My mom just bought a Dell Inspiron 537 and wants me to install XP on it.

My only concern is I don't know what the motherboard is in the tower (it is coming soon but I rather prepare early) and so I have really no idea what type of drivers I should be using.

I did download the chipset driver update from Dell and the only files I see with AHCI or SATA in the name are:

ichaahci

I'm not even sure whether or not JMicron ports are involved. Would it be a safe move to integrate all the 32 bit drivers?

Or is there a better way for me to figure out what textmode driver I need?

@ gauze:

Welcome at MSFN Forums!
If there is any Windows OS running on your mom's computer, open the Device Manager and look for the controller names, which are listed within the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" and - if present - within the "Storage Controllers"/"SCSI and RAID Controllers" sections (the "Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controllers" are not interesting at all, because they are only supported by the MS generic IDE drivers).

Good luck!
Fernando

Fernando, I'd need a little help from you regarding using iastor.sys driver on vista x64. My mainboard is Intel DG35EC.

I have used your modded version for ICH8 while I was using WinXP 32bit; the nLited XP SP3 CD still works perfectly loading iastor.sys for the ICH8!

Now that I've moved on to vista x64, I'm having few issues to make the controller use the iastor.sys driver.

I have the latest BIOS update (v113) and SATA mode set to AHCI. However, after installing vista x64, the msahci driver was chosen by the OS.
I do not have enough faith on the MS AHCI driver (I wanted iastor), so I installed the Intel chipset utility (latest) and sadly it put back the controller on older IDE emulated drivers and showed up 2/4 port SATA controllers now in device manager! I think it's due to Intel forcing ICH8 not to use AHCI driver and use emulated ones instead. (screenshots attached)

http://i44.tinypic.com/j81p53.jpg
http://i40.tinypic.com/9h2k2u.jpg
http://i41.tinypic.com/aufgah.jpg

I really want to use the latest iastor.sys drivers and seek for a modified version for my plain old ICH8 controller on vista x64.
I downloaded your ICH8 package from first post but it seems the drivers in x64 folder have not been modified at all.

Once I have your modified 64bit drivers, I'll manually update the drivers for the controller from the INFs and see if iastor.sys is picked up.

Awaiting your comments and help,
Thanks

You are right: I forgot to modify the INF file of the 64bit driver version. As soon as I returned home again from my holidays I will repair this.
You may use my modified driver nevertheless, if you do the following:
1. Download the 32/64bit package with the modified drivers und unzip it.
2. Copy the file named "iaAHCI.INF" from the 32bit to the 64bit folder and let the present file with the same name been overwritten.
3. Now you can use the content of the 64bit driver folder with Vista x64.

God luck!
Fernando

EDIT: I just have repaired my 64bit INF driver file.

Looks like you deleted the file and didn't update the new link on first post:
"The key you provided for file download was invalid. This is usually caused because the file is no longer stored on Mediafire. This occurs when the file is removed by the originating user or Mediafire."

That happened yesterday, because I was in the hurry. I am sorry about that, but now the link is repaired and should work for everyone.

Good luck!
Fernando

I learnt this from VMWare forums; would be helpful for fellow DG35EC users:



I have v113 BIOS and the 2824 controller isn't being detected.

Intel has released v115, going to flash and try iastor drivers.

Thanks Fernando!

OK, updated BIOS and put in the driver. Working well now!

http://i44.tinypic.com/9j22o7.jpg

Thanks Fernando!

You are welcome.
Thanks for your feedback!

Regards
Fernando

Hi There,

Ok, I am in need of some serious help now. I have tried the steps specified in post #1 and still have problems getting my installation to detect a HD. The OS I am trying to re-install is Windows XP: Media Center Edition 2005 For System Builders. It has Service Pack 2 on it with the version number of: 5.1.2600.2180.

The OS I already have on my laptop is Windows XP: Media Center Edition 2002. I'm not sure if the OS I am trying to install is a 32x bit or a 64x bit since the case I got doesn't specify which.

I have talked to Intel to find the AHCI controllers that I need for my laptops chipset which is a Intel ICH7R controller. When I go into nLite, choose the folder I have my clean OS files in, select two options on the menu which are, Drivers and Boot-able ISO.

I then go to the next screen to pick my drivers. From there, I choose multiple driver folder and locate the Intel controller folder. It then gives me a list of all the controllers for different versions of Intel chips. There are two in the list which deal with the ICH7R. They are:

.:. Intel ICH7R/DH SATA AHCI Controller
.:. Intel ICH7R/DH SATA RAID Controller

I have been choosing both of them and then checking to make sure that textmode was on. I then insert them and then start the process. After it merges all the files, I put in a blank DVD+RW and burn the files using nLite.

After its finished, I restart my laptop, hit F10 to choose boot from CD/DVD and then let it go through the loading of the information on the DVD. After it is done loading the initial startup files it tells me to hit Enter to continue the installation of Windows XP. After I hit Enter, it then gives me the error message that setup cannot find any HD's!

Your help to solve this issue would be EXTREMLY appreciated!

- Jeff

Ah, solved my own problem!! The solution was instead of choosing both Intel ICH7R controllers, I just chose one. I chose to use the Intel ICH7R/DH SATA AHCI Controller.

Thanks for your feedback.
By the way: I doubt, that the installation failed because you integrated both ICH7R Controllers. Usually it is not a problem, if you choose all listed Controllers, but it fails, if you miss the needed one.

Regards
Fernando

deleted by myself - problem solved.

Hello and welcome everyone,

I'm having an issue with my ASUS G1 laptop (full specs here http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Asus_G1). I'm kinda desperate as no one seems to find any suitable solution. I asked for help on many forums already, so let's say I MSFN's are my last hope
So here is my issue :

I've been using Vista for a long time, being pre-installed on my ASUS notebook, till I decided to install Windows XP aside. The main purpose of that dual boot system was to set a clean & french install of Windows XP only to run my games and get a real performance boost compared to Vista.
My problem is that I'm getting awful performance under Windows XP. For instance, everytime the hard drive is working, mouse movement stutters ; it also takes an unusual time to run not so heavy applications such as Firefox web browser (takes under 20 seconds on Windows XP compared to 3 seconds on Vista). I know that I shouldn't get such a low performance, especially on Windows XP, so there is definitely something wrong here.
I immediatly thought about drivers ; so far, when I was done with the XP installation & Windows Updates, I installed the intel chipset drivers, ACPI drivers and last, Nvidia drivers. Nothing helped, the overall performance is still slow, and mouse movement is anything but smooth whenever I run applications. Of course, I tried different drivers (first I've been downloading Windows XP drivers from Asus Website, then the newest versions of Intel's, etc), but nothing helped.
I should add that I didn't install any specific driver on my Vista partition and the performance is okay there (no matter how many applications I run, it goes blazing fast and mouse movement remains perfectly smooth and precise).

Some people from the official ASUS forums told me about the integration of SATA drivers within my XP installation CD ;I've already tried that, but maybe I did it wrong.
Just in case you might need to know, these are all the informations I could gather about my Chipset, on my Vista installation (which works perfectly fine and has no lag at all) :
http://img14.imageshack.us/i/22719399.jpg/

I've already burned a custom Windows XP CD, with the following configuration :
Under Nlite, I've chose to integrate drivers and make it a bootable CD. On the next step, I hit the Insert button, Single Driver, hit iaAHCI.inf (from the unpacked floppy disk that you mentioned, though I already had it before), and selected the chipset that seemed to match the most :
http://img14.imageshack.us/i/79663077.jpg/
Still, the issue ain't gone ...

Is there anything I did wrong ?

Thanks in advance for your help, and sorry for this long & annoying story

@ Bls:

Welcome at MSFN Forums!

As far as I have read your post, you have done everything the right way. I have no idea about the real reason for your performance issues while running Windows XP.

This is what I would do, if I were you: I would not waste any further time with Windows XP, but install the latest available pre-RTM version of Windows 7 as a second OS for testing purposes. I am pretty sure, that you will forget Windows XP and probably even Vista after having worked and played with this upcoming OS.

If you want to stick with Windows XP, you may try the following:
1. Prepare a new Windows XP CD with integrated SP3 and integrated 32bit Intel textmode driver according to my guide by enabling the device named "Intel® ICH7M/MDH SATA AHCI Controller". Don't integrate anything else and don't remove or tweak anything.
2. After having completed the Windows XP installation, run the installer of the actual Intel Matrix Storage Manager and the Intel Chipset Driver Software ("INF Update Utility").
3. Install the other needed device drivers (take only actual WHQL signed ones).
4. Check the performance of your fresh XP system.
5. If you are not satisfied, open the "Disk Drives" section of the Device Manager, do a right click onte the listed hdd > "Properties" > search for the options to enable/disable the write cashing.
6. Disable the write cashing option.
7. Check the performance again.
Maybe you are able to solve your XP problems this way.

Good luck!
Fernando

Thank you for your quick reply.

The reason why I'm not switching to Windows 7, yet, is that I've been getting used for years to XP's mouse sensitivity (I've been using the same for years as a gamer within my favorite game). Also I'd rather wait for the Final version of the OS, which might be released in October.

About your solution ; if you take a look at my screenshot this is exactly what I've done before !
When I tried to install Intel Matrix Storage Manager, it would say my hardware ain't supported ...

Then you either don't have enabled the AHCI Mode of your Intel SATA Controller (BIOS setting) or you have chosen the wrong version of the Intel Matrix Storage Manager. The v8.8.0.1009 should work with your Intel ICH7M SATA AHCI system.

I've download that correct version (8.8.0.1009).
Someone mentioned already the BIOS settings to be changed, thus I couldn't find it (and I looked everywhere already), maybe I should downgrade my BIOS (as I'm using the latest version ...).
Thing is, that BIOS settings cannot be responsible of that mouse stuttering & overall small performance as everything works fine under Vista ...

Edit: Write caching is enabled on Vista so that can't be the problem neither :/

Some laptop manufacturers do not implement the BIOS option to disabe the "AHCI Mode".
You can verify the SATA mode (AHCI or IDE) of your laptop by opening the XP Device Manager and looking into the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" and - if present - the "SCSI and RAID Controllers" sections. If you are running your SATA hdd in "AHCI Mode", you should see a device named "Intel® ICH7M/MDH SATA AHCI Controller". The non-AHCI system just shows the "Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller".

Yes. I've downgraded my BIOS and still couldn't find that option to switch between "Compatible" and "Enhanced" mode.
I took a screenshot from my XP device manager :
http://img523.imageshack.us/i/33477218.jpg/

Hope it helps :S

@ Bls:
Thanks for the screenshot, which really helps.
The listed device named "Intel® 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7-M Family) Serial ATA Storage Controller - 27C4" does not support AHCI. You got this device by integrating the Intel chipset device "drivers" or by running the installer of the "INF Update Utility". It has nothing to do with the drivers of the Intel Matrix Storage Manager. That is why you got the message, that no compatible device has been detected, when you tried to run the installer of the Matrix Storage Manager.
Since there is no "Intel ICH7M/MDH SATA AHCI Controller", the SATA hdd obviously is running in IDE Mode and not in AHCI Mode.
Conclusion:
1. You will be able to get Windows XP installed and running without loading or integrating any driver.
2. Ask the vendor of your laptop for the option to enable the AHCI Mode of the SATA Controller. Since your system has an ICH7M chipset southbridge, it should fully support this SATA feature.

Well on Vista it works (if you take a look at my vista's device manager screenshot) ...
Anyway, maybe the problem is just something else ... What could be causing such mouse lag/stutters when CPU or HD is working ?

Vista works for you, but you don't know, if it would run even better in AHCI Mode.
You are right: The fact, that your laptop is working without AHCI support, is not responsable for your mouse problems. Nevetheless you should try to get the option to enable AHCI.
That can be caused by the mouse itself or the mouse settings, but the mouse behaviour may be influenced by other things too (special software with high CPU usage like Antivirus running in the background, wrong CPU voltage, unstable BIOS timing settings etc.).

Out of the blue, for no apparent reason, and possibly slightly (but not much ) OFF-TOPIC , a couple of possibly interesting links :
AHCI vs. IDE mode benchmarks:
http://expertester.wordpress.com/2008/07/2...mark-advantage/

How to enable AHCI on Vista:
http://expertester.wordpress.com/2008/07/1...ut-reformating/

jaclaz

Thanks to both of you for your replies.

Well on Vista I have no particular problem, no matter how many applications I run at the same time, even heavy ones, wouldn't affect mouse movement at all. There is definitely something wrong under Windows XP.
The mouse itself isn't the issue ; it's a very old microsoft one, even supported by windows 98 default drivers. I'm using it everyday on an old desktop machine running Windows XP and there's no issue at all, even if run X applications at once =)
I'd like to add that I did a disk format several times, tried different versions of Windows XP, different drivers ; nothing can be causing this lag as I wanted the system to be as fast as possible ; as a habit, I disabled running services eating memory and didn't install any antivirus/firewall (as I won't even use this XP partition to browse or anything, I will just install games and play).

@ Bls:

You are the first laptop user, from whom I have heard, that he had a much better performance with Vista than with Windows XP.
Since I cannot help you more than I tried to do and since your mouse stuttering phenomenon has nothing to do with the topic of this thread, we should stop the discussion about your problem at this point.
If you should ever find the reason for your XP issues, please let us/me know it.

Regards
Fernando

@ all users of my guide (first post of this thread):

Yesterday I found a new official version of Intel's Matrix Storage Manager. The package contains the brandnew and WHQL certified 32/64bit Intel textmode drivers v8.9.1023 dated 06/04/2009 and the appropriate version of Intel's Matrix Storage Manager Console.

Since these new drivers and the Console are working fine with my own ICH9M AHCI and ICH10R RAID systems, I have updated my guide and added the links to these official drivers and to the new Intel Matrix Storage Manager Console application.
Additionally I have created brandnew modded 32/64bit versions of these just released textmode drivers v8.9.0.1023. They now additionally will support even Intel ICH10 (without R or M) SATA AHCI Controllers.

Any feedback is much appreciated.

Have fun!
Fernando

I updated this new AHCI driver in Windows mode via "Device Manager", it worked fine.

Thanks a lot... Now id*** like me can integrate this drivers
Seriously, great work...

My question, Have you removed WHQL lines out of the unofficial INFs? or is it WHQL + modded?

The latter is correct.
When I created the modified Intel textmode drivers (32/64bit), I didn't remove anything from the WHQL certified ones. I just added the missing DeviceID's and the associated Controller entries.
So my modified drivers can be used with all available Intel ICH7-10 Southbridge chips (with and without "R" or "M").

The edited file iaAHCI.inf is not WHQL certified anymore, iaAHCI.cat dosn't match.
Can you keep the original iaAHCI.inf add a addional file iaAHCI_F.inf?

If its no longer WHQL, end users get some sort of nagging prompt? something like "this is not WHQL certified" or does Win by default reject such NON-WHQLs?

This is a good idea, but what would be the benefit of doing this?

No, you can integrate any non-WHQL textmode driver into a Windows XP CD by using a tool like nLite, The function of the driver is not affected at all by the WHQL stamp.

I built a disc but setup did not detect my desktop's hard disk and crashed on my laptop My desktop used 5.x and laptop uses 7.x version of INF files when I removed both and inserted the new version, my desktop system did not detect my hard disk (it means some hardware info does not exist in this new version of 7.x and exists in old 5.x version). In my laptop, setup crashed may have crashed because I had put 5.x + 7.x (some lines maybe common in one of the INF file resulting in using up of 2 drivers)

Anyways, is it possible for you to see the difference of 5.x and 7.x and make one of INF set?

@ lama:

Only the textmode drivers of the Intel Matrix Storage Manager are necessary for the detection of the hard disk drives. The Intel "INF Drivers" (= Intel chipset drivers) are not needed during the hdd detection part of the installation.
Questions:
1. Which sort of Southbridge does your laptop have?
2. Which sort (Intel textmode or Intel chipset driver) and which version do you mean with 5.x and 7.x drivers and how did you install them?

Can I integrate all packs from Intel in my Install CD or should I pick the correct one for each installation?
Thanks in advance!

First, thanks to Fernando for creating this thread.

I created a XP SP3 disc using nLite, the drivers as posted by Fernando in text mode (selected all of them) and the Intel inf drivers as PNP. I tried an install on a Asus Maximus Formula board (ICH9R) with an E8400 cpu, ATI 2600 video card, 4G Gskill DDR2, 2 SATA optical drives and used a PATA optical on the JM controller for the install. The SATA HD was set to RAID mode (a requirement for this setup) in the bios, but the disc is a non-raid member. Please note that all hardware is known to be in good working order as I have an active working setup installed using the F6 method on another hard drive that was detached for this install.

The install goes through the entire setup routine without a hitch and even gets past the first XP flag/black background to the first blue background screen just before the logon prompt and then repeatedly crashes to a BSOD with a bad_pool_caller error (probably caused by win32k.sys win32k HeavyFreePool +bb). Please note that I tried this several times, burned the CD-R at 4x, verified it and even tried a new disc, but would get the exact same result. I am also not trying to incorporate any other SP/HF's either.

Any ideas on what is causing the error and how to resolve the problem? Please note that I followed this up with a clean install using the F6/floppy method with absolutely no errors.

Thanks for any assitance.

@ xdmv and GreenDrazi:

Welcome at MSFN Forums!

You can enable several SATA Controllers while integrating the Intel textmode driver, but you should not integrate more than 1 driver of each sort and vendor. That means: 1 Intel textmode driver (the WHQL or modified one) and 1 Intel chipset "driver" package ("INF Update Utility") is enough. Otherwise you may get problems.

Here are my ideas:
1. Remove 2 GB RAM while trying to install Windows XP.
2. Integrate just the actual WHQL signed Intel textmode driver and enable the Intel® ICH8R/ICH9R/ICH10R/DO/PCH SATA RAID Controller, when you get the textmode driver integration popup window.
3. Read this.

Good luck!
Fernando

Thank you Fer for your quick answer.
As I thought, it is not possible to build a install CD with full sata driver support.
But, is there any way to build a standar (most common chipsets) CD?
It is correct to separate Laptops from Desktops chipsets?
I mean, I install a lot of wXP OS and everytime I get troubles I have to (re)build a new installer.
Thanks a lot for your time!

Thank you Fer for your quick answer.
As I thought, it is not possible to build a install CD with full sata driver support.
But, is there any way to build a standar (most common chipsets) CD?
It is correct to separate Laptops from Desktops chipsets?
I mean, I install a lot of wXP OS and everytime I get troubles I have to (re)build a new installer.
Thanks a lot for your time!


#################

SORRY for my Double Pack...

Another question...
What do you think about Mass Storage drivers @ http://driverpacks.net/ ?
Thanks again!

Yes, that is possible even by using nLite, but you should only integrate 1 driver of each Southbridge chipset vendor.
That is not necessary regarding the textmode drivers.
If it is your business to install Operating Systems onto different desktop computers or laptops, you should avoid nLite, because this tool may only be used for private purposes.

This is is exactly the method you should prefer, if you are going to install Windows XP very often on different computers. The integration should be done by using DriverPacks BASE and not by using nLite.

Thank you so much for your fast and professional support.

BTW...
What do you mean "used for private purposes"?
Microsoft, nLite, Client-Technical support, etc., related legal problems?
I would like to know more about this topic.
Thanks!

nLite is freeware, but it is not allowed to use it for business.
Look here.

Oh...! I see...
dino[dot]nuhagic/@/gmail does not give any kind of support about it.
Even will not replay about this topic.
So sad...
Thanks again.

Dino Nuhagic (nick name: Nuhi) has spent a lot of time to develop the tools nLite and vLite.
I repeat: Only the private use of the tools is allowed. Any business use is against the law.

I understand perfectly.
My apologies if this question was misunderstood.
As you said, this tool is for private use only.
I will try DriverPacks.
Thanks for your support.

I have an OEM XP disc that came with a Dell system which detects my hd's properly during setup, however the server 2003 disc I am attempting to use does not. I cannot for the life of me find the right storage drivers to integrate with this disc. Since I know the drivers are on my xp disc, is it possible to just rip every single driver this XP disc has installed to guarantee it gets transplanted to my 2003 disc?


Update: Well I finally figured out why I couldnt get any txtoem drivers to work, I had yet to actually download the right ones! My board is using an ICH6-R chipset, the drivers provided here went as low at ICH6-M, but no R. I thought for sure downloading everything from driverpacks.net, and everything from here would eventually reveal the correct driver. What really sucks is that I had to download this driver from intel's site, which was formatted as a self-extracting installable exe, which HAD to have a working floppy drive to write the drivers to. So I then had to connect a floppy drive to let their little utility write the drivers to it, then I could copy the inf files out and let nlite slipstream them in. WHAT A PAIN.

@ Airbus:

Welcome at MSFN Forums and thank you for your report.
You probably would have been able to take one of the already prepared drivers I have presented within my guide, but unfortunately I forgot to mention, that the ICH5R driver works with ICH6R Controllers too. I am sorry about that.
As a consequence I have just updated my guide regarding this point.

Thanks again!
Fernando