my configuration on my SATA Controller from a RAID setup to a ACHI setup before installing Windows 7 on the SSD drive. Unfortunately, every time the drive tries to boot up it crashes my system. The only way I can get into Windows without crashing is if I change the SATA mode back to RAID. What am I doing wrong?

Interestingly enough, the www.HP.com support section states the following: "In RAID mode, the SATA controller enables both AHCI and RAID functions when the computer boots."

Does this mean I no longer need to switched to ACHI mode? All I need to do is leave the SATA controller setting in RAID Mode? The trouble is when I run the Samsung Magician software in Windows it fails to communicate with the drive. I get the following error message:

"Magician cannot communicate with the below Samsung SSD. Please check with other compatible storage drivers and try again. 1. Samsung SSD 840 EVO 120G SCSI Disk Device (00000000000000000000000000000)"

Should this be happening given that the HP site states that booting up in RAID mode ALSO enables the ACHI functions? I am confused. Please help!

My computer setup is:

- HP Pavilion Elite HPE-360z (Desktop)
- AMD Phenom X6 1090T Processor
- RS880 uATX 1.02 Motherboard
- 8GB 1333Mhz SDRAM Memory
- Samsung 840 Evo 120GB SSD (Boot-Up Drive)
- WD Black 2TB (2nd Drive for Data Storage)

Thanks,

Carlos

Carlos
 
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caragon80

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Hi Laviniu. Thanks for your reply. I did a clean install. Actually, the first time I installed Windows 7 to the SSD drive I forgot to select the ACHI mode in the Bios. So I used AOMEI Partition Assistant to wipe my SSD drive clean and started all over again. The second time around I made sure to go into my BIOS first and selected the AHCI mode in the SATA Controller before installing Windows 7 from my CD ROM Drive. However, I am not able to boot into my SSD drive under the AHCI mode at this time.
 
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Deleted member 217926

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Did you unplug the storage drive when you installed Windows on the SSD? Only the SSD should have been plugged in.

If so try a different SATA port and cable.
 
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caragon80

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Thanks anort3. Yes, I did unplug the storage drive prior to installing Windows to the SSD. However, I will try changing to another SATA port as you suggest. (as for the cable I will need to order a new one before I can test that out). Thanks for the suggestion. I will circle back with the results as soon as I can.
 
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caragon80

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Hi anort3. I re-connected my SSD drive to the 1st SATA port on my motherboard (previously it was connected to port 6). I also used a Silverstone SATA III data cable for the connection between the SSD and the motherboard. I then went into my BIOS set the SSD as the priority boot drive and set the SATA Controller to the AHCI mode. Unfortunately when the computer tried to boot to the SSD drive it crashed the system again.
 
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Do you have another computer you can plug the SSD in to test if it works? It's starting to sound like you might have a bad drive.


Just to verify, is the SSD seen in BIOS? Will Windows boot at all from the SSD? The SATA ports were set to AHCI during Windows install correct?
 
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caragon80

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Unfortunately I do not have another pc to test the SSD on. However, I did run a diagnostic test on the SSD and it passed all of the test parameters. Could this be a driver issue instead? To answer your other questions:

1. Yes, the SSD is seen in the BIOS.
2. Windows will boot in the SSD as long as the mode in the BIOS is RAID, otherwise no it will not.
3. Yes, the SATA ports were set to AHCI before I installed Windows 7 on on the SSD (I went under the advanced menu in the BIOS and changed the mode to AHCI where it says "SATA Controller".
 
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Deleted member 217926

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It may just be the way the HP BIOS are written then. If it works fine in RAID then leave it set to RAID. It's not going to hurt anything and as said above AHCI is enabled in RAID anyway.

But the Samsung Magician software can't see the drive either is that correct? That would be a shame because that's an excellent tool. Maybe try contacting HP and see what they say. If I had to guess it's due to the computer being an OEM and I doubt there is anything you can do. Do you have the latest BIOS installed?
 
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caragon80

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I think you are right about the way HP has written the BIOS. They do say that AHCI functionality is included under the RAID mode (they state it in the support section of the HP website). But what is confusing is that even though AHCI functionality is included in their RAID Mode they still include a separate AHCI mode in their BIOS menu. I don't understand what is the point of including that if RAID takes care of both? Anyway, that is a question I really need to take up with HP. But thank you for your thoughts on that.

As for the Samsung Magician software, yes that is correct, the software cannot see the drive (in RAID Mode). This is what initially prompted me to go back to the BIOS, select AHCI, and re-install Windows 7. But as already stated, I can't get the SSD to boot to Windows under this mode. Yes, I agree it is a real shame I can't take advantage of the Samsung Magician tool at this time. I will also be addressing this with HP to see what they have to say about this. Not to sound pessimistic but I think you may be right, since this is an OEM computer, the programming is far less flexible than one might find with the after market products. I am now certain the next computer I get will be custom built. Oh, and about the BIOS, yes, I just updated it from the HP website a couple of days ago and it made no difference.

Thanks again for all your suggestions and advice. It's very much appreciated!

Keep well :).
 
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picro

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try turn on AHCI + IDE!
when both are active SSD will work in both IDE and AHCI as you set in bios, AHCI activate TRIM that speedup SSD

dword:00000003 (turn OFF)
dword:00000000 (turn ON)
when
create a text file in notepad name it ahci-ide.reg click on this file



Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci]
"Start"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\pciide]
"Start"=dword:00000000

 
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caragon80

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caragon80

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Hi Picro,

I am not very technical so I am not sure what the above instructions mean. Would you mind giving me step-by-step instructions on how to accomplish what you suggest? Thanks.
 
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esmurrell

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Hi Caragon80, I have the same SSD and problem as you. I custom built my PC and loaded Windows 8.1 on the SSD. I can get the PC to boot only if I first enter the BIOS and then exit. I went back to the store where I bought everything and they report the same problem on another system. Since my system is Intel based and the other is AMD based, they believe Samsung has a bad batch of SSD's out there. I purchased another SSD and will replace my system with it tomorrow. I am pretty sure this will cure the problem.

Good luck!

Eric
 
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caragon80

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Thanks for the heads up Eric! I will look into this and see if the issue is with the SSD. In my case, once I set the BIOS to RAID Mode I have no issues booting into Windows 7 via the SSD Drive. While in RAID Mode I have no issue booting into Windows every time. It's only when I set the SATA Controller to AHCI Mode that my system crashes when it tries to boot into Windows 7. Is this what you are experiencing or do you always have to first go into the BIOS before you are able to access your SSD? What happens if you leave your BIOS in RAID Mode? Does your computer still have trouble booting directly into Windows 8 on your SSD? If so, your scenario is worse than mine. But the issue I have with this whole deal is that even though I can get into my SSD normally - in RAID Mode - I still can't take full advantage of all of the benefits the SSD brings to the table once AHCI Mode is active. Please let me know if your my experience is exactly like yours or slightly different. Thanks.
 
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kfdaddy

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I cloned my C drive to my Samsung 840EVO SSD. What would be that quick fix for the blue screens, please? I was getting errors with my old system, and today I finished upgrading to the Z87 Pro mobo and i7-4770K, and I get those blue screens if I try to use AHCI.

My benchmarks for sequential read and write are good, but the random read and write are pathetic and I'm hoping switching to AHCI will fix that problem.

Thanks

Joe

added 3-4-14: I have no idea what I did but I was able to switch to AHCI. I ran the AS SSD Benchmark program and these are my specs now. On the test I ran before switching to AHCI, some numbers were higher, some lower. My overall score is actually lower than when I was set to IDE, 303, 1931, 2405.

as-ssd-bench-Samsung-SSD-840-3.4.2014.png


 
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KingRevoker

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I had this issue before, it's when you have had an installation of Windows already done with RAID, or IDE, all you need to do is follow these instructions and it should get you fixed up! :

Start up a command prompt with administrator privileges and enter this line:

bcdedit /set {current} safeboot minimal

Reboot and then enter the BIOS (typically press F1, F2, F10 or Delete)

Change the SATA drive setting to AHCI and exit the BIOS save settings.

Windows will boot into Safe Mode.

Open an Administrator Command Prompt again and enter the following command to disable Safe Mode boot:

bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot

Reboot

This worked for me and I hope the same for you! Sorry for the late response, just joined the community.

Cheers,
-King
 
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