[outsounder]

Hi there

New to this and need some advice.

Got a new motherboard, ASUS P5Q series SE, Intel quad core and WD 500 SATA II drives.

Installed XP Pro 32 bit (sp3) and system is running fine though disks are quite slow, no faster than old system. I don't want to upgrade to Vista/Win 7 at present as there are no stable drivers for the A/V hardware installed.

The board has P45/ICHI10 Chipset and six SATA connectores on it.

In the BIOS it tells me that I have SATA disks conected to IDE in Ultra DMA Mode 5 - PIO.

I didn't realise that you had to do an F6 during install to load SATA drivers nd i've gone ahead and installed and set up my applications

I'm only allowed to have the applications installed on 1 machine with a "grace" allowance for 1 hardware update a year - this means i'll have all sorts of headwork if I do a fresh install and may not be able to re-register my apps for a year or pay unknown amounts to do so.

Would any one know if it's it possible to modify the current installation and add the AHCI drivers to get the best out of the SATA drives, and is it worth it, will i gain any increase in speed? If so are there simple downloads ready made to achieve it or would I have to do crash course on programming ?

be grateful for any advice

Cheers

[Sp0iLedBrAt]

It is possible with AMD AHCI; I found a topic (post #9 ) on these forums and successfully implemented it; however, I can't be sure about Intel's SATA/AHCI drivers. Maybe Fernando 1 can give you the answer you want.

[cdob]

outsounder, on 08 March 2010 - 08:50 AM, said:

to modify the current installation and add the AHCI drivers

Compare post #213
http://www.msfn.org/...33
Use the mentioned registry settings, but copy a iastor.sys relating to your hardware.

[outsounder]

Ok guys, thats great so far........I found the reg mods in the posts you refer to and think i could probably type that into notepad or copy and paste it would be better LOL.

But which line points to the iastor.sys and how do I point to that or where do I put them?

I downloaded the latest AHCI driver from intel website, but it's quiet a few lines of code and I don't know where to put them, I think they're intended to make a floppy disk.

If I mess it up, will i be able to restore the old reg and boot normally?

If you sense i'm a bit nervous about doing this your absolutely right

[allen2]

You should create a partition image of your xp before messing with it. You might need to use this tool => http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=22523 to change to sata ahci drivers.

[outsounder]

allen2, on 08 March 2010 - 04:11 PM, said:

You should create a partition image of your xp before messing with it. You might need to use this tool => http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=22523 to change to sata ahci drivers.

Oh I do keep a current back up of all my drives - learnt to do that a long time ago, the thought of spending sleepness nights re-installing and tweaking is some i've been, but I don't wear the T-shirt any more

I suppose what i want to know is will it speed up the system if I change, CPU is fab compared to the old P4 but disk access is just the same,a bit dissapointing really !

[outsounder]

Hmm...I had a look at that link/post - thanks a lot, it looks a bit wierd though, how can the drive be offline if i'm using it to "inject" drivers on to it? that might be a bit naive to ask but i'm quite new to all this SATA thing - I don't want to setup a raid system, I just want my disks to be SATA because that what I bought and that's what I want !

A few other posts i've read on the ASUS website say there's not really any speed advantage in installing SATA drivers.

Other posts suggest that WD ship all thier drives set to SATA 1 for compatabilty with older mobo's and suggest that you run the Hitachi disk utilities to reset them to SATA II - but that needs DOS and as far as i can make out XP doesn't have true DOS...???

[cdob]

outsounder, on 08 March 2010 - 11:29 AM, said:

But which line points to the iastor.sys

The Service part load the driver.
And the CriticalDeviceDatabase line points to iastor.sys.

Quote

and how do I point to that or where do I put them?

Copy and paste text, save to a iastor.reg. Import the reg file.

http://downloadcente...1&DwnldID=17883
Get a compressed file f6flpy3289.zip. Extract the file iastor.sys.
Copy iastor.sys to %SystemRoot%\system32\drivers.

Reboot. Goto BIOS, set AHCI. Boot to windows.
Driver are added at basic settings. PNP ask for full installation, apply previous downloaded files.

Quote

If I mess it up, will i be able to restore the old reg and boot normally?

IDE emulation booting is possible still.
Goto BIOS, set IDE emualtion and boot to windows.

Quote

how can the drive be offline if i'm using it to "inject" drivers on to it

That's another approach: boot to a PE first.
Current Windows is loaded from CD or USB. Read your working windows is offline.
Insert the driver to the offline windows, the drive itself has to be online.
I prefer fix_hdc myself. http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=20464

[outsounder]

Oh dear me, I don't know what you mean when you say boot to PE first and I don't have a floppy and don't how to boot to windows from a usb.

I had a look in my BIOS and can't see an opion for IDE Emulation.

I think I should leave well alone for the moment, I've ordered a new hard drive to expand my storage which should arrive in the next day or two, if I format that and do a clean XP installation with F6 and set up SATA that way, then restore my Acronis image to it, will it keep the SATA driver settings or would the Acronis image overwrite the master boot record?

Maybe I should hunt down a little free ware/share ware utility that would do it for me, i've emailed ASUS and Intel to ask them for the correct iastor.sys file, I know how put a machine together, install windows and make simple reg tweaks to stop auto play of CD and speed up the menu etc, but I just can't seem to grasp this at the moment

[cdob]

outsounder, on 10 March 2010 - 07:24 AM, said:

I don't know what you mean when you say boot to PE first and I don't have a floppy and don't how to boot to windows from a usb.

Ignore the PE part.

Quote

I had a look in my BIOS and can't see an opion for IDE Emulation.

Your BIOS may use another name.
Which nane does your BIOS use currently?
Remember the

Quote

In the BIOS it tells me that I have SATA disks conected to IDE in Ultra DMA Mode 5 - PIO.

Quote

I think I should leave well alone for the moment, I've ordered a new hard drive to expand my storage which should arrive in the next day or two, if I format that and do a clean XP installation with F6 and set up SATA that way, then restore my Acronis image to it, will it keep the SATA driver settings or would the Acronis image overwrite the master boot record?

The master boot record dosn't set AHCI. Ignore this.
I doubt restoring a image include drivers. Old image won't boot.

Quote

Maybe I should hunt down a little free ware/share ware utility that would do it for me, i've emailed ASUS and Intel to ask them for the correct iastor.sys file, I know how put a machine together, install windows and make simple reg tweaks to stop auto play of CD and speed up the menu etc, but I just can't seem to grasp this at the moment

The link to the correct iastor.sys file was named already.
Adding AHCI support to registry is a simple reg tweak too: just import a reg file.

Lenovo offers a install.cmd to post install AHCI drivers.
http://www-307.ibm.c...ocid=MIGR-70477
Adjust IMSM_PRE.inf, add CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&cc_0106.

[outsounder]

cdob, on 10 March 2010 - 12:47 PM, said:

outsounder, on 10 March 2010 - 07:24 AM, said:

I don't know what you mean when you say boot to PE first and I don't have a floppy and don't how to boot to windows from a usb.

Ignore the PE part.

Quote

I had a look in my BIOS and can't see an opion for IDE Emulation.

Your BIOS may use another name.
Which nane does your BIOS use currently?
Remember the

Quote

In the BIOS it tells me that I have SATA disks conected to IDE in Ultra DMA Mode 5 - PIO.

Quote

I think I should leave well alone for the moment, I've ordered a new hard drive to expand my storage which should arrive in the next day or two, if I format that and do a clean XP installation with F6 and set up SATA that way, then restore my Acronis image to it, will it keep the SATA driver settings or would the Acronis image overwrite the master boot record?

The master boot record dosn't set AHCI. Ignore this.
I doubt restoring a image include drivers. Old image won't boot.

Quote

Maybe I should hunt down a little free ware/share ware utility that would do it for me, i've emailed ASUS and Intel to ask them for the correct iastor.sys file, I know how put a machine together, install windows and make simple reg tweaks to stop auto play of CD and speed up the menu etc, but I just can't seem to grasp this at the moment

The link to the correct iastor.sys file was named already.
Adding AHCI support to registry is a simple reg tweak too: just import a reg file.

Lenovo offers a install.cmd to post install AHCI drivers.
http://www-307.ibm.c...ocid=MIGR-70477
Adjust IMSM_PRE.inf, add CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&cc_0106.

Ok, I got the Lenovo install which looks fairly straight forward and i've mailed ASUS for advice om which are the correct drivers to install for the chipset on my mobo, i'm just a bit confused on importing a a reg file or tweaking the reg to get it to work.

Once i've updated the drivers in device manager, what do I have to do exactly to the reg? Modify it or import a new reg file? the line quoted :

"Adjust IMSM_PRE.inf, add CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&cc_0106."

It means absolutely nothing to me ! Where would I find it, or do I have to make it and insert it anywhere? I think i'm getting a bit mixed up here as there are a few posts showing differing methods, which is great and many thanks to the people posting, it's just me getting confused !

Sorry if i'm a bit slow gasping this but I am quite a novice. The reg tweaks I've done have been published in step by step instructions , for example, how to disable the CD autoplay etc.

[cdob]

outsounder, on 15 March 2010 - 02:52 PM, said:

i'm just a bit confused on importing a a reg file or tweaking the reg to get it to work.

Once i've updated the drivers in device manager, what do I have to do exactly to the reg?

You don't update driver in device manager.

Save the reg file code to a file.
Import the reg file.
Copy iastor.sys to %SystemRoot%\system32\driver.
Reboot, goto BIOS, set AHCI, reboot.

Ignore IMSM_PRE.inf so far.

[outsounder]

cdob, on 15 March 2010 - 04:01 PM, said:

outsounder, on 15 March 2010 - 02:52 PM, said:

i'm just a bit confused on importing a a reg file or tweaking the reg to get it to work.

Once i've updated the drivers in device manager, what do I have to do exactly to the reg?

You don't update driver in device manager.

Save the reg file code to a file.
Import the reg file.
Copy iastor.sys to %SystemRoot%\system32\driver.
Reboot, goto BIOS, set AHCI, reboot.

Ignore IMSM_PRE.inf so far.

[outsounder]

outsounder, on 15 March 2010 - 04:15 PM, said:

cdob, on 15 March 2010 - 04:01 PM, said:

outsounder, on 15 March 2010 - 02:52 PM, said:

i'm just a bit confused on importing a a reg file or tweaking the reg to get it to work.

Once i've updated the drivers in device manager, what do I have to do exactly to the reg?

You don't update driver in device manager.

Save the reg file code to a file.
Import the reg file.
Copy iastor.sys to %SystemRoot%\system32\driver.
Reboot, goto BIOS, set AHCI, reboot.

Ignore IMSM_PRE.inf so far.

Hmm....the Lenovo utility doesn't support the ICH10 82801 JIB chipset for my motherboard...

[outsounder]

outsounder, on 15 March 2010 - 04:20 PM, said:

outsounder, on 15 March 2010 - 04:15 PM, said:

cdob, on 15 March 2010 - 04:01 PM, said:

outsounder, on 15 March 2010 - 02:52 PM, said:

i'm just a bit confused on importing a a reg file or tweaking the reg to get it to work.

Once i've updated the drivers in device manager, what do I have to do exactly to the reg?

You don't update driver in device manager.

Save the reg file code to a file.
Import the reg file.
Copy iastor.sys to %SystemRoot%\system32\driver.
Reboot, goto BIOS, set AHCI, reboot.

Ignore IMSM_PRE.inf so far.

Hmm....the Lenovo utility doesn't support the ICH10 82801 JIB chipset for my motherboard...

According to instructions from Lenovo website on the utility -

12. Click Start.
13. [Windows 7/Vista]
Right-click Computer, and then click Properties. At the left pane, click Device Manager.
[Windows XP]
Right-click My Computer, click Properties, click the Hardware tab, and then click Device Manager.
14. Double-click the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers or Storage controllers category.
15. Double-click either of the following devices.
* Intel® 82801HEM/HBM SATA AHCI Controller
* Intel® 82801GBM SATA AHCI Controller
* Intel® ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller
* Intel® ICH8M-E/ICH9M-E/M SATA RAID Controller
* Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller
* Intel® ICH9M/M-E Family 4 Port SATA AHCI Controller - 2929
* RAID Controller.
16. Click the Driver tab, then click Update Driver Software...
17. Click Browse my computer for driver software.
18. Click Browse..., then point to driver location specified in Step 9.
19. Make sure the checkbox next to "Include subfolders" is checked and click

That to me reads go to device manager and update...???

Now I'm really confused

[Sp0iLedBrAt]

If you do it that way, you will NOT get AHCI. Listen to these guys:

1.Download the file I've attached and double-click it. This will import info to the registry.
2. Go to Windows\System32\drivers and put iastor.sys there.
3. Restart
4. Go to BIOS and set AHCI instead of IDE, save changes and exit
5. When XP boots up, it will ask you for AHCI drivers; point to the folder where you keep the Intel SATA/AHCI drivers
6. That's it. Enjoy

Attached File(s)

•  INTEL_AHCI.reg (601bytes)
  Number of downloads: 12

[outsounder]

Sp0iLedBrAt, on 15 March 2010 - 04:40 PM, said:

If you do it that way, you will NOT get AHCI. Listen to these guys:

1.Download the file I've attached and double-click it. This will import info to the registry.
2. Go to Windows\System32\drivers and put iastor.sys there.
3. Restart
4. Go to BIOS and set AHCI instead of IDE, save changes and exit
5. When XP boots up, it will ask you for AHCI drivers; point to the folder where you keep the Intel SATA/AHCI drivers
6. That's it. Enjoy

Oh Wow !As simple as that !

Now I can understand that and I just hope it will be worth all the headbanging - I just got this from ASUS -

The latest SATA devices that the board can support are SATA 3Gbit/s drives.. and support the advanced SATA features that go with SATA II like NCQ and HotSwapping... However, it can't support the new SATA 6Gbit/s protocal...

SATA 1 ~ 6 support 3Gbit/s bandwidth.

The advanced SATA features can help in a business or Enterprise environment but they are not as useful to a home user.

Performance of the system in terms of application operation will depend very little on the SATA protocal... IDE or AHCI... although in some cases, RAID can increase data loading performance ... generally a small portion of the total application running time.

LOL - seems I may be chasing a dead duck but at least i'll know it's as it should be.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has noticed increased performance from IDE to SATA

[outsounder]

outsounder, on 15 March 2010 - 05:54 PM, said:

Sp0iLedBrAt, on 15 March 2010 - 04:40 PM, said:

If you do it that way, you will NOT get AHCI. Listen to these guys:

1.Download the file I've attached and double-click it. This will import info to the registry.
2. Go to Windows\System32\drivers and put iastor.sys there.
3. Restart
4. Go to BIOS and set AHCI instead of IDE, save changes and exit
5. When XP boots up, it will ask you for AHCI drivers; point to the folder where you keep the Intel SATA/AHCI drivers
6. That's it. Enjoy

Oh Wow !As simple as that !

Now I can understand that and I just hope it will be worth all the headbanging - I just got this from ASUS -

The latest SATA devices that the board can support are SATA 3Gbit/s drives.. and support the advanced SATA features that go with SATA II like NCQ and HotSwapping... However, it can't support the new SATA 6Gbit/s protocal...

SATA 1 ~ 6 support 3Gbit/s bandwidth.

The advanced SATA features can help in a business or Enterprise environment but they are not as useful to a home user.

Performance of the system in terms of application operation will depend very little on the SATA protocal... IDE or AHCI... although in some cases, RAID can increase data loading performance ... generally a small portion of the total application running time.

LOL - seems I may be chasing a dead duck but at least i'll know it's as it should be.

I'd be interested to hear if anyone has noticed increased performance from IDE to SATA

It doesn't work !

Followed your instructions to the T - imported the re file by double clicking on it, copied the iastor.sys to the file sytem win32 folder, rebooted and changed the bios to AHCI and it boots, get a VERY faint Windows loading screen and it just goes round and round in circles - never reaching a point when it should ask me where the correct drivers are !

What can say? Any ideas ? HELP !!!

[cdob]

Enter BIOS and set the previous setting.

[cdob]

Quote

copied the iastor.sys to the file sytem win32 folder

Did you copy file to system32\drivers\ folder?

This post has been edited by cdob: 15 March 2010 - 11:37 PM