AHCI drivers not in list during XP install

[toms_hammer]

Thank you in advance for any help.

I'm trying to install AHCI and windows XP on a new system. Motherboard: GA-EP45-UD3R

I have:
1. Set AHCI in bios
2. created a floppy which is supposed to contain both the SATA RAID and SATA AHCI drivers (ive done this 3 different times. downloaded the files from gigabyte, downloaded them from intel-the "32bit floppy disk utility" or whatever, and ran an exe on the motherboard cd-rom that copies the drivers to the floppy. The files on the floppy are iaahci.cat, iaAHCI.inf, iastor,cat, iastor.inf, Iastor.sys, TXTSETUP.OEM. )
3. Everytime time, after I start installing XP and press F6 to get to a list of drivers, my list only has 4 choices, all of which are "SATA RAID" drivers, but the list is also supposed to have AHCI drivers on that list, and it doesn't have any.


Motherboard: Ga-EP45-UD3R
x25-m Hard disk
IDE CD Rom Drive
e8500 cpu

 

[GhislainG]

Did you try using the SATA RAID drivers? They should work.

 

[toms_hammer]

Did you try using the SATA RAID drivers? They should work.

Hello, thank you for the reply. I have not. I am only trying to install AHCI since I only have one hard drive. Are you saying I should select SATA RAID anyway? Also, the motherboard manual shows a long list of drivers in their screenshot, including the one I'm supposed to get: Intel(R) ICH10R SATA AHCI Controller.

 

[GhislainG]

Once the SATA RAID drivers are installed, you can use AHCI or RAID.

 

[toms_hammer]

How exactly? Do you mean I should press F6 again, and then all the AHCI drivers will be on the list? Are you sure what you are proposing will work? How do you know?

 

[GhislainG]

Why don't you give it a try? iastor.sys is the AHCI/RAID driver.

 

[jitpublisher]

I did this several times with my Gigabyte board. On the DVD that came with the board, there is a couple of different exe files, and several different ways that will create a AHCI or RAID driver disk. But it is a PAIN IN THE ASS to find the right one. You will know when you do though. There is no mistaking it when you put it in, and install the driver. Sounds like you are doing exactly what I was about the first 10 times and creating a RAID driver disk. This is not what you want to do, read the manual and follow the directions closely...choose the correct file to build the disk, and it will work, and you will know it when you get the right one made.

 

[daggs]

I'm offering another way.
install xp in ata mode, go online and find the latest chipset drivers of your computer, extract them, go to control panel->system->driver manager->primary ide hd (or something like that, be sure to select the primary). hit upgrade driver and look for the exact match, select it and wait till it's done. now restart the computer and change to ahci mode in bios, boot the system, if all goes well, your system will boot ok and a new hd hardware will be found, reboot again when the computer tells you and you're done.

 

[Scott2009]

If he does that then Windows won't boot for several reasons.
Not until the BIOS is set back exactly as it was before the change anyway.

I'm assuming he wants SATA/NCQ/AHCI (consider it the same) and/or RAID.

Usually the AHCI drivers will work, and the BIOS plus the SouthBridge or inexpensive RAID controller does the magic for basic RAID-1 or RAID-0 configurations.

 

[Scott2009]

Usually Gigabyte ship, or supply via web/ftp, two different diskettes for F6 installations of Windows.

 

[jitpublisher]

As I said, there is a utility on the DVD that comes with the motherboard to create a driver disk. However, there are a couple of different options for the kind of disk you want to create, and the directions are not all that clear. One way will create a disk with only RAID drivers on it, and they WONT work if you are trying to install AHCI support for XP during install. But if you do create the disk correctly, when you hit F6 during install, you will get a screen that displays only 2 drivers, the AHCI driver for XP 32 bit, and the AHCI driver for XP 64 bit. Those are the only 2 choices you will have, nothing else will be there!
If you get a list of a bunch of different drivers, you have created the wrong disk, you have created the RAID drive disk, and none of the files on it will work for what you are trying to to. You can choose and try them one by one over and over until your are blue in the face, and wasted 2 hours, and XP will never, ever find a drive to install it's self on, period.
Been there, done it guys.
Also, if the disk is wrong to start with, format it before you try to make another one. If you made the wrong disk first, there is not enough room on the disk to make the correct one as an add on to the stuff already on the disk. Even if you do try to make the right disk, it will won't "over-wright" anything that is on the disk already, it will simply abort before it is done creating the disk as the install program runs out of room. Unless you watch very, very closely, it happens so fast you will never see the error.......
Format or erase the disk before you try to make a new one each and every time!
Been there, done that too.

 

[daggs]

If he does that then Windows won't boot for several reasons.
Not until the BIOS is set back exactly as it was before the change anyway.

I'm assuming he wants SATA/NCQ/AHCI (consider it the same) and/or RAID.

Usually the AHCI drivers will work, and the BIOS plus the SouthBridge or inexpensive RAID controller does the magic for basic RAID-1 or RAID-0 configurations.

windows will boot ok if he got the right drivers, if not, the he changes to ata again in bios and all works well.
tested on 5 different computers, all worked ok.

 

[jitpublisher]

windows will boot ok if he got the right drivers, if not, the he changes to ata again in bios and all works well.
tested on 5 different computers, all worked ok.

Yeah, this is correct, if you start out and install XP with the correct ACHI drivers, you can switch the BIOS back and forth between IDE mode and AHCI. It will boot either way.
Now if you are running RAID, this a totally different situation, and coversation.