Seriously? No AHCI mode in bios on new HP laptop? Help

newUser8776

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So I just bought a new laptop (HP DV7t-7000) and a new SSD (120g OCZ Agility 3) to install in it as the boot drive because everyone here says it is the best ever and I cave to peer pressure.

I'm about to begin the SSD install process, and I can't find an option to turn on AHCI mode in the bios settings, which everyone says is step 1. I went toHP support and the low-level tech support guy I talk to says "Oh, HP Laptops can't do AHCI mode." This seems odd to me, as when I purchased the laptop, one of the drive options was an SSD. So I imagine this rig could support an SSD if it really wanted to.

So Help! How do I enable AHCI mode in bios if it doesn't appear to be a bios option? Is there some fix somewhere I can download?

And if AHCI "isn't an option" for some insane reason, will the SSD still work or is it going to be less stable/dramatically slower? Am I just screwed?

Thanks
 
Solution


I sympathize with your frustration with HP and OCZ.
HP for not allowing AHCI bios options.
OCZ for not allowing their...
Sorry, but you can't enable AHCI mode if your motherboard's BIOS doesn't support it.
Yes, your drive's performance will be slower but it will not be less stable.

You should still notice a difference in performance compared to using a hard drive.
 

newUser8776

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1) Will trim still work? And by slower will it be noticeably slower in the real world? Or just benchmark slOwer?

2) in doing some research it appears the problem may be that HP just locks down the bios options and some have found some bios hacks to turn on options including ahci.... How bad of an idea is it to try to mess with my bios using this method?
http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-pavilion-notebooks/393606-insyde-bios-modding-dv4-dv5-dv6-dv7-least-23.html
 
1.)Yes, TRIM will work. The drive will be real-world slower but it will be mainly benchmark slower. SSDs have access times (latency) that are 10 times faster than a hard drive, and access times are the same regardless of what SATA mode the SSD is in.

2.) BIOS hacks are not for novices. I personally wouldn't do it unless I had the disposable income to buy another laptop in case I mod my laptop incorrectly and brick it.
If you attempt to mod the BIOS read the directions multiple times and follow instructions exactly.
 


Go ahead, and install your ssd without AHCI and enjoy.
It will absolutely transform the performance of your laptop.

The ssd will work just fine, but the "trim" command will not be passed to the ssd.
In normal operations, you will see no difference.
But, as the SSD becomes near full, the difference can be considerable.
What trim does is free up nand blocks without requiring a read/rewrite sequence when data is deleted.
A ssd will have some sort of garbage collection capabilities that will do this in the background, and at inactive times.
This will be effective enough until the ssd gets closer to full.
On a 120gb ssd, you will have about 110gb useable. If your drive is filled past 90gb, then just exchange it for a larger unit.

I would not try to mess with the bios for negligible benefits.
 


Good news. Can you provide a link?
I have had great difficulty in finding current authoratative info on the subject.

While all modern ssd's have the trim capability, it is the job of the os and the sata controller driver to get the command passed to the ssd.

Some OS'es, paticularly older ones may not generate the trim command as part of the i/o command list command in the first place.

Then, it will depends on what sata controller chip is being used, and whether or not, the chip driver has the capability of passing the trim command to the ssd.

It is a moot point for the OP since he will do fine with or without trim.
 

newUser8776

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I guess I feel like I'm getting more confused. You guys are saying "it will work without trim" but at the same time "Once the hard drive starts to get full, then you're screwed and need to buy a new hard drive." So if I fill up my 120 gig drive to about 100 gig, and then delete 20 gigs worth, am i still screwed and need to get a new drive? or once I go back down it is ok again?
 


Do not get turned off by all this. A SSD is great.

If you do not have trim, there are utilities that you can run to reset the ssd so that empty nand blocks are again easily available.

I would caution you to not plan on using 100gb of a 120gb drive. Even with trim, the ssd will have to work harder managing a very small pool of available space.
 

newUser8776

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Ok, thanks. What utility do you recommend I use to run trim from time to time? and how often should I use that utility? (Basically, would I use it with the frequency i would normally run Defrag with an HDD)?
 


Go to the OCZ web site to download their particular utility. The utilities are particular to the brand and perhaps model. They probably have some sort of frequency recommendation. Until the drive is 60% full, I would guess once a week. As it gets closer to 80%, I think daily.
 

newUser8776

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Well, here's the ironic part. I did go to OCZ's website to download the "tool kit" for my SSD. But when i run the tool kit program, it fails to recognize any SSD's are attached to the system because... sigh... none of the drives are running AHCI.. :pt1cable:
And no toolkit, means no manual trim program, right? So I assume that means I'm back to the SSD won't work very long before I face problems?

I just find it impossible to believe that on a brand new relatively high-end HP gaming laptop, there isn't a way to use an SSD correctly. I mean, if I were upgrading an old system, sure. But it's 2012! Sigh.
 


I sympathize with your frustration with HP and OCZ.
HP for not allowing AHCI bios options.
OCZ for not allowing their utility ro run when the ssd is attached in IDE mode. That is the primary scenario where you would want to run the utility for trim cleanup anyway.

I guess that is one of the reasons for high return rates for OCZ:
http://www.behardware.com/articles/862-7/components-returns-rates-6.html

What to do??

Assuming you can't return the ssd, live with it.
No doubt, you have already seen how much faster your laptop now is.
Just monitor your drive capacity. If you notice any loss of performance as the drive fills, then clone it to a replacement.
 
Solution
newUser8776 & geofelt, I apologize for the misinformation and any confusion on my end.
The thread I read was from an OCZ forum moderator, not an official OCZ staff member.
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?80450-IDE-mode-Win-7-Agility-SSD-TRIM

So geofelt is correct, TRIM is not supported in IDE mode.

TRIM is also not supported to any drives that are part of a RAID array.
I have had two Vertex 2 drives in RAID-0 since 2009 without any performance problems.
I Log Off (not Shut down) overnight once every other week or so to allow idle Garbage Collection to maintain drive performance.

 

newUser8776

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I think I could still return the SSD within the next week or so. If I can do that, is there a different SSD I could get that would work well with trim under IDE? or is it all basically teh same problem. AHCI is the way to go for everyone?
 
I think it is the same issue. The question is, is there a utility that will handle an IDE attached ssd for cleanup. I think the Intel toolbox will. At least it did when I used it some time ago.

You might research on some intel ssd forums to verify that.
 

newUser8776

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Good news- I emailed OCZ support and they got back to me. Apparently, their recommendation that one enable AHCI is only a recommendation and not a requirement. So that it should still work in IDE, and that trim should still work in IDE. But even if Windows Trim doesn't work, it has some built in garbage collection to handle it and not to worry.

So i'll give it a shot and see how it goes.

Thanks all
 


Doubtless OCZ produce support knows their product.
I think they are correct that trim will work when attached to a sata port in IDE mode. The problem is, I think that there are no IDE drivers that will pass the trim command to the ssd.

No matter. just keep tabs on your space usage, and see if you notice any performance issue.
 

newUser8776

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I was able to get everything installed correctly and then used Paragon Migrate 2.0 to copy over my HDD to my new SSD and everything works like a dream. Windows at least claims trim is working and things seem to be moving very very fast. Thanks all for you input. I will officially stop worrying about this.
 

MyDNA

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I know this thread is old, and the question is marked as solved, however i would like to provide further info for anyone who comes accross this issue and find the solution is unsatisfactory in their situation.

For HP Pavilion dv6 dv7 made in 2009-2010 till about 2013, so i believe, if the AHCI drivers are installed for the Intel chipset, then the HDD controller will be in AHCI mode.

However, for AMD based motherboards and at least for Samsung SSD such as the 840 or 850 EVO or Pro models, the sata/raid drivers from AMD do not function for their SSD's. Samsung recommends not to install the AMD sata drivers, but use generic microsoft drivers that get installed by default when installing Windows. If AMD drivers are installed and enabled, you will get an error message stating that the SSD can not communicate with the HDD controller. In this case simply uninstall the AMD SATA controller in Device Manager > expand IDE Controllers, right click the first top AMD SATA controller and choose "uninstall". Reboot and microsoft's generic HDD controllers should be installed and fix the above error.

To check if the HDD controller is running in AHCI mode, go to Control Panel > Device Manager and expand IDE Controllers. For intel chipsets there should be "AHCI" mentioned with the chipset name of the controller e.g., "Intel® 5 Series Chipset SATA\AHCI controller ... " For Intel chipsets, Intel "Rapid Storage Technology" [RST] drivers from intel install and enable AHCI SATA controllers [or RAID if that's what you want/need and for other reasons/applications than what were are discussing here].

So, for Intel chipsets go to www.intel.com and download the latest Intel RST driver for your motherboard's chipset model and Windows type [32 bit or 64 bit... this is very important for you can not install 32bit RST on Win x64 and visa-versa] and then install it to have AHCI mode.

BTW, with the RST driver, there's also a utility that's installed, which runs in the taskbar near the clock. This tool can also tell you if AHCI or RAID is enabled and functioning. It can also be used to controll/enable/disable certain RST functions. I can not recall its name, though.
 

indian messiah

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I am using the HP DV9500 (year 2007 release) Intel core 2 duo , a 2014 SSD ( Brand Transcend) works fine. able to use Trim. garbage collection also works I am sure other brand SSDs will work as well.