Gigabyte Ahci controller buggy?

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realmatrix

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I have a WD hdd installed on a gigabyte eg45-mud2-h motherboard. I switched from ide to ahci to improve performance of the drive. However this has increased boot up time . AT POST the SATA ahci controller scans for drives on all the ports which takes about 40-50 secs. It has timed out at least once before when I was installing windows 7 on the second boot and I had to manually remove the sata cable and move back to ide mode which works instantaneously .
I am beginning to wonder whether the controller is buggy or perhaps this is normal?
 
Solution
herrwizo
Found the one for you, but you have to register on the forum to download:

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/189914-gigabyte-ga-eg45m-ud2h-update-working-1062/

First post has download links.
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herrwizo

herrwizo

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This is quite common with older motherboards, but has nothing to do with the controller itself - the culprit is the outdated motherboard BIOS, which contains an old implementation/version of AHCI.

I managed to get 2-3 sec scan time on one of my older Gigabyte boards (it was EP-35-DS3), but I had to use a beta-BIOS, and it was actually one modded by community, so I took quite a risk there. It paid off in the end, but it might not be the case for everyone.

If your BIOS version is not the latest, you can try updating it, but it is very likely that even that won't help unless you resort to some strange solutions like myself. Or get a new platform alltogether.

 
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Shaun o

Shaun o

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As a rule once you have a motherboard setup, and the type of mode the Sata interface is set tp.

And then install windows for the first time, as part of the process that information is stored for the boot process or boot manager of windows realmatrix.

Changing the interface mode after windows has been installed effects how well the system, and the speed of the boot process.

Or can give you a situation of no boot device found For example when switching the interface mode from Ahci mode to Sata mode after windows is installed.

It normally requires you to do another fresh install of windows with the Ahci mode of the Sata ports enabled.

So the boot time is reduced.
Though you could try editing the boot config file where the interface type will no doubt still be listed as IDE mode, setting it to Ahci mode manually.

 
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realmatrix

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Yes, I was reinstalling windows after switching from ide to ahci .It failed to find devices at the (bios) post level during the second boot of the windows reinstall proceess.
 
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realmatrix

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This could indeed be the case . I want to update the bios but don't think it will help since on the download page newer versions have no mention of fixing the AHCI in the changelog ?

 
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herrwizo

herrwizo

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Yes, I read the changelog as well, no mention of that, so that's why I believe it won't help, unfortunately. Same happened with my old board, so had to browse through various forums until I finally stumbled upon a solution. Luckily, EP35-DS3 had dual BIOS, so that would certainly help if something went wrong. Your board has it, too.

If I remember well, I found the BIOS with faster AHCI initialization here:

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/topic/168690-hint-gigabyte-bioses-with-newestfast-ahci-bios-included/

Take a look, who knows what you might find.
 
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realmatrix

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Thanks for taking the trouble for finding the bios. It worked ..there are no longer any Dots showing up ( . . . . ) when scanning for drives , reduced boot time significantly
 
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