How to enable AHCI/RAID mode without reinstalling windows (P35/ICH9/ICH9R)

[Supershanks]

Once the OS was up and running, then enable AHCI on the ICH8R controller, boot and install the drivers as requested by the OS

You appear to be uniquely fortunate.

The main point of this thread is to help many people who :-
1) install xp as you did with sata access set to the default IDE.
2) Upon enabling AHCI/RAID access mode in bios , any attempt to boot the os fails.
So

boot and install the drivers as requested by the OS

isn't an option.
3) The only previous way round this was to select the required sata access & then reinstall windows.

[IAmATeaf]

You appear to be uniquely fortunate.

The main point of this thread is to help many people who :-
1) install xp as you did with sata access set to the default IDE.
2) Upon enabling AHCI/RAID access mode in bios , any attempt to boot the os fails.
So isn't an option.
3) The only previous way round this was to select the required sata access & then reinstall windows.

Think you've missed the point of my post mate

I initially installed XP Pro with the drives connected to the Jmicron/GigaRAID ports on my DS3P, these were set to run in normal IDE mode. I then enabled AHCI on the ICH8R ports so the drives were still connected to the GigaRAID ports. On boot up XP finds new devices so I installed the drivers and did a reboot, then shutdown and moved the drives over onto the ICH8R ports which are now running in AHCI mode.

The reason I did the above was I didn't have a floppy disk drive on my rig at the time so couldn't do the F6, install drivers thing. I've actually done the above now twice as I reinstalled the OS for different reasons and it worked both times.

[gLk*zaP]

The way you did it IamATeaf works of course. This guide is meant for people who have installed Windows on a drive connected to a ICH8/9 port, not for other controllers. Because then you cant just enable it in the BIOS and install the driver, Windows wont boot.

[Supershanks]

The way I did it on my DS3P was to initially connect my drives to the GigaRAID controller

right sorry didn't get the sifnificance of GigaRAID controller=Jmicron (common name for all 965 p35 etc).

Bit of a circuitous route but yep a clever way round not having afloppy.

[EtheAv8r]

OK here are my experiences last night of setting up Intel Matrix Raid on my QuadGT for the first time, which seems to have been successfully achieved thanks to the help from the initial post guide by gLk*zaP and additional help and advice from Supershanks.

Environment: Windows XP Pro 32bit installed on a ‘standard’ 320 SATA II hard drive connected to SATA1 of the ICH8R.

Configuration: I moved the existing 320Gb drive to SATA5, and installed two new Samsung HD501LJ 500 Gb SATA II drives and connected them to SATA1 and SATA2 on the ICH8R (actually I installed four, but only connected two for starters).

I followed gLk*zaP guide – section 3 “Activating AHCI/RAID mode on mainboards with ICH8(R) southbridge”

I downloaded:-

Intel Storage Manager Software (iata621_enu.exe) - This is an English only version of the installer – at ¼ of the size of the International version it is quite a lot smaller). All versions are available from http://downloadcenter.intel.com/filt...bmit=Go%21 including appropriate F6 floppy drive installer diskette creation utilities for each version.

I also downloaded the 7.5.0.1015 version, and the Registry fix for ICH8(R): http://www.jzelectronic.de/jz2/Download2/ICH8R-RAID.reg

1. I ran iata621_enu.exe -a –a “This will appear to run as normal setup, but will actually just extract the needed files to \Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager\Driver” and then copied iaStor.sys from there to \Windows\System32\Drivers\.

2. Double-clicked the downloaded ICH8R-RAID.reg file and updated the Registry.

3. Rebooted the system. Go directly into the BIOS menu, change SATA controller mode from IDE to RAID. Exit & Save changes.

4. Boot into windows….. . well it didn’t – it instead displayed “No Boot Device Available, Insert Boot Media and press Any Key to Continue” type message…..

5. Soo…… I powered down…. And powered on again and then hit Ctrl/I during POST to load the Intel Storage Manager Option ROM. Here I Created a RAID Volume by selecting the two new 500Gb Drives and specifying that I wanted it to be RAID 0 and 300Gb in size (this leaves the rest to be configured as the RAID 1 Volume later and is all clearly explained on screen). Intel actually provide an excellent guide on how to do this, and how to use the GUI Matrix Storage Manager Console here: http://www.intel.com/support/chipset.../CS-020670.htm. I then found that the system went on to boot OK from the original Windows drive (the RAID disks are of course empty).

6. It detected new hardware, so as per gLk*zaP’s guide I cancelled that wizard.

7. I then decided to install the 7.5 full installation of the Intel Matrix Manager, rather than the 6.2.1 version, and this will have updated the drivers also – I figured that if it did not work I could revert to 621, but as Supershanks had reported he is using 7.5 without issues, I thought I would give it a try. Having run the installer and following the subsequent reboot….. It all seems to work!

8. I created a RAID 1 Volume on the remaining space and am now playing – checking performance with HD-Tune etc. it is so easy to re-configure with different Volume sizes and quickly test, that I am going to dabble to get the best size for optimum RAID 0 performance across the entire volume (thanks for that tip Supershanks) before committing to build my operational system.

So gLk*zaP if you just add the step in your guide to create a RAID volume during POST following installation of the full Intel Matrix Storage Manager, in order to be able to boot to Windows on the original non RAID drive connected to the ICH8R – you have a perfect guide.

gLk*zaP and Supershanks - Thanks again guys!

[Supershanks]

Glad it worked out ok EtheAv8r
I've not had to start with an ide based xp install, so good to see that it can work.
I'm not sure what step 5) did, & why you couldn't boot to xp install. But no matter it worked

Thanks for the feedback

[IAmATeaf]

The way you did it IamATeaf works of course. This guide is meant for people who have installed Windows on a drive connected to a ICH8/9 port, not for other controllers. Because then you cant just enable it in the BIOS and install the driver, Windows wont boot.

It should work this way too, you just need to move the drives over to the Jmicron first, let the system boot up so that any config changes are made, then shutdown, change the ICH8R to AHCI, boot up and install the drivers, then shutdown and move the drives back onto the ICH8R. This is infact what I did the very first time I installed the OS on my system.

[EtheAv8r]

Glad it worked out ok EtheAv8r
I've not had to start with an ide based xp install, so good to see that it can work.
I'm not sure what step 5) did, & why you couldn't boot to xp install. But no matter it worked

Thanks for the feedback

Well I may have spoken too soon.... Tonight system would not boot - Could not find system disk.... went into BIOS and set back to IDE from RAID.... still boot system disk. Moved the HD with the Windows OS up to the top of the boot list, and this time it has booted up....

Will continue to investigate.....

[Supershanks]

Sounds like it may have just lost boot order for some reason. Do you use a usb drive??
With a lot of drives connected i find it better to just have the drives with an os in the boot order, changing the other drives to disabled (this just means disabled from boooting)

[EtheAv8r]

Sounds like it may have just lost boot order for some reason. Do you use a usb drive??
With a lot of drives connected i find it better to just have the drives with an os in the boot order, changing the other drives to disabled (this just means disabled from boooting)

Yes that seems to be it. I have now reset SATA Mode to RAID with the non raid OS disk at top of boot order at it came up OK.

I do not us a USB drive.

Reconfigured the RAID array in the ROM as all RAID 0 to run HD Tune - performance fall off does not start until 85%. - average is 92.5 MB/Sec with 101 Max and 76 Min. I could try with all 4 disks with RAID0 / Raid 5 Matrix (RAID 10) - which will no doubt give faster RAID0 performance, but I figure running two separate RAID 0 arrays, one with OS/Apps (eg FSX) on and the FSX Photo Scenery (Generation X) on the other will actually yeald faster performance two each running at 92 MB/Sec each providing their own data, rather than one running at maybe 110 or ever 120 but providing all data?

Good luck with the move

[Supershanks]

That's the thing that't enjoyable tailoring it to best suite your needs.

Good luck with the move

Cheers, all just about done. Pc is last thing to pack
early start 5:30 in am.

see how long i'm off air ordered a dialup modem to see me over while bt & service provider get their act together

luck with raid

[gLk*zaP]

It should work this way too, you just need to move the drives over to the Jmicron first, let the system boot up so that any config changes are made, then shutdown, change the ICH8R to AHCI, boot up and install the drivers, then shutdown and move the drives back onto the ICH8R. This is infact what I did the very first time I installed the OS on my system.

Hmm actually not a bad idea Will give that a try later today, thanks for the hint!

[EtheAv8r]

OK, I have done LOTS of testing, and it seems you do not need to create a RAID array as I thouight in my post above - the reason it did not boot and could not find a boot disk is simple - if the original pre-RAID boot disk is not at the top of the hard disk boot sequence - it won't. And making changes to the BIOS RAID setting or adding hard disks etc will result in boot sequence changes.

[Troyboy101]

Hello. I have a concern. I have presumed that this is my issue as well. I have the Intel motherboard D915PBL and ever since I installed the Windows Vista Ultimate on my Maxtor SATA II 7200 hard drive, I have been getting the BSOD with error stop 8086. I have been to Experts-Exchange with this issue and submitted several HijackThis files (after each 8086 BSOD incident, averaging one per night) to the experts to determine my issues. They have arrived to the fact that it is my iastor.sys file that seems to be causing the problems. I WISH, WISH, WISH, I could just get the latest Version 7.5 of the Intel® Matrix Storage Manager Intel has and install it on Vista Ultimate and be done!!! It states it has the fix regarding this issue. However, I cannot and I am stuck! With this motherboard, I have the ICH6R Intel Storage Controller Hub (specifically, Intel 82801 FR I/O Controller Hub using the ACHI non-RAID controller). The last driver update Intel has released for this controller was version 7.0.0.1020 this past May. Therefore I am screwed trying to fix this problem with Windows Vista on this motherboard. Intel no longer supports this motherboard and considers it "mature". It is like I am caught in the middle and now Intel has let me go. To end this problem, I have downgraded back to Windows XP and so far had only one BSOD error right after I installed the OS. I used the F6 process with the old floppy drive Intel Application Accelerator during installation. I selected the driver ACHI from the options to install during the F6 process. Then after that BSOD 8086 (after XP was installed), I immediately installed version 7.0.0.1020 and things are now fine. It appears that this latest driver took care of Windows XP, but cannnot fix Vista. Any suggestions? I have read websites indicating that the 8086 error is somehow related to this Intel® Matrix Storage Manager Link Power Management (LPM) registry settings as Intel has published. Yes, they provide that fix in an update that I cannot install with my ICH6R. I am not a computer genius, but could someone please CLEARLY DETAIL THE STEPS with the registry tweak the Flying Nerd has shown at The Flying Nerd » Intel RAID problem under Windows Vista.The Flying Nerd » Intel RAID problem under Windows Vista[/url]. I feel I have to try alternatives now. Maybe by changing the registry in Windows Vista, I will be able to fix this 8086 error. Some people have had success with it. Maybe I can too. Please clearly detail in a comment the appropriate registry fix steps for me with Vista. Also, any suggestions are much appreciated too. PLEASE REPLY! THANK YOU!

[this_is_gav]

How about manually installing the latest driver through Device Manager (latest files ready extracted from the floppy install thingy here), or manually select these during the Vista install (you can use a USB stick if you wish)? Or if you can, set the SATA mode to 'IDE' rather than 'ACPI' in the BIOS?

The problem I think you've got is that for ICH6(R) the drivers are built into Vista, so updating them could prove difficult if Intel don't update them.

[Marmot]

Hi,
I had forgotten all about this issue when I built this new system.
I now remember having to choose RAID for an SATA drive on my A7N8X-E Deluxe (which also has a floppy drive!).

I don't mean to sound so stupid, (so please, no smart responses)
but can I just clarify this please?
I installed XP on an SATA drive with BIOS set to IDE.
Consequently the drive information is not under SCSI & RAID controllers in System Properties
as on my A7N8X. Instead I get drive info as if it's an IDE drive with UDMA etc. Is this what everyone sees?

After doing a headless chicken for hours, thinking I'd completely messed up the install, I was about to do a fresh XP install on what was a nicely running system, when I read this thread. Thanks!!!
I only have a single SATAII WD drive. If I follow these instructions from GLk*zaP, will the system then recognise the drive as an SATAII ? Also, will the rear E-SATA ports work and recognise an external drive ?

gLk*zaP said; "2. Now i am not sure which registry fix you are supposed to use for Raid mode and 32-bit XP.
Either the old ICH8R or the ICH9R. I have to rely on feedback from other users here."

Has anyone tried one of these fixes for ICH9R & WinXP, and did you get a file when you clicked his link, or a page of reg code like I did? I would also be grateful for feedback re: if it works.

(By the way, I'm sure I read on the Asus site that AHCI doesn't work with ICH9, can anyone confirm that?)

Cheers,
M