Which SATA Mode in Bios for XP ?

neoglow · 26 May 2011 at 20:12

Ok,

Can anybody please explain what Enhanced and Compatible Modes mean for the SATA connections in the Bios ?

Im doing a fresh XP SP2 install AGAIN and want to get it right without any BSOD or corrupt this, missing that rubbish that windows spits back at me. (rant over).

Mobo is an Asus P5KPL-AM EPU.
1x SATA HDD
1x SATA DVDR

Im being told mixed things, that Enhanced means AHCI, but it cant be as the board has the Intel ICH7 chipset which is not AHCI capable.

Or Enhanced means SATA native, not AHCI.

Is it possible to install XP in Compatible mode (which Im told is bascially SATA emulating IDE mode so Windows can see the drive) and then change it to Enhanced once the Chipset drivers are installed?

Im so confused, the manual is no use at all, it says 'Compatible' is compatible mode and 'Enhanced' is Enhanced mode......ya think!?! Thats great, but what does that mean?

neoglow · 26 May 2011 at 21:58

Nobody....

Nobody has built a system with a SATA HDD, configured SATA in the Bios and installed XP ???

I just need to know what Enhanced and Compatible means and which to choose to install XP. Ive had a headache week with 2 - yes 2 - parts to be RMA'd.

Werewolf · 26 May 2011 at 22:18

I think you may find it easiest to, from memory install the SATA drive as compatible IDE in the bios, it's been a few years since I last setup an XP based machine from scratch.

Surveyor · 26 May 2011 at 22:19

neoglow said:
Nobody....

Nobody has built a system with a SATA HDD, configured SATA in the Bios and installed XP ???

Less than 2 hours and you're getting impatient.

I've built a lot of systems with Windows XP and SATA HDD's.

I've just never had a motherboard which described the SATA connection as Enhanced or Compatible.

From what I've Googled Compatible Mode acts as if your drive would be connected through the old IDE-cable instead of the SATA-cable. You get the benefit of the smaller cable, but you do lose all other extra functionality provided by SATA that improves performance like Native Command Queuing and the like.

Enhanced Mode is simply the full use of the SATA-standard, so the SATA-cable combined with all extra features.

neoglow · 26 May 2011 at 22:49

Surveyor said:
Less than 2 hours and you're getting impatient.

It drives me bonkers not having a working pc, im at work at the mo

Surveyor said:
Enhanced Mode is simply the full use of the SATA-standard, so the SATA-cable combined with all extra features.

I dont want to bork the XP install by using this but you think it will work ok? And if I install XP on compatible mode can I change to enhanced after?

Surveyor · 27 May 2011 at 08:17

neoglow said:
It drives me bonkers not having a working pc, im at work at the mo

I dont want to bork the XP install by using this but you think it will work ok? And if I install XP on compatible mode can I change to enhanced after?

You realise that in the time you've waited for an answer you could have installed XP several times over.

Just install XP with the BIOS set to enhanced mode. You'll soon find out if it works or not. If it doesn't just install again using compatability mode.

dovey · 27 May 2011 at 09:20

Compatible mode should not require sata drivers when you install windows. The full mode will probably require a floppy disk/usb with the sata drivers during install to detect the hard disks.

Tekgun · 27 May 2011 at 10:03

What Dovey said, during the installation windows will ask if you want to install additional drivers to press F6, or you can Slipstream the drivers and anything else like service packs using nLite.

neoglow · 29 May 2011 at 00:18

All done now

Cheers for replies guys.

Heres something funny which just goes to show how Mobo manufacturers make these boards and sometimes not tell you what the hell some Bios settings mean.

I used Compatible mode in the Bios for the SATA HDD and SATA DVDR.

Used the same old XP SP2 Pro cd I have used a thousand times, DID NOT use the F6 during installation, XP install found the HDD, formatted it and installed XP. Got into Windows for the first time and did a restart WITHOUT installing the chipset/audio/lan drivers just yet.

Entered Bios, changed 'Compatible' mode to 'Enhanced' mode for the SATA and restarted expecting it to BSOD or Disk boot error and.......worked fine! Straight back into XP, did another restart to see if the Bios had automatically changed itself back to Compatible. Nope, still on Enhanced.

So, back into Windows, checked ATA/ATAPI in device manager and it didnt show the chipset drivers, I cant remember what it said but it definatley wasnt the Intel ICH7 SATA driver.

Installed the drivers for chipset/audio/lan. Lotsa reboots and has been working ever since. Device manager now shows Intel ICH7.

So, go figure. Basically Compatible and Enhanced seems to mean nothing with an XP install. Why cant they just explain this stuff in manuals???

ns400r · 29 May 2011 at 01:57

neoglow said:
All done now

Cheers for replies guys.

Heres something funny which just goes to show how Mobo manufacturers make these boards and sometimes not tell you what the hell some Bios settings mean.

I used Compatible mode in the Bios for the SATA HDD and SATA DVDR.

Used the same old XP SP2 Pro cd I have used a thousand times, DID NOT use the F6 during installation, XP install found the HDD, formatted it and installed XP. Got into Windows for the first time and did a restart WITHOUT installing the chipset/audio/lan drivers just yet.

Windows has the drivers needed for you chipset to work in both modes already.

Entered Bios, changed 'Compatible' mode to 'Enhanced' mode for the SATA and restarted expecting it to BSOD or Disk boot error and.......worked fine! Straight back into XP, did another restart to see if the Bios had automatically changed itself back to Compatible. Nope, still on Enhanced.

Why would the BIOS change the mode? It doesn't care what Windows reports.

So, back into Windows, checked ATA/ATAPI in device manager and it didnt show the chipset drivers, I cant remember what it said but it definatley wasnt the Intel ICH7 SATA driver.

Wouldn't, you haven't installed the drivers at this point.

Installed the drivers for chipset/audio/lan. Lotsa reboots and has been working ever since. Device manager now shows Intel ICH7.

Because you installed the drivers.

So, go figure. Basically Compatible and Enhanced seems to mean nothing with an XP install. Why cant they just explain this stuff in manuals???

Nothing funny there.