[Phenomic]

Fernando 1, on Aug 26 2009, 03:21 PM, said:

Phenomic, on Jul 31 2009, 08:13 PM, said:

(2) How do you do the same thing in Windows 2000? I slipstreamed AHCI SATA drivers into the installation CD but Win2K will still not install.

Windows 2000 does not fully support AHCI.

cdob, on Aug 1 2009, 11:09 AM, said:

However: does ahcix86.sys support Windows 2000?

Not really (see above).

Thank you. Are you saying that Windows 2000 cannot be installed on a machine with AMD 790GX/SB750 chipset?

Have you tested for sure?

Does that include all of the new socket AM3 mobos from Asus & Gigabyte. Would Win2k run in IDE mode as I mentioned above?

[Fernando 1]

Phenomic, on Sep 22 2009, 03:24 AM, said:

Are you saying that Windows 2000 cannot be installed on a machine with AMD 790GX/SB750 chipset?

No, that is a wrong conclusion of my post. It is no problem to get Windows 2000 installed onto such system, but the AMD/ATI SATA Controllers should be set to "IDE Mode". That means, that the AHCI support of the SATA Controllers have to be turned off within the BIOS.

Quote

Have you tested for sure?

No, my post is just a logical conclusion of the fact, that no AHCI supporting W2k drivers are availble. W2k is an OS, which was developed at a time where AHCI support was not actual at all.

Quote

Does that include all of the new socket AM3 mobos from Asus & Gigabyte. Would Win2k run in IDE mode as I mentioned above?

Double answer: Yes.

This post has been edited by Fernando 1: 22 September 2009 - 02:19 AM

[Phenomic]

Fernando 1, on Sep 22 2009, 02:16 AM, said:

Phenomic, on Sep 22 2009, 03:24 AM, said:

Are you saying that Windows 2000 cannot be installed on a machine with AMD 790GX/SB750 chipset?

No, that is a wrong conclusion of my post. It is no problem to get Windows 2000 installed onto such system, but the AMD/ATI SATA Controllers should be set to "IDE Mode". That means, that the AHCI support of the SATA Controllers have to be turned off within the BIOS.

Quote

Have you tested for sure?

No, my post is just a logical conclusion of the fact, that no AHCI supporting W2k drivers are availble. W2k is an OS, which was developed at a time where AHCI support was not actual at all.

Quote

Does that include all of the new socket AM3 mobos from Asus & Gigabyte. Would Win2k run in IDE mode as I mentioned above?

Double answer: Yes.

I used IDE mode in BIOS and slipstreamed Win2k with 2 different versions of AHCI driver, but Win2k would not recognize disks connected to the SATA controller. (Although I assume Win2k would work with disks connected to the 40-pin IDE controller.) That’s disappointing because Win2k works fine with NVIDIA chipsets.

I assume that Win2k must have a SATA driver since none is included with the original OS. What version of AHCI works with Win2k and AMD/ATI SB7xx southbridge?

[Sp0iLedBrAt]

Phenomic, I think Fernando_1 answered your last question with this sentence: my post is just a logical conclusion of the fact, that no AHCI supporting W2k drivers are available. W2k is an OS, which was developed at a time where AHCI support was not actual at all.

So officially there are no AHCI drivers for Win2000; however, see if THIS could do anything for you.

[Volt]

cdob, on Aug 1 2009, 12:09 PM, said:

Phenomic said:

How do you enable AHCI mode AFTER you have installed XP?

Copy file ahcix86.sys to system32\drivers. Import this reg settings

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_1002&cc_0106]
"Service"="ahcix86"
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E97B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ahcix86]
"Type"=dword:00000001
"Start"=dword:00000000
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"Tag"=dword:00000021
"ImagePath"="system32\\drivers\\ahcix86.sys"
"Group"="SCSI Miniport"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ahcix86\Parameters\PnpInterface]
"5"=dword:00000001

Goto BIOS, set AHCI. Reboot.

Fernando 1, on Aug 28 2009, 08:53 PM, said:

actor, on Aug 28 2009, 07:49 PM, said:

I believe that the files on my support DVD correspond to the Catalyst version 9.8, since both refernce the same miniport number:
Microsoft Windows miniport driver 3.1.1540.127

I am not sure about that, because the actual ATI AHCI/RAID drivers (download link) are dated 05/22/2009.

So after I installed the drivers from Fernando 1's post according the guide of cdob, only exchanging x86 with x64, I managed to make my Win XP x64 boot with AHCI mode enabled in bios on my M3A H/HDMI mobo (BIOS version 1702) but the result was not what was expected. After the successful first boot it found new hardware and i pointed the driver folder for the AHCI driver and everything was installed correct after one more restart all was working normally, but i could not determine wether the hot swaping function is active nor NCQ or something went wrong. When i opened the device manager i found this:  ahci.JPG (43.14K)
Number of downloads: 46

I managed to find info about Intell chipset systems and how windows recognizes drives there HERE but nothing like that appeared in my case.

Also Everest and HD Tune could not read the hard drive smart info or thermal sensors. So what went wrong and how should i fix it?

This post has been edited by Volt: 07 October 2009 - 05:31 PM

[Fernando 1]

Volt, on Oct 8 2009, 01:24 AM, said:

So after I installed the drivers from Fernando 1's post according the guide of cdob, only exchanging x86 with x64, I managed to make my Win XP x64 boot with AHCI mode enabled in bios on my M3A H/HDMI mobo (BIOS version 1702) but the result was not what was expected.

The picture of your Device Manager shows, that you are running the AMD/ATI SATA Controller in RAID Mode (and not in AHCI Mode).

Quote

Also Everest and HD Tune could not read the hard drive smart info or thermal sensors. So what went wrong and how should i fix it?

You should make sure, that RAID is disabled and S.M.A.R.T. enabled within the BIOS.

[Volt]

Fernando 1, on Oct 9 2009, 09:32 PM, said:

The picture of your Device Manager shows, that you are running the AMD/ATI SATA Controller in RAID Mode (and not in AHCI Mode).

I was using IDE mode before and have only enables AHCI mode (i have never enabled RAID or used a raid configuration)
http://img522.images.../dscn3627z.jpg/

Quote

You should make sure, that RAID is disabled and S.M.A.R.T. enabled within the BIOS.

http://img390.images...i/dscn3623.jpg/
http://img408.images...i/dscn3628.jpg/
http://img230.images...i/dscn3632.jpg/
http://img408.images.../dscn3629v.jpg/
These are pictures i took from bios while AHCI is enables (changing back to IDE changed nothing anyway) i found no other options for RAID or AHCI in the BIOS and in windows i have absolutely no idea how to change RAID mode with AHCI
Enabling SMART from bios made no difference whatsoever
Thanks for the time and effort

This post has been edited by Volt: 12 October 2009 - 09:50 AM

[Phenomic]

My device manager looks similar with AHCI mode enabled, if AHCI is disabled in BIOS the whole "SCSI" tree is gone. And likewise, Speedfan is unable to read HD temps and SMART info in AHCI mode, but works fine in IDE. My mobo is Asus M4A78T-E and I didn't benchmark with/without AHCI to see if there's any improvement.

[Fernando 1]

Maybe I was wrong with my last post.
After having done a deeper look into the TXTSETUP.OEM and AHCIx86.INF file of the 32bit AMD/ATI textmode driver for Windows XP I found out, that AMD/ATI obviously has put the word "RAID" into the names of all "AHCI" devices (Controllers and Console). This is strange and absolutely misleading.

@ Volt:
I think, that you really are running your SATA hdd in AHCI Mode (as your BIOS settings verify) and can be sure, that the AHCI features (hot plugging and NCQ) are supported.
S.M.A.R.T. is no AHCI feature. If the used SATA drivers do not give you the S.M.A.R.T. informations although it has been enabled within the BIOS, you can get the informations nevertheless by using the tool CrystalDiskInfo. You can get it here: http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDi...fo/index-e.html

[Phenomic]

Phenomic, on Sep 22 2009, 08:05 AM, said:

Fernando 1, on Sep 22 2009, 02:16 AM, said:

Phenomic, on Sep 22 2009, 03:24 AM, said:

Are you saying that Windows 2000 cannot be installed on a machine with AMD 790GX/SB750 chipset?

No, that is a wrong conclusion of my post. It is no problem to get Windows 2000 installed onto such system, but the AMD/ATI SATA Controllers should be set to "IDE Mode". That means, that the AHCI support of the SATA Controllers have to be turned off within the BIOS.

Quote

Have you tested for sure?

No, my post is just a logical conclusion of the fact, that no AHCI supporting W2k drivers are availble. W2k is an OS, which was developed at a time where AHCI support was not actual at all.

Quote

Does that include all of the new socket AM3 mobos from Asus & Gigabyte. Would Win2k run in IDE mode as I mentioned above?

Double answer: Yes.

I used IDE mode in BIOS and slipstreamed Win2k with 2 different versions of AHCI driver, but Win2k would not recognize disks connected to the SATA controller. (Although I assume Win2k would work with disks connected to the 40-pin IDE controller.) That’s disappointing because Win2k works fine with NVIDIA chipsets.

I assume that Win2k must have a SATA driver since none is included with the original OS. What version of AHCI works with Win2k and AMD/ATI SB7xx southbridge?

Good morning Fernando. I posted above about both Win2000 and XP because they're basically the same OS. Do you have a recommended procedure for installing Win2k on the new AM3 mobos with AMD/ATI 790GX/SB750?

Asus website is showing Win2k support for M4A79T Deluxe and chipset drivers available for download.

Thanks.

[Fernando 1]

Phenomic, on Oct 13 2009, 02:11 PM, said:

I posted above about both Win2000 and XP because they're basically the same OS.

That is right, but there are some differences nevertheless. The main question is, if the built-in generic MS IDE drivers do detect and fully support the SATA drives, which should run in "IDE Mode".

Quote

Do you have a recommended procedure for installing Win2k on the new AM3 mobos with AMD/ATI 790GX/SB750?

Not really, because I never had such a system.
This is what I would try:
1. Integrate the actual AMD/ATI SB7xx chipset drivers (=Soutbridge drivers) as PnP drivers.
2. Try to install W2k by booting off the nLited CD.

Good luck!
Fernando

[Volt]

Fernando 1, on Oct 12 2009, 11:37 PM, said:

@ Volt:
I think, that you really are running your SATA hdd in AHCI Mode (as your BIOS settings verify) and can be sure, that the AHCI features (hot plugging and NCQ) are supported.
S.M.A.R.T. is no AHCI feature. If the used SATA drivers do not give you the S.M.A.R.T. informations although it has been enabled within the BIOS, you can get the informations nevertheless by using the tool CrystalDiskInfo. You can get it here: http://crystalmark.info/software/CrystalDi...fo/index-e.html

Thanks for the answer
btw even that tool is unable to read the S.M.A.R.T. looks like I'll have to do without

[Lowcarb]

actor, on Aug 28 2009, 12:39 PM, said:

Hi! I'm brand new to this forum, but sure glad I found it. I have a new ASUS M4A77TD-PRO motherboard with AMD 770/SB710 chipset. I was surprised to find no floppy drive capability on the mobo, and went looking for a way to install XP on a RAID set. All roads seemed to point to nLite slipstreaming, so that's what I have tried, but with no success until I read this forum. I think the problem stems from the version of RAID "F6" software provided on the mobo support DVD. When I read about Fernando 1's package he provided (see his post above), I downloaded it and tried it, and it worked! I presume the 9-4 and 9-6 he refers to are the Catalyst version numbers, and I don't know which Catalyst version would have the files on my support DVD. I do note that the latest Catalyst version is 9-8, and at the risk of burning another coaster, I may try that one. But the 9-4 version provided by Fernando works, and I just wanted to pass that info on for anyone else out there who may be struggling with this mobo.
Incidentally, the RAID drivers that didn't work came from this folder on the DVD:
Drivers\RAID\Driver\WinXP\x86
I also ran the "makedisk" utility and wrote the results to a local hard drive and used that folder for the slipstreaming, but that didn't work either.

Thanks for your Post Actor. I'm starting to suspect the drivers on the ASUS support CD also.
I'm trying to get RAID 1 to work on a new M4A785TD-V EVO useing my previous install that was on a Nvidia chipset MB.

I can boot into XP with the drives in SATA IDE mode.
If they are in SATA AHCI or SATA RAID 1 mode then XP reboots right after the flash screen.

I used the method offered by CDOB above of booting up in IDE mode, copying over the "ahcix86.sys to system32\drivers. " and importing the registry code.
I then set the drives to AHCI mode and reboot.
I thought I had succeeded as I booted into XP
As expected the OS looked for drivers again. UNFORTUNATELY I had the ASUS CD in the drive. So instead of pulling from the floppy I made, it pulled from the CD.
Next reboot I'm back to XP failing to load. UGGH!

So I guess I'm going to restore to a prior state and then try again.

Lowcarb

[cdob]

Lowcarb, on Oct 26 2009, 06:57 AM, said:

So I guess I'm going to restore to a prior state and then try again.

Can you boot at IDE mode still?
Copy over the good ahcix86.sys to system32\drivers again.

[Lowcarb]

cdob, on Oct 26 2009, 12:08 PM, said:

Can you boot at IDE mode still?

Yes

cdob, on Oct 26 2009, 12:08 PM, said:

Copy over the good ahcix86.sys to system32\drivers again.

Ya. That was my first thought. Did that. (copied over the driver from the v 9.4 catalyst package you recommended) No difference, still reboots

I was so excited when it booted after I first did the procedure.
Only thing I can think of is maybe I didn't use the driver version that I thought I did.

I'm not about to ask windows to restore to a previous state. I'm not sure what that might do to my non-raid'ed drives.

I guess I'll inventory how many different ahcix86.sys files I have and start swaping them one at a time to see how they each perform.
I'm a bit shocked though that a driver listed as 7xx family could be so picky about which version will work with the sb710.
Maybe I should have chosen a 790g/750 combo?

[Lowcarb]

OK. Some progress report.

No luck with replacing the ahcix86.sys in c:\windows\system32\drivers with various versions.
Something got broken during the first reboot after adding them.

But I do have luck with getting the install disk to load.
I had been using an slipstreamed SP3 disk. It worked fine with an Nvidia based system but when I used the F6 to load the AMD drivers it would BSOD.

I've seen some other posts in my search for and answer, where the posters reported that strange results were caused by a bad install disk.
On a whim, I reverted back to my slipstreamed SP2 disk. It correctly accepts the F6 drivers and continues along to the install choices.
So it looks like I'm going to use Repair option to get the drivers loaded into XP.
BTW I'm using the drivers that came on the ASUS support disk. They are the latest version that is available from the AMD site also. Specifically, Microsoft Windows miniport driver 3.1.1540.127. The ahcix86.sys is dated 4/8/2009 2:46AM and is 186KB


Now here is the rub.

XP installer reports that the RAID1 logical drive is corrupt and refuses to install to it.
This is not totally unexpected as I've booted the drives in RAID, IDE and AHCI mode many times over the last few days trying to figure this out.
I'm open to suggestions and advice on how to clear this up.
BTW , this is a multiboot system so I can boot up another OS.

Lend your support to one of these options I'm considering, or suggest your own.
FYI, there are two WD750 drives configured as a RAID1 Logical Drive

Option A:
Boot RAID1 array into Win7.
Rebuild the logical drive using RaidXpert (AMD RAID management software)
BOOT XP Install disk, Install XP onto the RAID1 Drive

Option B:
Configure drives as AHCI in BIOS
Boot W7 with 2 individual AHCI connected drives. Run CHKDSK on each to clean up any error (schedule from W7)
BOOT XP Install disk, Install XP onto one of the physical drives partitions
Configure drives as RAID in BIOS
BOOT into XP
Rebuild the logical drive using RaidXpert (AMD RAID management software)

Option C:
Similar to option B but disconnect the 2nd drive
Configure 1 drive as AHCI in BIOS
Boot with 1 individual AHCI connected drives. Run CHKDSK clean up any error (schedule from W7)
Boot XP install disk.. Install XP onto one of the physical drives partitions
Hook up 2nd drive
Configure drives as RAID in BIOS
BOOT into XP
Rebuild the logical drive using RaidXpert (AMD RAID management software)


Option D: Your sugestions

This post has been edited by Lowcarb: 27 October 2009 - 12:10 PM

[Lowcarb]

Well I tried A, B, C AND D (put drive in SATA IDE Mode)

The short story is:
XP Install loads up to the point where it is configuring the install registry and hangs at

 
Windows XP Professional Setup


Please wait while setup initializes your Windows XP configuration




Initializing configuration...
 

if hit the power switch once lightly the Initializing configuration... message at teh bottom of the screen changes to
Loading information file hivesft.inf

and the machine powers off


This happens no matter how the drives are configured (raid, ide, ) and even if everything is unplugged from all usb devices and legacy support is turned off in BIOS.

The install process has scrambled things to the point where I can't boot up under IDE mode as before. All restore points have been lost so I can't to a restore from the recovery console.

There comes a time when all operating systems face retirement. This might be the case for this hardware now with XP.

Still, at least one more thing I can try if I can get back to yesterdays state.

I'm copying a backup config from drives on another machine to a flash that I'll put back on this hardware. It's several hours to get it on the flash and then several more to restore it. Perhaps I'll get the box pack to the point where I can boot XP with the drive in SATA IDE mode.
If that happens my last ditch approach (should have thought of this earlier) unless you folks suggest something more enlightening, will be

Option E:
Put boot drive on SATA IDE channel
Put some other drive on an SATA AHCI channel.

Boot into windows and let windows discover new AHCI hardware and load the drivers.

This option may or may not require HOT unplugging, plugging of the SATA AHCI device in order to get windows to load without having ahcix86.sys loaded

[Phenomic]

Lowcarb, on Oct 28 2009, 09:28 AM, said:

...

There comes a time when all operating systems face retirement. This might be the case for this hardware now with XP.

...

XP installs just fine on AMD 785G/SB710 mobos, maybe you have some defective hardware. I was able to get AHCI running but it's buggy and there isn't much improvement over IDE.

Option D: -- Have you tried Ububtu Linux? It works without install gymnastics, it's free and there's no Windows activation crap.

[Lowcarb]

I got XP loading AHCI and then RAID.
There must have been something bad in the existing install (possibly through all the aborted boots and swapping between raid and ahci mode)
It eventually broke and I had to restore from a backup.
Once I had restored I was able to complete a repair install after loading the F6 drivers from usb floppy.


Getting the drives back into RAID 1 mode was less than easy with AMD RaidXpert. Probably the least intuitive utility I've touched in a long time.

Now my remaining problem is that the IDE CD drive is not recognized.

[dstk]

AMD / ATI SB6XX textmode RAID / AHCI drivers on an XP ???
Thanks.