No AHCI option in BIOS

[JJimmyJ]

Hello

Finally picked up a crucial M4 SSD (thanks overclockers).
I've installed it on a 5yr old laptop, and I know this is not the best use for it, but it will hopefully give me a few more years out of it, then I can put the SSD into my desktop.
Everything is installed (windows 7 32bit) and running fine, but I'm trying to tweak it to get it running faster. I've disabled system restore, page files etc etc, but the one change I'm stuck on is the AHCI switch.
My laptop is an ASUS F3JP (like I say, old). The bios does not have an option for AHCI. I've checked the registry however, and there is an entry for AHCI which is set to 3.
Questions:
If I change the reg entry for AHCI to = 0 and my chipset doesn't support it, how can I log back in to change it back?
I have all my drivers up to date from the Asus website. Can I update my chipset driver from Intel? It's a 945 mobile chipset (or something like that)

Thanks

 

[nathanc]

Simply put, you won't get AHCI on that laptop... the chipset is too old.
Just make sure you leave the machine idle every once in a while so there is enough time for the drive's garbage collection to run - (ensure your plugged in power plan doesn't put the laptop to sleep).

 

[JJimmyJ]

Thanks for reply.
I've been doing a lot of reading on this, and I've found that my chipset does actually support AHCI, but the bios Asus provided doesn't have the options.
I'm now after a bios mod to try and gain the option so I can then use the AHCI drivers.
I usually use ccleaner quite regularly to clear the garbage, so TRIM shouldn't be an issue.
Why do manufactures lock out bios options? It limits hardware that a customer has bought.