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Tricky SATA drivers problem
Posted on 2011-03-10
This was my scenario when 'downgrading' an Inspiron 1525 from Vista to XP Pro:
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/18978137/19101123.aspx
I had to try the 'easy way', since the hard way failed for me. All appears to be fine now, but of course i'm left in ATA mode, when i'd like to be in AHCI mode. I tried to install the correct SATA drivers, but when switching back to AHCI, i get a very early BSOD and an endless reboot cycle. Certainly the aforementioned
"if you switch to AHCI in the future windows will crash."
is the case. But i was hoping for a different result since the correct drivers are theoretically in the system. I'm hoping i haven't got a bootstrapping problem here, in that in order to install the drivers properly, ahci needs to be enabled and i need to be in Windows ...
http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/p/18978137/19101123.aspx
I had to try the 'easy way', since the hard way failed for me. All appears to be fine now, but of course i'm left in ATA mode, when i'd like to be in AHCI mode. I tried to install the correct SATA drivers, but when switching back to AHCI, i get a very early BSOD and an endless reboot cycle. Certainly the aforementioned
"if you switch to AHCI in the future windows will crash."
is the case. But i was hoping for a different result since the correct drivers are theoretically in the system. I'm hoping i haven't got a bootstrapping problem here, in that in order to install the drivers properly, ahci needs to be enabled and i need to be in Windows ...
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While you can switch Vista and Windows 7 from IDE mode to AHCI mode rather easily (a single registry value change does it for Windows 7 for example), it's unfortunately not that simple for XP. You have to install it in AHCI mode -- i.e. the "hard way" in the link you discussed above (not sure why it failed for you).
The good news is there's really very little difference between the performance of IDE vs. AHCI modes, unless you're running the laptop as a server. There are really only two key differences between the modes: AHCI allows "hot swapping" of your drive [VERY unlikely this is a factor with a laptop :-) ], and AHCI provides native command queueing (e.g. "elevator seeks") -- not likely of any importance in typical desktop use.
However ... you CAN switch your system to AHCI without re-installing. Just CAREFULLY follow the instructions outlined here: http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=444831 EXCEPT you'll need the driver for your laptop's SATA controller instead of the one referenced. This is the one you need: http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&releaseid=R182441&SystemID=INS_PNT_PM_1525&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=11530&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=2&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=0&libid=41&typeid=-1&dateid=-1&formatid=-1&source=-1&fileid=248844
The good news is there's really very little difference between the performance of IDE vs. AHCI modes, unless you're running the laptop as a server. There are really only two key differences between the modes: AHCI allows "hot swapping" of your drive [VERY unlikely this is a factor with a laptop :-) ], and AHCI provides native command queueing (e.g. "elevator seeks") -- not likely of any importance in typical desktop use.
However ... you CAN switch your system to AHCI without re-installing. Just CAREFULLY follow the instructions outlined here: http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=444831 EXCEPT you'll need the driver for your laptop's SATA controller instead of the one referenced. This is the one you need: http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&releaseid=R182441&SystemID=INS_PNT_PM_1525&servicetag=&os=WW1&osl=en&deviceid=11530&devlib=0&typecnt=0&vercnt=2&catid=-1&impid=-1&formatcnt=0&libid=41&typeid=-1&dateid=-1&formatid=-1&source=-1&fileid=248844
Active today
Type regedit in the start box. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, SYSTEM, ControlSet001, Services, msahci.
In the NAME panel to the right select start, right click and select modify from the drop down. Under it set the value data to 0. Select OK.
Restart. Go into the BIOS and enable AHCI. When OS boots it should install AHCI driver"
In the NAME panel to the right select start, right click and select modify from the drop down. Under it set the value data to 0. Select OK.
Restart. Go into the BIOS and enable AHCI. When OS boots it should install AHCI driver"
Active today
Well, you know, the disk seems pretty good anyway, so i might just leave it as ATA after all ;)
Active today
Leaving it as ATA is fine -- as I noted above, there's almost no performance difference. The transfer rate is the same; the access times are the same; etc. The ONLY notable performance benefit of AHCI is the native command queueing ("elevator seeks"), and for a single user system you're not likely to see much benefit from that. Clearly the other benefit of AHCI -- hot swap capability for the drives -- is irrelevant on a laptop.
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