Booting Win XP in AHCI mode -- ASRock 990FX Extreme4-- XP installed in IDE mode.

[AudioDoc]

Recently built a new system using the 990FX Exteme4 Motherboard with FX 8150 processor -- my first new build in 8 years since my good old Abit NF7 with Athlon XP2500+. Things have changed a bunch! I installed Win XP on an OCZ SDD no problems. I just purchased Win 8 and a Samsung SSD with the intention of dual booting. The Samsung instructions said to set the bios for AHCI mode (didn't even know it existed). No problems there. But what do you know, XP won't boot because I installed it in Ide mode! I downloaded and installed the latest driver from AMD's site that was to include the AHCI diver -- but it doesn't show up in the device manager. What do I have to do to get XP to boot to AHCI mode, so I can dual boot both operating systems? Short of a new install and having to re-install all my software and settings? Has anyone here done this with the ASRock 990FX Exteme4? I found a few methods by searching for Intel based boards. I need to figure which is the correct driver in the unpacked file I downloaded from AMD and get this loaded correctly.

Thanks!

[- wardog -]

I just D/L'd and unpacked the 12.10 drivers for XP.

x:\AMD\Support\12-10_xp32-64_sb\Packages\Drivers\SBDrv\hseries\AHCI_svr and then either /XP or /XP64A depending on your XP install being x86(32bit) or x64(64bit)

[profJim]

Search using: win xp ahci registry hack
This should allow you to "fix" the XP registry so that you can then set AHCI mode in your bios.
The other option is to reinstall XP after you've enabled AHCI mode in the bios.
You should then be good to go with installing win8 on your Samsung ssd.

You might need to modify the search to include AMD in the search in case there are any hack differences between Intel and AMD.
Let us know how you make out.

[AudioDoc]

Thank you wardog and profJim! I had actually already found that diver in the unpacked AMD download. Also have done plenty of searching for AMD hacks including this one: How to enable AHCI after having installed Windows XP
Following those instructions, I find only primary, secondary and dual channel IDE drivers. Attempting to update those to the AMD AHCI driver get me the message that the driver contains no info about my hardware (or something to that effect). There is the Marvel Sata driver listed under SCSI (I know about that one for SATA ports 6 and 7 and could use that if all else fails).a pig. I'll keep trying. Thanks again for your help. Any other tips of course will be very welcome.

Regards,

Kelly

[- wardog -]

Following those instructions, I find only primary, secondary and dual channel IDE drivers.

I trust "drivers' above you meant to say "devices'.

Kelly, before doing anything of the below link, can you give us a screenshot of the devices listed under "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers" from your current Device Manager?

Pictures are worth a thousand words:
Guide: Enable AHCI in Windows XP After Installation - Bootbeta

[AudioDoc]

Thanks, Wardog!

Yes, I meant devices -- sorry. There is no Sata device listed under "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers". Had to work today, but I'll post a screenshot later. Only IDE controllers listed. I remember with my old Abit NF7 v2 (sata was supported by a Silicon Image IC rather than natively by the chip set) since that was in the very early days of SATA and XP didn't have SATA drivers I always had to load the SIlI drivers by pressing F6 during setup, otherwise only PATA devices were recognized. I would have expected that in this case too, but XP installed fine anyway. Remember as I mentioned, having IDE, Raid, and AHCI mode settings in the bios is entirely new for me and I must assume that must have something to do with what I'm experiencing. Kind of wondering if I have to do the same here. I actually tried running setup again (to run repair and loading the .inf file on a floppy but setup needs more than just the .inf sata file. May not have fixed anything anyway. But if it were to, I am wondering what I would need on that floppy.

Thanks for the link.

Regards,

Kelly

[AudioDoc]

Wardog,
I've attached a screenshot as .pdf. Any idea?
Regards,
Kelly

[- wardog -]

Wardog,
I've attached a screenshot as .pdf. Any idea?

Er, ummm, before I get ahead of myself I better ask what make/model HD's you have there. And seeings they're coming from an NF-7(NON-Sata) are they IDE or Sata?

And seeings I'll be wading into the deep end what with me not having done this in XP, please have or make a backup of any data you wish to keep should things go oblong. JIC!!

[AudioDoc]

Er, ummm, before I get ahead of myself I better ask what make/model HD's you have there. And seeings they're coming from an NF-7(NON-Sata) are they IDE or Sata?

And seeings I'll be wading into the deep end what with me not having done this in XP, please have or make a backup of any data you wish to keep should things go oblong. JIC!!

Sorry about confusing the issue here, wardog. I'm not using my HDD from the NF7, I have two new SSDs, one with XP installed in IDE mode and one with Win 8 installed in AHCI mode and I want to dual boot and need to get XP into AHCI mode. The ASRock has 6 sata 3 ports on the AMD chip set and 2 on a Marvel chip. I need to operate these two SDDs from the AMD chip set. I always keep data on a separate drive, so no worry there.

Regards,

Kelly

[- wardog -]

Sorry about confusing the issue here, wardog.

No. I'm sorry. It was late when I posted that and I'd obviously forgot plum about what you posted earlier.

Let's take a different tack at this.

See the online User Manual for the 990FX Extreme4 HERE, then reference "Make a SATA3 driver diskette by following section 2.16.1 step 2 on page 45." where what you need to create the driver floppy is the Support CD that came with the Extreme4 and a floppy drive. We'll update them after we get XP into AHCI mode with AHCI drivers installed.

"Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller" are our three "targets' that we want to update using the aforementioned floppy with. Not the asst Primary's and Secondary's as they are child devices of the actual IDE/AHCI controllers.

Try using the floppy to update and reply back. Update all three BEFORE rebooting. Windows might prompt in between each to reboot. Don't reboot until you have updated all three. Then, after updating and in the reboot after changing the three then enter the BIOS and change to AHCI, save and reboot. Here XP should start no problems.

If you do have problems afterwards, post back and I'll slap a HD in here, install XP in IDE mode, and document what I needed to do to get the AHCI drivers installed and working w/o reinstalling the OS.

Though I'd much prefer, IMHO, to have a clean install using the F6 driver method now that I knew I had the proper drivers on floppy.

For the life of me I can't reason why XP won't boot there for you but maybe I'll discover why if and when you'd like me to install XP here.