AHCI driver for Intel H81M Chipsets

Hi,
Before i start I would like to great everybody from Poland.

So i have a MSI H81M-P33 motherboard an i am trying to instal windows xp (don’t judge me ;p) in AHCI mode but as we all know it’s unsupported. Well i found this forum and i did tried to Enable AHCI in Windows XP After Installation and even add those drivers modded by Fernando with nLite but as it seems 8c08 and 8c00 devices are not supported… Or am I wrong?

So is there a way or should i just move on and leave it as it is?

Here is a screenshot of my device manager:


Oh yeah and this:


EDIT by Fernando: The thread title has been corrected, because it was misleading. DEV_8C08 is the DeviceID of an Intel 8-Series SATA Controller, which is running in IDE mode. Consequence: No AHCI driver is usable with such SATA Controller.
By the way: The DeviceIDs of the Intel 8-Series SATA AHCI Controllers are DEV_8C02 (for Desktops) resp. DEV_8C03 (for Mobiles).

@ smalldragor:
Welcome at Win-RAID Forum!

And you get greetings back from Spain.

If you want to get Windows XP installed in AHCI mode, you have to enter the BIOS and to change the SATA mode of the Intel SATA Controller to “AHCI”, before you are going to start the XP installation.
DEV_8C06 and DEV_8C00 are the DeviceIDs of the Intel SATA Controller running in IDE mode.

If you leave the Intel SATA Controller to “IDE” mode, you will be able to get Windows XP installed without the need of loading (F6) or integrating any Intel AHCI driver, but this way the OS will not run in AHCI mode.

Regards
Fernando

Fernando is right. First you need to change it from the BIOS. Keep in mind though that if you do it now (after the OS is installed) you’ll get a BSOD while booting. You need to change something in the registry first while in IDE mode and then change it to AHCI via the BIOS.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

Thanks for the reply



If i start my clean installation in AHCI mode the only thing i will get is a BSoD after the initial driver load from my boot cd. I’ve tried a clean MSDNAA windows xp cd and a cd with integrated universal SATA drivers.
The BSoD message is STOP: 0X0000007B (0xF78d2524,0XC0000034,0X00000000, 0X00000000).

So i am still stuck at this and i might be wrong but i think that without proper win xp AHCI drivers fot this motherboard i will not be able to change after the win xp installation to AHCI mode as shown here or make another attempt at adding AHCI drivers and then to start a clean installation using those integrated on my boot-cd in AHCI bios mode.

Edit:



What? Where? Could you expand that thought?

This is typical BSOD message users get, who had either loaded/integrated a wrong (not suitable) SATA driver resp. SATA Controller or have used a Windows XP CD, where other (not suitable) SATA drivers have already been integrated before.
Please follow my guide, which I have layed down within the start post of >this< thread by integrating just the “Universal 32bit Intel RST textmode driver v11.2.0.1006 mod by Fernando” and highlighting only the Intel SATA AHCI Controller, which is listed with the correct DeviceID.

What plutomaniac meant is to install Windows XP in IDE mode and to do the switch to “AHCI” from within the running XP.
You do not even need to change the registry settings manually, if you do this:

  1. Install Windows XP (should be the SP2 or SP3 version) in IDE mode (without loasding/integrating any AHCI driver).
  2. Once XP is up, run the Device Manager, expand the section “IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers” and right click onto the listed Intel SATA Controller (will be named “Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller”), where your system drive (drive C:) is connected.
  3. Choose “Update Driver Software” > “Browse my Computer…” > “Let me pick…”.
  4. Hit the “Have Disk” button and navigate to the previously downloaded and unzipped “Universal 32bit Intel RST textmode driver v11.2.0.1006 mod by Fernando”.
  5. Hit the file named iaAHCI.inf, choose the correct on-board Intel SATA AHCI Controller name (very important: Check the DeviceID!!!) and let the OS install the driver (disregarding all warnings).
  6. Reboot, but enter the BIOS while rebooting (otherwise you will get a BSOD).
  7. Set the Intel SATA Controller to “AHCI” and save this new BIOS setting.
  8. Reboot into Windows XP, which now should run in AHCI mode.

Good luck!



How can i find the right deviceID ? I really did think that it is 8c08 but it is not on the list. On the list is only dev_8c02 and dev_9c02.

And I accually did try both (dev_8c02 and dev_9c02) Intel(R) 8 series/C220 but it just crashed my PC in the middle of instalation through device manager.


As far as I understand, you have already installed Windows XP. Fernando’s guide is geared towards someone who wants to install Windows XP using AHCI in the first place. Since you installed in IDE try this:

1) Make sure you are in IDE mode inside the BIOS
2) Run the Registry Editor (regedit.exe)
3) Navigate to Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci
4) Set the “Start” value to 0 (zero)
5) Navigate to Registry Key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Pciide
6) Set the “Start” value to 0 (zero)
7) Shut down
8) Start up again, but before Windows boots go into the BIOS configuration screens and change the disk mode to “AHCI”. Save the new BIOS configuration and restart so that Windows boots.
9) Once inside Windows XP, install the drivers for AHCI

EDIT_NOTE: Windows Vista and later only…



Definetly will not work under WIN XP. I tried to search for those reg entries and could not find then on my good 'ol win xp


Now let’s get back to Fernando’s method… As i can’t find the proper driver (deviceID) i can’t integrade it to my win-cd or/and try to reinstall it on my windows xp using his second method.

The safest way to find out the exact DeviceID of your on-board Intel SATA AHCI Controller is to have a Windows OS from Vista up running on the system in AHCI mode.
Then you can verify the DeviceID by opening the “IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers” section of the Device Manager, doing a right click onto the listed AHCI Controller and choosing “Properties” > “Details” > “Property” > “HardwareIDs”.

No, it will not work with Windows XP, because XP doesn’t have any generic AHCI driver named MSAHCI.SYS.

I am pretty sure, that your on-board Intel SATA AHCI Controller has the DeviceID DEV_8C02. So you will have good chances to succeed, if you choose the listed “Intel(R) 8 Series/C220 Chipset Family Desktop SATA AHCI Controller DEV_8C02 (added by Fernando)”



Thank you for answering Fernando but as i said earlier when i use DEV_8C02 or DEV_9C02 my PC crashes in the middle of instalation process.

The DeviceIDs of your 2- and 4-port Intel IDE Controllers are DEV_8C08 and DEV_8C00. This lets me think, that the AHCI Controller is DEV_8C02 (and not DEV_9C02).
What exactly have you done previously, when you got the instant BSODs and how did you do it?

The DeviceIDs of your 2- and 4-port Intel IDE Controllers are DEV_8C08 and DEV_8C00. This lets me think, that the AHCI Controller is DEV_8C02 (and not DEV_9C02).
What exactly have you done previously, when you got the instant BSODs and how did you do it?





In AHCI mode -> Well i have a clean MSDNAA win xp sp2 boot-cd i just started the instalation. I never did push any buttons but after the F6 and F2 install other drivers messages i got a black screen and my PC crashes. On my next try i did try a sata integrated drivers boot-cd . Same thing happened.

IDE mode -> clean install without problems. I did install a few drivers and after that i tried to install dev_8c02/9c02 drivers as shown in your previous posts on on screenshot and arund the internet. Durring the installation process of iaAHCI.inf my computer just went black and the system needed to load again.

Maybe this? Aren’t the drivers from Fernando RST mods?

Ok. This would explain a lot. My mistake was that i though that if BIOS allows to change mods from AHCI to IDE that it accually supports this feauture

Yes, RST is not supported for that entry-level chipset. I guess it’s using a stock AHCI bios module and stock/generic Windows drivers.

Yeah so i accually took some time to install win7 in AHCI mode and as it seems that it is DEV_8c02. Crap now i do not know what am i doing wrong on my winxp.


If the mainboard doesn’t work with RST drivers, I doubt, that it will support AHCI at all.

@ smalldragor:
When you enter the BIOS, do you see any possibility to set the (Intel) SATA Controller to “AHCI”?

I’m not quite sure if i understand it wright but picture i made shows that there is SATA mode option: IDE mode and AHCI mode. I can change those mods by will, and in win 7 it is working in AHCI mode using AHCI dev_8c02 drivers

Ok, now - while running Win7 in AHCI mode - you can test, if my “modded” Intel RST driver v11.2.0.1006 are working with your system.
Please replace the generic MS AHCI driver manually from within the Device Manager. Important: You have to force the installation by using the “Have Disk” button!