Just noticed this with my new rig

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 9:52 am

When I did the install of XP, it did not ask for a driver disk for the SATA controller. During the install, it simply installed the OS without any issues. I just discovered while doing a performance check on the drives using HD Tach, that I'm getting only Ultra DMA 6 speed. I open the mobo manual and noticed that they have a setting in the bios that allows you to set the drives as IDE, which is why during the install it found the drive to install the OS on without asking for a driver disk.

So I go into the bios and change it to AHCI to take advantage of SATA technology, but it won't boot into XP. As soon as I get to the XP splash screen, I get a BSOD and it reboots. All the drivers have been installed. There were 4 of them: chipset, audio, lan, and raid.

Any ideas on this one? I really want to enable SATA for best performance.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 10:03 am

Did you install the SATA drivers before making the BIOS switch?

Even if you did, it may still not work because the address of the hardware address of the boot drive on the SATA controller may be different than it was under the IDE controller.

What you may need to do is a FIXBOOT or, worst case, a repair install of XP.

To perform a FIXBOOT: You must install the SATA drivers first, then switch BIOS to use the drives as SATA, then boot from the XP Install CD-Rom and choose the "Repair from Recovery Console" option during setup, and run Recovery Console. When you are logged in, type FIXBOOT at the command prompt.

If that fails to work, do a repair install of XP. Even though you've already installed the driver, I would use the F6 option when you boot from the XP CD to install the SATA drivers.

And of course the last option is to re-install windows clean which I know is a pain.

Hope this helps...

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 11:06 pm

Can't get Windows setup to recognize the SATA hard drives, even though the are listed in the BIOS. I even downloaded the latest drivers from JMicron and get the same results. I used the F6 option while booting the XP CD.
I was simply going to re-install since I did not have very much installed to begin with. Not sure what the issue is with Windows not detecting the drives.

EDIT:
I set it back to IDE, and looking in Device Manager, does this seem to be correct?

Performance using HD Tach:

I should be getting higher performance?

ZYFER · Post by **ZYFER** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 3:17 am

You sure you are using the right drivers? You might need completely different drivers for ahci mode and ide mode.
If it is a single download, more often than not, it even asks you which one to choose.

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 9:48 am

According to this link:
http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?id= ... uage=en-us
it's an issue with the driver and some hard drive models. I'm going to try it again tonight with the link that was provided.

Key Keeper · Post by **Key Keeper** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 1:23 pm

Which sata chip are you using for you OS install? If not on the J-Micron, then disable it in the bios. I had same problem installing vista till I disabled it, it wouldnt even see the nvidia controller. I see your intel sata drivers are part of the chipset driver package instead of standalone raid/sata drivers. Wonder if there is a way to get the files needed for F6 install outta package? I dL it and tried it but no workie.

EDIT: Here is the utility for making Intel raid floppy.
http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/misc/u ... kedisk.zip

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 4:41 pm

Key Keeper wrote:Which sata chip are you using for you OS install? If not on the J-Micron, then disable it in the bios. I had same problem installing vista till I disabled it, it wouldnt even see the nvidia controller. I see your intel sata drivers are part of the chipset driver package instead of standalone raid/sata drivers. Wonder if there is a way to get the files needed for F6 install outta package? I dL it and tried it but no workie.

EDIT: Here is the utility for making Intel raid floppy.
http://dlsvr03.asus.com/pub/ASUS/misc/u ... kedisk.zip

That is the same one in the link that I posted. I'll know tonight when I get home if it works or not. As for the SATA chip, I don't have the manual in front of me to see (or the mobo), but I think it's the J-Micron. Several threads that I read recommended that it be enabled even if you don't have a RAID setup.

Key Keeper · Post by **Key Keeper** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 8:06 pm

I enabled mine once I got OS installed on Nvidia raid controller. Which sata controller are you trying to install your os on? The Intel Matrix or the Jmicron? I thought the Jmicron was for Esata. Maybe Im mistaken though, damn asus page is loading too slow and I gotta hit the theatre.

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 8:16 pm

Got it installed, but look at Device Manger. Does this seem correct - especially the drives? I have the same performance as before - ~134 in HD Tach.

rogue · Post by **rogue** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 9:33 pm

Looks fine to me. You're paying too much attention to burst speed - your average read speed is 78.1 MB/s, which looks right (most 7200 RPM drives average around 60mb/s). If you're really worried, you can always reinstall the Intel chipset drivers, which should include any SATA controller drivers:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/filter_ ... bmit=Go%21

I'm pretty sure your mobo only has the Intel ICH9R controller, as do almost all higher-end P35 mobos.

Executioner · Post by **Executioner** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 10:17 pm

rogue wrote:Looks fine to me. You're paying too much attention to burst speed - your average read speed is 78.1 MB/s, which looks right (most 7200 RPM drives average around 60mb/s). If you're really worried, you can always reinstall the Intel chipset drivers, which should include any SATA controller drivers:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/filter_ ... bmit=Go%21

I'm pretty sure your mobo only has the Intel ICH9R controller, as do almost all higher-end P35 mobos.

Yep, I have the ICH9R controller. I've been reading the Asus site, and someone said they got it to work correctly by selecting the ICH8R driver during the F6. The problem is all the posts that I've read are issues with RAID which I do not want to setup.

I just find it strange that the SATA drives are not properly identified in Device Manager.

ZYFER · Post by **ZYFER** » Sat Dec 08, 2007 5:21 am

I think the drives are showing up that way since they are single drives and not in a Raid array (The Raid array's label would replace what you see) If you need to properly identify them, installing Intel's Matrix Storage Manager will allow you to view the drives in that program and check their status as well.