Intel DP43TF and AHCI

[techguy378]

I recently purchased an Intel DP43TF motherboard (P43 northbridge/ICH10 southbridge). I will be using this motherboard with 64-bit Windows 7. For some reason I cannot get Windows 7 to install if AHCI support is enabled. If I do an EFI install of 64-bit Windows 7 the computer reboots continuously. If I try to do a traditional BIOS install of 64-bit Windows 7 with AHCI enabled I keep getting an error message from Windows stating the computer rebooted unexpectedly whenever I boot from the hard disk. I have an Intel X25-M 80GB SSD so I absolutely must have AHCI enabled so I get TRIM support. The motherboard has the latest BIOS version NBG4310H.86A.0104.2010.0122.1624 that was released on January 22, 2010.

 

[GhislainG]

If you recently purchased that motherboard, then it's under warranty and you can contact Intel for support.

 

[techguy378]

Unfortunately, Intel can't seem to get their online warranty support section on their website to work either and the phone number on their website is always busy when I call it. That's why I'm asking for help here.

 

[tcsenter]

You need to narrow the possibilities a little. Try installing in IDE or RAID mode instead of AHCI. If you still have problems, then start swapping out RAM modules or try another SSD. In the end, it may be a defective component, which nobody here will be able to help you with (we aren't an RMA Department).

 

[techguy378]

The memory and SSD I'm using came from an older Intel DP35DP (P35 nb/ICH9R sb) motherboard I've been using for more than a year with no problems. I upgraded to the Intel DP43TF motherboard because it was supposed to have full support for AHCI mode when doing an EFI install of an operating system, unlike the Intel DP35DP motherboard. Does anyone know the device ID I could use to enable support for Intel's AHCI driver on the ICH10 base southbridge? I know it's possible to edit the INF files for Intel's storage driver to enable AHCI support on their non RAID southbridge chipsets, I just don't know which device ID to use for the ICH10 base southbridge.

 

[techguy378]

BTW, I was able to install Windows 7 in IDE mode on the DP43TF motherboard just fine, but I need AHCI mode to work so I can get TRIM support for my SSD. I don't want the massive performance drop that occurs without TRIM support.

 

[ilnmtlbnm]

Why don't you enable AHCI after having installed Win 7 in IDE mode?
You have to enable in win7 the AHCI support first by editing the :
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci in regedit
and setting the "Start" to 0.
And then reboot and enable it in the bios.

 

[tcsenter]

TRIM doesn't depend on AHCI.