Intel AHCI Driver Problem

O

Oline61

Gawd
Joined
Aug 8, 2005
Messages
869
I've been running XP32 on the system in my sig, but I've decided to upgrade to Vista Business 64-bit because I got a free copy through my school. I had been running my ICH9 SATA controller in IDE mode, but I decided to install Vista in AHCI mode.

I downloaded the Intel Matrix Storage Manager Driver and followed the directions to extract the files and put them on a USB flash drive. During Vista installation I clicked "Load Driver" at the partitioning screen and plugged in the flash drive. The problem is in the driver list nothing shows up unless I untick the hide unnecessary drivers checkbox. I've tried selecting and installing several different things that appear to be a match for my hardware, but each time once the install completes my AHCI controller is using the default Windows drivers instead of the Intel drivers.

Also, if I try to install the Intel drivers once Vista is installed I am told that my system doesn't meet the minimum requirements for the driver.

I've reinstalled Vista ~8 times in the last 2 days trying to figure this out and I'm about ready to forget it and just install in IDE mode without the Intel drivers, because there appears to be something fubared in them.
 
Hello.
This may be a stupid question/suggestion, but have you gone into the bios and changed ide to ahci?
If you have, it sounds like a vista or mobo issue.
Have you tried slipstreaming sp1 into vista? That may or may not fix the issue.
 
You are going about this process in the wrong order. Set the BIOS to use AHCI, and then boot from the Vista disc and install Vista. I don't know why you are trying to load the drivers during the install, but they aren't needed. Once Vista is installed completely, load the Intel Chipset drivers, and that's it. I have four systems running Vista in AHCI mode on Intel chipsets, and I haven't once loaded the Matrix Storage Manager. You aren't using RAID functionality, especially Matrix RAID, so you don't need software for resources you aren't using. The driver utility told you this, by saying you didn't meet the minimum requirements.
 
DeaconFrost said:
You are going about this process in the wrong order. Set the BIOS to use AHCI, and then boot from the Vista disc and install Vista. I don't know why you are trying to load the drivers during the install, but they aren't needed. Once Vista is installed completely, load the Intel Chipset drivers, and that's it. I have four systems running Vista in AHCI mode on Intel chipsets, and I haven't once loaded the Matrix Storage Manager. You aren't using RAID functionality, especially Matrix RAID, so you don't need software for resources you aren't using. The driver utility told you this, by saying you didn't meet the minimum requirements.
Click to expand...

Are you sure you're not misunderstanding what he's trying to do? I thought that if you chose AHCI in your BIOS, you have to tell Vista where the drivers are (similar to WinXP F6 on install)? AHCI is not like IDE, you can't just tell the OS to install because it won't; it needs you to tell it where the drivers are before it can do that.
 
ajm786 said:
Are you sure you're not misunderstanding what he's trying to do? I thought that if you chose AHCI in your BIOS, you have to tell Vista where the drivers are (similar to WinXP F6 on install)? AHCI is not like IDE, you can't just tell the OS to install because it won't; it needs you to tell it where the drivers are before it can do that.
Click to expand...
Vista includes those drivers. I've done close to 30 Vista installs on Intel chipsets, and never once do you need to load drivers outside of the OS for AHCI on an Intel chipset.
 
2nding just install vista without extra drivers. I did this on my intel p35 motherboard in ahci mode with vista 32 home premium. Works just fine.

I'd also make sure the drive is plugged into the intel controller, and not a onboard 3rd party sata controller that a lot of mobo manufacturers are fond of including.

Modern os's are cool like that ;)
 
Thanks for the responses guys. I'll try installing without loading the drivers, and then I'll install the chipset drivers once Vista is loaded. I'll report back my findings.
 
DeaconFrost said:
Vista includes those drivers. I've done close to 30 Vista installs on Intel chipsets, and never once do you need to load drivers outside of the OS for AHCI on an Intel chipset.
Click to expand...

Cool. WinXP never had those drivers, so we always had to load them via F6.

Good to know. Guess I'll be testing some AHCI installs in the near future.
 
Just a word of caution, if you install with the Microsoft drivers, and then load the Intel AHCI drivers, and you have already activated, it will prompt you to reactivate. Make any changes before activation on this one. I prefer the Intel drivers.
 
That's the beauty of Vista. You have 30 days to get your drivers installed and functioning properly before you have to enter a key and activate. One I first started messing with Vista, I'd install it, get my drivers loaded, and run it through some intensive uses, like some games. Once I played around a bit, tried different drivers to make sure the OS was stable, I wiped it clean and started over, using only what I knew worked perfectly. Then I loaded my applications and started using the system.
 
Alright, I've got everything up and running smooth with AHCI on now. Thanks for the help everyone.
 
pardon my stupidity, what's the benefit of ahci? Why complicate your life. isn't a regular sata driver good enough any more?
 
Aside from the ability to hot-swap your SATA drives, there really isn't any benefit. I'm actually rolling my setups back to using the native IDE settings, just to simplify.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top