PLEASE NOTE
This post has been replaced by an entry in the compiled sticky FAQ HERE.

After some research by MSFN staff, we have a working solution to enable ACHI on the ICH9 with appropriate SATA/NCQ drive(s).

For more information about AHCI, we refer to Wikipedia.org:

List of needed files and driver packs:
32-bit Floppy Configuration Utility for Intel® Matrix Storage Manager
64-bit Floppy Configuration Utility for Intel® Matrix Storage Manager


Index:
1. Unpacking drivers
2. Preparing the drivers
3. Creating Windows registry file
4. BIOS Settings
5. Installing the drivers in Windows
6. Final installation check
7. Editors thoughts


1. Unpacking drivers

Unpack the Floppy Configuration Utility for Intel® Matrix Storage Manager and extract the file (.ZIP) with WinRAR or similar program.


2. Preparing the drivers

Copy the file IASTOR.SYS to the Windows SYSTEM32/DRIVERS directory. Open the IAAHCI.INF with Notepad from the directory where you unpacked the drivers. Use CRTL-R and you should get a “replace” window. In the first input window you type “2821” and the second “2923”, so you will replace all “2821” text to “2923”, and click “Replace All”. Save IAAHCI.INF over the original file.

Replace the line:
To:
Save the file under the same name, e.g. IAAHCI.INF and exit Notepad.


3. Creating Windows registry file

Now we create a registry file with Notepad and the following contence:
Save it as AHCI_ICH9.REG and run it after closing Notepad.


4. BIOS Settings

Restart the computer and enter the BIOS (Mostly entered by pressing DEL). Make the settings:

Restart again to boot into Windows XP.

For ASUS P5K motherboards (IF present in BIOS, please report if not present.):
Restart the computer and enter the BIOS (Mostly entered by pressing DEL). Make the settings:

Restart again to boot into Windows XP.


5. Installing the drivers in Windows

If you did steps one to four right, you will not get that “known” BSOD again before you hit the desktop! Windows will show new devices found like all your optical drives and hard disks until you hit to “PCI-Device”. Select “Install manual” and point to the folder where you saved the IAAHCI.INF file and select the IAAHCI.INF file as this is the driver that needs to be installed. Follow the instruction on the screen and restart your computer again.


6. Final installation check

When Windows has started, go to the control panel to check your system properties. In the hardware configuration list there should be now:
IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers -> Intel® ICH9 SATA AHCI Controller.

Beware: You can’t install the Intel Matrix Storage Manager, as the ICH9 doesn’t have RAID. On the net people talk about a modified version that should install, but it’s useless when you don’t have RAID.


We hope you enjoy your new ACHI enabled ICR9 Bridge in XP!



7. Editors thoughts

It must be a marketing question from Intel and Microsoft. There is nothing else I can think of why neither Intel nor Microsoft made new drivers for XP. The only thing I can think of is that Intel wants to sell more ICR9R bridges and Microsoft wants to push its Windows Vista. Like always both companies won’t make any comments!...

Regards,
puntoMX

Ps. if there is any good info I should add, please post it ...

Changes:

• 23 DEC 2007, Edited point 4; ASUS BIOS settings.
• 04 JAN 2008, Edited point 6; Fact, unable to install the Intel Matrix Storage Manager.
• 07 FEB 2008, Edited point 1 and 2; Clearer explication about the IAAHCI.INF file, and option when a floppy drive is used.
• 19 MAY 2008, Edited point 3; ControlSet001 changed on second line of registry file to CurrentControlSet, thanks to skipg for correcting me.
• 10 AUG 2008, Post contents added to sticky FAQ, this post is now un-stickied and retired
• 10 DEC 2008, Changed the Intel driver links, now for 32 and 64 bit and the latest version, thanks to an3k for the links.
• 18 DEC 2008, Intel drivers are now packed as a .ZIP file, removed the outdated un-packing procedure, thanks to tre_ge.
  

And how sure are we that this actually enables AHCI support rather than just making Device Manager say it has the AHCI driver? Remember, according to Intel, the non-RAID ICH9 does not support AHCI.

Well, after reading lots of information, mostly from forums, and testing it on a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L with ICH9, I got it flawless to work.

Before only the AHCI option in combination with an ICH9 could be used for Vista, this is clearly written in the users Manuel of more motherboard makers. I have tested in under Vista and the installation works well with AHCI enabled. Normally XP would give the BSOD before showing the welcome screen.

The description above just let’s XP work with the driver AFTER windows XP has been installed. Note that this is not only a way for the ICR9 Bridge, it also can be done for the ICR 7 and 8.

And it works, believe me. Before the hardware would show other controllers:

I guess my point is that I can edit the .inf and make Device Manager say anything I want it to. Just because Device Manager says "AHCI" has anyone actually verified that features like NCQ and hot plugging work?

When AHCI is enabled you have the Advanced Power Management feature enabled on the drive. NCQ is enabled on the drive in all modes, so if you have a tool that can give me NCQ test results I would be pleased to have it.

Note to the Editor and Microsoft and Intel :

I am stuck (still) in this very specific problem, and you know what drives me really crazy ? It's that the Ultimate-Bootable-XP CD recognizes the AHCI drives very naturally !!!

Must have something to do with BTS driverpacks... but I never used it...

-BJR- Hello ,

when I open IASTOR.SYS / IAAHCI.INF files, it speaks of ich9R and not of ICH9, needs it to create the line?
My Motherboard is ASUS P5K.

Thanks

As you can see, there are 2 steps; what part is not working/clear for you?


Before you continue it would be wise to check IF these settings are possible in your BIOS revision. Some BIOS revisions do not have these options...

Punto, nice work!!! Does it work for Vista too?

Thank you.

Vista will work directly with AHCI out of the box .

That's interesting, Punto... I had Vista installed on my previous rig (HDD set up as IDE) and when I upgraded the pc I didn't want to format and reinstall Vista so I set up the new BIOS to see the SATA HDD as an IDE device. Then I thought I might take advantage of the AHCI features and changed it in BIOS. Boot the machine ---> BSOD. Reverting to IDE gets rid of the BSOD. Any idea how I can enable AHCI without reinstalling? All the specs are in my signature and I am using Vista Ultimate x86. Thanks for any / all input.

I didn’t test it on Vista, but it should work (almost) the same way.

Step 3 could be a problem, but you could check if the keys are in the same place with Vista...

EDIT: on the other hand, it’s not giving you much performance as you can see in the benchmarks I posted above .

Scratch that, read on...

Those artificial benchmarks don't really give the whole story of performance. I don't think that the advantages of features like NCQ are properly represented in HD Tune. As memnoch pointed out earlier, I think that all you've succeeded in doing is loading the ACHI driver under XP, but not actually enabling the ACHI features.

Then you tell me how to test NCQ?

BIOS has been installed and drivers are loaded indeed, benchmarks show a smoother image and Advanced Power Management feature IS enabled.

It would be nice if some one who has an ICH9R with the same drive and run the same benchmark (HD Tune default) under XP to see what shows up...

EDIT: My PC:
- Without AHCI enabled takes 24.6 sec. to get to the desktop of Windows XP ^{1) 2)}
- With AHCI enabled takes 19.2 sec. to get to the desktop of Windows XP <sup>1) 2)

1)</sup> From start of use harddisk. ²⁾ Average has been taken from 2x 10 startups.

The second test would likely be a better test of NCQ, since there are multiple requests going on during bootup.

Well that didn't work for me. After setting SATA at AHCI in the bios, windows xp pro doesn't start up anymore. It asks if I want to boot in safemode what doesn't work either. Xp only boots with SATA set to IDE. Not sure where the problems lies.

Asus p5k
Samsung S203D drive (sata)
WD HDD (IDE and bootdevice)
Samsung spinpoint (sata) send for repair so not installed at the moment
2GB
Windows XP Pro

I PMed you a few days ago, still no response . Let’s work it out together...

Thanks for you offer to help. I got it installed in the mean time though, via.

1.Download floppy version of intel matrix.
2.Extract the drivers to a floppy then to a map on your disc.
3.Update the IDE/SATA driver to Intel 82801GR/GH SATA AHCI from the extracted floppy.
4.Reboot and enter BIOS and set the IDE to AHCI.Save and exit.Now windows will boot and find a new hardware and will reboot again.
5.Install Intel Matrix Storage Manager latest (CD version) and reboot.

I'll have to wait for my sata hdd returing from rma to do some benchmarking.

The OP forgot to inform when he thinks the drivers should be installed etc..., but I did also about the same as you did, I had earlier a few days ago allready created the floppy and just modified it with Notepad. Installed the modified driver, then the .reg file and rebooted and changed the ACHI setting. Boots ok, but I am unable to install the Intel Matrix Storage Manager as it says "This computer does not meet the minumum requirements for installing this software". How did you fix that? Trying to install a 7.8.0.1012 over XP Pro SP3 (English). One curiosity was that the driver I installed before restarting had to be intalled again since it was gone after restart. I am now wondering should I have had Intel drivers installed before the whole procedure (just installed this system today).

Hi there I cant seem to get this to work

I have a Asus p5k-e on bios revision 1.06 ive gone through the guide twice and checked and tried rebboting with all variations raid, ahci and the only thing that works is ide

[-AP&page=1[/url]
any help would be appreciated

specs

"SiSoftware Sandra


Processor
Model : Intel® Core™2 Duo CPU E6850 @ 3.00GHz
Speed : 3.00GHz
Cores per Processor : 2 Unit(s)
Threads per Core : 1 Unit(s)
Type : Dual-Core
Internal Data Cache : 2x 32kB, Synchronous, Write-Thru, 8-way set, 64 byte line size
L2 On-board Cache : 1x 4MB, ECC, Synchronous, ATC, 16-way set, 64 byte line size, 2 threads sharing

System
System : System manufacturer P5K-E
Mainboard : ASUSTeK Computer INC. P5K-E
Bus(es) : ISA PCI PCIe IMB USB i2c/SMBus
Multi-Processor (MP) Support : 1 Processor(s)
Multi-Processor Advanced PIC (APIC) : Yes
System BIOS : American Megatrends Inc. 8.12
Total Memory : 2GB DDR2-SDRAM

Chipset 1
Model : ASUSTeK Computer Inc (Bearlake) Processor to I/O Controller
Front Side Bus Speed : 4x 333MHz (1332MHz data rate)
Total Memory : 11GB DDR2-SDRAM

Video System
Desktop Monitors/Panels : 2
Monitor/Panel : Default Monitor
Monitor/Panel : Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor/Panel : Plug and Play Monitor
Adapter : Radeon X1950 Pro
Adapter : Radeon X1950 Pro
Adapter : Radeon X1950 Pro Secondary
Adapter : Radeon X1950 Pro Secondary
Imaging Device : Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000

Physical Storage Devices
WDC WD740GD-00FLA0 (ATA) : 69GB (C:)
Maxtor 6L300S0 (ATA) : 279GB (J:)
MAXTOR STM3320820AS (ATA) : 298GB (H:)
MAXTOR STM3500630AS (ATA) : 466GB (M:)
Hitachi HDS721010KLA (SCSI) : 932GB (N:)
Maxtor 6B300S0 (SCSI) : 279GB (I:)
EPSON Stylus Storage (USB) : N/A (K:)
PLEXTOR DVDR PX-810SA (ATAPI) : N/A (O:)
TS5231S FUD046M (SCSI) : N/A (L:)

Logical Storage Devices
TeRaYByte (N:) : 932GB (773GB, 83% Free Space) (NTFS) @ Hitachi HDS721010KLA (SCSI)
300 drive 1 (I:) : 279GB (108GB, 38% Free Space) (NTFS) @ Maxtor 6B300S0 (SCSI)
BlackRaptor (C:) : 69GB (25GB, 36% Free Space) (NTFS) @ WDC WD740GD-00FLA0 (ATA)
new (J:) : 279GB (12GB, 4% Free Space) (NTFS) @ Maxtor 6L300S0 (ATA)
download (H:) : 298GB (13GB, 4% Free Space) (NTFS) @ MAXTOR STM3320820AS (ATA)
backup (M:) : 466GB (74GB, 16% Free Space) (NTFS) @ MAXTOR STM3500630AS (ATA)
CD-ROM/DVD (O:) : N/A @ PLEXTOR DVDR PX-810SA (ATAPI)
CD-ROM/DVD (L:) : N/A @ TS5231S FUD046M (SCSI)
3.5" 1.44MB (A:) : N/A
Removable Drive (K:) : N/A @ EPSON Stylus Storage (USB)

Peripherals
USB Controller/Hub : Intel® ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2934
USB Controller/Hub : Intel® ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2935
USB Controller/Hub : Intel® ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2936
USB Controller/Hub : Intel® ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2937
USB Controller/Hub : Intel® ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2938
USB Controller/Hub : Intel® ICH9 Family USB Universal Host Controller - 2939
USB Controller/Hub : Intel® ICH9 Family USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 293A
USB Controller/Hub : Intel® ICH9 Family USB2 Enhanced Host Controller - 293C
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Root Hub
USB Controller/Hub : USB Composite Device
USB Controller/Hub : USB Composite Device
USB Controller/Hub : USB Mass Storage Device
USB Controller/Hub : USB Printing Support
Keyboard : Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse : HID-compliant Cordless Mouse
Human Interface : Logitech Cordless USB Mouse

MultiMedia Device(s)
Device : M-Audio Revolution

Printers and Faxes
Model : Send To OneNote 2007
Model : Microsoft Office Document Image Writer
Model : EPSON Stylus Photo R340 Series
Model : Acrobat Distiller

Power Management
Mains (AC) Line Status : On-Line

Operating System(s)
Windows System : Microsoft Windows XP (2002) Professional 5.01.2600 (Service Pack 2)
Platform Compliance : Win32 x86

Network Services
Adapter : Marvell Yukon 88E8056 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller

Just to confirm that it works in Vista on the configuration in my signature. However, since Vista has the drivers built in, you only need to run the .reg file and restart. That's what I did and after 2 restarts I now have AHCI enabled with all its features and benefits. And yes, running with AHCI enabled has sped up the copy times (tested in Total Commander, average 32MB/s without AHCI, ~55MB/s with AHCI enabled). Once again, nice work guys!

EDIT:
I forgot to mention that the structure of the reg file works ok in Vista and the keys are correctly located in the registry.

I have a ASUS P5K Premium with Western WD5000AAKS with NCQ (verified myself).
I made an upgrade from IDE to AHCI ICH9 on XP Pro and worked 2 weeks.
After severals errors and after upgrading everything posible (BIOS, Intel driver) in a morning my PC stopped booting in the middle (even in save mode).
So I've been forced to install fresh and for my surprise since than I have no errors anymore, so my conclusion is than it might work an upgrade, but 100% sure is only a fresh system install.
The performance is amazing with NCQ.
All works instantly without 1-2 seconds waiting like allways without NCQ.
I recommend NCQ but only on a fresh install.

First off, welcome to THE forum! Second, the issue you are describing is definitely NOT produced by installing the AHCI drivers. What is the configuration of the pc that crapped out and what errors were you getting? Can you remember any codes?

EDIT:
At this moment the only thing that pops in my mind regarding your boot issues is devious start-up services / applications.

All I can say that this is my conclusion and no, I can't remember any error codes.
The resets appeard at the beginnig rare and in days more frequent until no start posible (and this with any changes before or after the first reset, except BIOS and Intel AHCI driver with the newest version).
The effect was, that in a HD read request the LED remaind ON and after 15 seconds (I suppose of "innactivity") followed a "blue screen" and reset and this in different situations.
In this time I didn't change any drivers or software installation (my PC was perfect).
After the fresh install with the same software on it ,all works perfect and no more troubles (tested in very hard situations).
I don't want to say that the AHCI drivers caused the "death" of my PC, but XP makes the things different and better in a fresh installation as in a simple driver upgrade.

ASUS P5K Premium/Wifi
IC2 Q6600 2400
2GB DDR2 800MHZ
ASUS N8800 ULTRA
WD5000AAKS SATA
ASUS DRW 1814BLT SATA
CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX

I wish you posted this while you were getting the bluescreens... There is a thread here that explains how to create a full memory dump that we could read and pinpoint the culprit...

Hi all i cant to get this to work:
I have asus p5k/deluxe/wi-fi and sata seagate st3320620as & sata dvd sh-s183ą & ide dvd-rom
Bios revison is 0705.
When Windows has started i got the bluescreens,reset and bios mast be set to sata:ide to get to work
xp.I am unable to install the Intel Matrix Storage Manager as it says "This computer does not meet the minumum requirements for installing this software". My os :win xp pro with sp3 , maybe problem is service pack 3?
Sorry for bed english

What build of SP3 is that?

The problem I have is that I can’t test it my self on an ASUS board , but it should work the same for ASUS as it did for the Gigabyte boards.

I think I have to clear things up a bit; you can’t install the Intel Matrix Storage Manager, as your board doesn’t have RAID. On the net people talk about a modified version that should install, but it’s useless when you don’t have RAID.

Will this procedure work for a Win 2000 Prof SP4 install?

Thanks for your work on XP, puntoMX.

It should work on 2K too, but I didn’t test it. The registry file is the only part that could mess up your machine, so you’ll be doing it on your own risk. You could check if the registry part already exists with different values.

Service pack 3,v-3244

ok, so all of this (very) impressive work is focusing on an ASUS mobo.

What about an Intel mobo with ICH9R??

It’s not motherboard brand related.

For your motherboard you can skip point 2; Preparing the drivers. Your bridge already exists in the driver list.

Please post if it worked .

in idea what to change the .inf file to on XPx64? i believe the ids are different for 64-bit drivers.

it's not working with ich9r (without step 2) i get bsod.

how about raid? i integrated ich8r/ich9r drivers with nlite, but a get bsod also with fresh install...

Hi, just got me a new computer and tried to activate AHCI. I'm not sure if it worked.
Motherboard: Asus P5K-V
Hard drive: WD2500KS-00MJB0, 16 MB buffer
Windows XP Pro SP2 64 bits version (yes, I have used Intel Storage Manager 64 bits, too)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Core Q6600
RAM: 2 Gb DDR2 dual channel @ 800 MHz
Everything works fine, no BSOD.
BUT:
- Roadkil's Disk Speed (roadkil.net/DskSpeed.html) gives me the exact same figures as before. The speed is actually lower than my older system (AMD XP 2600+ Athlon, Seagate 250 Gb). The speed has dropped from 65 Mb/sec to 61 Mb/sec, overall score from 8042 to 6789.
- I get ALL these things in the Device manager (see below)
- I have copied stuff from my old hard drive. Top speed: 57 Mb/sec . But, after going over 20-25 Mb/sec, everyting else just freezes. All other programs almost stop working (tv tuner winfast pvr2, yahoo messenger, notepad, total commander, opera browser). Also, copied from one partition to other, both on this new drive, same thing happens, everything else freezes after 20-30 Mb/sec.
I've got the same poor result before and after activating AHCI.
In the BIOS, I have activated these settings:
- SATA Configuration - Enhanced (before - same Enhanced option was enabled)
- JMicron 3SATA/PATA controller - Enabled (before - same Enhanced option was enabled)
- Controller Mode - AHCI (before it was IDE, other option is RAID)
What could be wrong. Is that hard drive so poor?
Thanks!

@queensoft

The installation did not succeed (by looking at your attachment).

I did exactly like the instructions (I think ).
I think I'll reinstall Windows, 32 bits edition. Is there a huge difference between 32 and 64 bits versions?? I do have all drivers 64 bits, but I use 32 bits applications.

Unless you plan to use 4GB (or more) of RAM, stick to 32-bit.

All right.... reinstalled Windows 32 bit, with IDE mode.
Now, activated in BIOS AHCI mode, but I did NOT do all other things (copy IASTOR.SYS file, add registry....), restart Windows, no BSOD, no errors, everything works fine, the device manager looks like the one above !!!
Soooo, what's going on?!

I would like to help you all out, but the problem is that I only sell Gigabyte motherboards at this time. I also don’t have a 64bit Windows XP to test it on nor do they sell it in Mexico .

With the Gigabyte motherboards it loads and installs an AHCI BIOS on boot up before it starts to boot from any data holding media. Does it show any thing like that when you start your ASUS motherboard? I remember that ASUS killed AHCI from some of there BIOSes...

Well, I don't see anything peculiar on boot. The usual fast memory test, drive and dvd rom list, then straight to windows....
I mean, does that motherboard and my Windows both support AHCI? Why do I have so slow hard drive performance ??
Check this out: http://pozze.z1.ro/doc1.htm
The Dskspeed section: first colum (old computer) is FASTER the second column (new computer).

I wonder if your BIOS support real ACHI mode, let me read the users manual of your motherboard now.

Don’t expect much of a performance gain in the benchmarks by the way, I could only test it by starting Windows or other programs and measure the start times with a stopwatch (10 or 20 runs and the average taking from that).

So why the h**l did I bought a nice motherboard like that and a SATA2 hard drive?!
Just to work slower than my old one ??
My first choice, however, was NOT this drive, it was a 320 Gb AAKS drive. But, wouldn't you know it, it was just after the holidays and it was out of stock !!

I have a P35 Chipset and this is the procedure that worked for me even though bios doesn't say enhanced only AHCI.

1. Downloaded Newest Intel® Matrix Storage Manager for my board.
2. Command Prompt ran c:\anyfolder\filename.exe /a
3. Copied IaStor.sys from \Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager\Drivers folder to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\
4. Copied the following registry file into notepad and saved as ahci.reg
5. Double clicked newly created file to install to registry.
6. Reboot and change bios to AHCI
7. Double clicked on previously downloaded Intel® Matrix Storage Manager installer. And Rebooted.
8. Go to device manager, double klick your hard-drive(s) under "disk drivers", go to "policies" tab and mark "Enable write caching for this disk"

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_2922&cc_0106]
"Service"="iaStor"
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor]
"Type"=dword:00000001
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Group"="SCSI miniport"
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"ImagePath"="system32\\drivers\\iaStor.sys"
"tag"=dword:00000019
"DisplayName"="Intel AHCI Controller"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor\Parameters]
"queuePriorityEnable"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\iaStor\Enum]
"0"="PCI\\VEN_8086&DEV_2922&SUBSYS_B0051458&REV_02\\3&13c0b0c5&0&FA"
"Count"=dword:00000001
"NextInstance"=dword:00000001
______________________________________________________________________

You have to install the driver file first else it will not help.

EDIT: Okay! So it worked after all, congratulations .

EDIT2: Could you post your BIOS setting please so I can add them to the first post in this topic.

Thanks, I tried the setup instructions and my AHCI is now enabled. Everything works perfectly. I have a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L.

[color="#FF0000"][/color]Please see the attachment. The only question I have is how to fix the PCI installation problem using the IAAHCI.INF driver.

Manual Install what?

I assume "IDE/ATAPI controllers",

then "standard dual channel pci ide controller"

Then Browse to IAAHCI.INF and choose it?

Is this correct?

I will post my BIOS settings for you when I get a chance.
Click to view attachment

BIOS picture attached.