IP35 Pro & AHCI

[ibeme99]

I have an IP35 Pro that I want to enable AHCI on (currently running IDE mode). OS is WinXP SP3 so that I can run an eSATA external drive (and hot swap it). I may also want to install an SSD drive.

So apparently, I need AHCI enabled but as I understand it, I need the AHCI drivers installed before enabling AHCI in the BIOS or Windows will blue screen.

Some claim that it is necessary to do a complete OS reinstall in WinXP to change from IDE to AHCI. However, I have some saved posts from the old ABIT forums where some claimed that an OS reinstall was not necessary to enable AHCI.

For example:
======
Re: AHCI IP35 pro
I got it worked 8) . Here is how i did it.

Download the files and extract to a floppy

In device manager, click on the SATA Controller (there are two, choose the one end with #1) and select install from specific location, then select Have Disk, select your floppy, and in the list of showed drivers, pick Intel ICH9 SATA AHCI Controller.

Finish installation and and reboot, go to bios, change to AHCI and save.

Reboot again..it should work 8) After install AHCI, you can install Intel Matrix Storage manager. But i doubt if you need it. Post here if you have problems.

BTW, i think my computer is more responsive now..yeehaa
==========

I am not sure WHAT files the guy above downloaded from Intel, but I guessed that it might be something to do with ICH9, so I went searching for that and came up with this:

 www downloadcenter.intel.com/SearchResult.aspx?lang=eng&keyword=%22ICH9+SATA+AHCI+Controller%22

I downloaded the latest version driver and then tried to install it. But it failed to install with a message that "this computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing this software", sigh.

Can anyone help with this problem?

[ABIT Sean]

The file he is refering is the 2k/XP SATA install files. Should still be able to get them from the abit website. Listed as Intel RAID/AHCI installation disk.

http://www.abit.com.tw/page/en/downl...ET_TYPE=LGA775

Hope this helps.

[ibeme99]

The file he is refering is the 2k/XP SATA install files. Should still be able to get them from the abit website. Listed as Intel RAID/AHCI installation disk.

Hope this helps.

I downloaded:

Intel RAID/AHCI Installation Disk
v7.5.0.1017
www abit.com.tw/page/en/download/download_driver_detail.php

Upon upzipping, I see:

2kxp2003
32BIT
IAAHCI.CAT
IAAHCI.INF
IASTOR.CAT
IASTOR.INF
IASTOR.SYS

This looks like it is designed to be used as part of the F6 driver load during a system build. There are no executables in this zipped file.

So I tried right-clicking on the .INF files and doing an INSTALL that way. Then I rebooted. But I can't see that anything was actually installed.

Any other ideas?

[ibeme99]

So nobody has any ideas to share on this?

[ibeme99]

ABIT is dead as a doorknob. Most people have probably traded out to other mobo's by now. I guess I am going to have to do so myself if I want to use AHCI mode.

The USA forum was very robust. Is Hexus the only English lang ABit forum left?

[cmos]

Sorry this board wont let me post url. Go to ocztechnologyforum.com and search for ACHI, there is a thread on how to enable ACHI without a reinstall.

[ibeme99]

Sorry this board wont let me post url. Go to ocztechnologyforum.com and search for ACHI, there is a thread on how to enable ACHI without a reinstall.

Thanks. I'll poke around there.