LAPTOP FOR FOR XP into SATA harddrive running in AHCI or ATA mode. any difference?

DELL

Since you had posted in the past that you were getting a Dell XPS M1330, I'm guessing that you got it. I'd like to start off by saying congrats! The XPS M1330 is one friggin sexy laptop.

The difference between AHCI and ATA mode is the support of hot-swappable drives (irrelevant in notebooks), native command queuing (NCQ), and the use of a flash module as a hard drive cache. You'll probably notice a small performance boost by turning it on.

I'm assuming you are talking about your problem now that you're trying to install WinXP on the laptop and WinXP won't see the ATA drive in AHCI mode. The problem is that WinXP SP2 does not have the SATA drivers pre-loaded. You have three options at this point:

1) Slipstream the SATA drivers onto a WinXP SP2 install CD, and re-burn a new WinXP CD. You can use a program like nLite to help you.

2) Buy an external USB floppy drive, and load the drivers by hitting F6 during WinXP setup.

3) Use the instructions below. The guy who typed these instructions up is a friggin genius. And I hear he's pretty handsome to boot.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=164159



I got AHCI enabled under WinXP!!

• Installed WinXP in ATA mode (not AHCI)
• Did not want to slipstream a WinXP CD
• Did not want to bother with F6 / floppy drive - I don't own an external floppy drive
• Attempting to switch HDD from ATA mode to AHCI mode after WinXP install would result in BSOD

Here's how:
1) Download the Intel Matrix Storage Manager here:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Prod...=2101&lang=eng

2) Once you download the file, run it with a -a switch:
iata76_enu.exe -a
This will NOT install the Matrix Storage Manager. What this will do is run the installer, and ONLY EXTRACT the files to C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager. Again, this does NOT install anything.

3) Your drivers are now located in C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager. They will be found in either \Driver, or \Driver64, depending on whether you're running a 32-bit or 64-bit OS.

4) Go to Device Manager --> IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers. Double-click on the Intel ICH8M 3-port SATA Controller - 2828... remember, *ONLY* click on the device that ends with 2828.

5) Go to Driver tab, and choose to Update Driver.

6) Tell the Wizard prompts:
- No, not this time
- Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)
- Don't Search. I will choose the driver to install.
- Click the "Have Disk" button. Point it to C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager\Driver (or Driver64).
- The driver you want to install for WinXP 32-bit for the Dell XPS M1330 is Intel 82801HEM/HBM SATA AHCI Controller
- After you install the driver and click OK out of every menu, reboot the laptop.

7) During reboot, go into BIOS and turn on AHCI mode and Flash Module

8) Voila! WinXP will boot up with no BSOD!


HP

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

322756 How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

To resolve this issue yourself, enable the AHCI driver in the registry before you change the SATA mode of the boot drive. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Exit all Windows-based programs.
2. Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER.
3. If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue.
4. Locate and then click one of the following registry subkeys:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\IastorV
5. In the pane on the right side, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify.
6. In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.
7. On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor.