3

I just changed my disk setup from:

1 SATA HDD Primary OS Disk 2x SATA HDD Backup Disks in RAID 1

TO:

1 SATA SSD Primary OS Disk 1 SATA HDD Backup Disk [No RAID]

Everything worked great, no problem. So, since I don't have a RAID array anymore, I decided that I could change my BIOS setting to AHCI instead of RAID. I have a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R v1.0 mobo.

These are my steps:

  1. Settings > Integrated Peripherals > "SATA RAID/AHCI Mode" = RAID --> Changed this setting to AHCI
  2. Reboot
  3. Windows Start screen shows up, but as the color orbs are spinning into focus, BSOD and immediate restart
  4. Repeated reboot several times, same outcome

Next Step:

  1. Launch BIOS settings
  2. Integrated Peripherals > "Onboard SATA/IDE Ctrl Mode" = RAID --> Changed this setting to AHCI
  3. Reboot
  4. Windows Start screen shows up, but as the color orbs are spinning into focus, BSOD and immediate restart
  5. Repeated reboot several times, same outcome

Switch both settings back to RAID, reboot, and Windows starts up just fine, no issues.

What am I missing? Why can't I set it to AHCI mode without BSODs?

Nate Koppenhaver
  • 3,649
thephatp
  • 183

3 Answers3

1

According to the specs, your motherboard has an additional SATA controller besides the one in the ICH9 chipset. The simplest thing to do would be:

  • Move the drive over to that other SATA controller. Windows already knows about that controller and has installed the drivers for it, so it should be able to boot from it.
  • Switch the ICH9's controller to AHCI mode. From the operating system's standpoint, this looks like removing one PCI device and adding a different one. Windows will detect the "new" hardware and install the driver for it.
  • Move the drive back to the ICH9's AHCI controller. Now that Windows has the driver installed, it should be able to boot from it.
Wyzard
  • 6,472
0

You need to install the driver for AHCI. Windows can use the drive when it is a basic mode of operation, but will BSOD when it uses it in a more advanced mode after it completes the first stage of booting.

I wish I could remember what those modes were called... It would add more credibility to this answer.

psyklopz
  • 158
-2

You can't change to AHCI after you have already installed windows. Clean installation is necessary here. Sorry. There are a couple other ways besides a clean install, but they aren't very safe.

Forrest
  • 1