Enabling AHCI on Bios

jaffacaique · 1 Dec 2008 at 11:27

Has anyone tried adjusting the Bios to activate this setting, I have just bought a SATA 2 drive and have noticed this option is now available to select. Motherborad manual very vague hence the request for advice.

Will it have any affect on system performance - good or bad, what are your experiences

rpstewart · 1 Dec 2008 at 11:29

If you're booting from a SATA drive which was installed with the controller in IDE/legacy mode then the machine will BSOD if you change the controller mode to AHCI because it's a different driver which is used for each mode.

The only benefit that you get with AHCI is the ability to hotswap drives which isn't any use for an internal disk.

Vertigo · 1 Dec 2008 at 11:31

And NCQ but that ain't much use either outside a server.

Cyber-Mav · 1 Dec 2008 at 20:33

i use AHCI whenever possible, it has good advantages.
http://expertester.wordpress.com/2008/07/24/ahci-vs-ide-–-benchmark-advantage/

its worth enabling if you know how to do it.

PistolPete · 1 Dec 2008 at 21:17

I managed to do this. You need to "upgrade" the IDE driver to the AHCI supported driver for the motherboard and reboot. At this point it should bluescreen - switch to AHCI mode and Bobs-a-very-close-relative!

jaffacaique · 6 Dec 2008 at 07:58

Hi Thanks for the advice, I tried activating it the bios as previously stated which also unlocked another section after. After activating it the PC would continously reboot, when reverting back to the original settings system returned to normal. I have since found the drivers on the motherboard cdrom and will try them.

If after trying this new feature I find that I want to go back to original setting will I need to unistall the AHCI drivers or can I just switch between them in the bios?

scamartist · 6 Dec 2008 at 08:52

This link may be worth a look http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

AHCI can be enabled after windows has been installed, these instructions are for Vista but I've seen other guides for XP on the tinternet....

helmutcheese · 6 Dec 2008 at 16:57

I have the proper Reg File if your on a Intel Mobo with ICH10 (prob works on 9 also) cause I got BSOD before I got proper Reg File.

Phil2008 · 7 Dec 2008 at 02:45

scamartist said:
This link may be worth a look http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

AHCI can be enabled after windows has been installed, these instructions are for Vista but I've seen other guides for XP on the tinternet....

Thats worked a treat for me and now Im in AHCI mode.. so now its safe to remove my 1tb drive when in windows?? I would have thought the removable thingy would be in the taskbar tray when I enabled the AHCI but no, to be honnest it hasnt altered windows in anyway besided updating a few drivers. You sure its safe now guys to remove the hdd while powered on, or do I need to change something else too?

helmutcheese · 8 Dec 2008 at 01:56

You do not remove (well supposed not to) a HDD that's Policy is Set to Performance in Device Manager.

The greyed out text in the Device Manager explains what each setting does and what are its uses and its benefits.