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Windows 7 -> Windows 10 AHCI Problems

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DarkStar02

2[H]4U
Joined
Mar 1, 2006
Messages
2,160
I've been running Windows 7 x64 on a 120gb Kingston SSD as my main drive with a 1tb HDD for storing pictures, videos, games, etc. I recently purchased a 500gb Samsung 850 Pro because I've outgrown the 120gb drive. I tried migrating my Windows 7 install to the new Samsung SSD using the Samsung data migration tool but it would fail every time. I have a Surface Pro 3 running Windows 10 and decided it was time to make the switch to Windows 10 on my main desktop as well. I bought a license and tried installing a fresh install on the new Samsung SSD but for some reason it wouldn't install. While installing, it would finish copying all the files for installation and then when it went to do the first reboot during the install it would take me back to the main Windows 10 install dvd screen instead of proceeding with the installation. For some reason I had the idea to change from AHCI to IDE in the BIOS and tried installing again. It worked! However, I now can't switch back to AHCI or else it comes up with a black Disk Read Error screen and the only option is to hit ctrl+alt+del to restart. I went back into bios and switched it back from AHCI to IDE and it booted into Windows 10 no problem. I switched back to my 120gb SSD to look at the device manager and I see that under the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers section, there is a specific chipset driver for the AHCI controller. Here is a screenshot comparing the two:

wBtWHD1.jpg


I decided to switch back to IDE and boot into my Windows 10 installation to see if I could install the chipset drivers but they are only available up to Windows 8. I tried going to properties and setting the compatibility mode to windows 8 and running as administrator but it just gives me this message:

x4xHjWO.png


I then tried to install the Intel Driver Update Utility but it shows that there are no Intel drivers to be installed. I then dug through the chipset drivers subfolders and found the .sys and .inf files that I believe are the drivers and installed them. However, it still shows 'Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller' in the device manager instead of 'Intel(R) 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family 6 Port SATA AHCI Controller - 1C02'. I also read that I need to make some registry edits to enable AHCI but the first instruction is to browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/services/msahci but that entry doesn't show up in Windows 10, only in Windows 7. I also tried finding where the drivers are located (C:/Windows/System32/drivers/atapi.sys, ataport.sys, msahci.sys, and pciidex.sys) and copying them into the drivers folder of Windows 10 but I got an access denied error. Any other suggestions? I've been banging my head on the table for hours now and I'm pretty much out of ideas.

EDIT: Also, the system in my sig is outdated. I am currently running an i5-2500k with 8gb of RAM on an ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z/GEN 3 motherboard as seen here: http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/MAXIMUS_IV_GENEZGEN3/specifications/
 
Things I've tried since the first post:

1.) Updated the BIOS to the latest version
2.) Ran memtest and got some errors after 1 hour. Pulled 1 stick of RAM and ran memtest for another hour without any errors. Currently only running 1 stick.
3.) Tried the "Reset Windows" option under Repair on the w10 install DVD
4.) Tried the "Startup Repair" option under Repair on the w10 installation DVD
5.) Put the Intel 6 series/C200 series drivers on a USB and loaded them before reinstalling w10 under AHCI

Still nothing is working to get it working under AHCI mode :(
 
I just checked the startup repair log file in E:\Windows\System32\LogFiles\srt\srttrail.txt and all the tests completed successfully but at the bottom it says Root Cause Found: The operating system version is incompatible with Startup Repair.

This is the same DVD that I used to install it, I downloaded the iso directly from ms and verified the dvd to make sure it burned correctly. What gives? :(
 
Ran chkdsk /f /r /x and everything is fine. Tried bootrec /fixMBR, bootrec /Fixboot, and bootrec /rebuildBCD and still no luck. I'm really missing my macbook pro right now :(
 
I upgraded an X58 system with Intel AHCI controller and it was no problem. AHCI active before Win 10 (on 8.1) and after installing 10. Sorry if that's not exciting news, but at least there is a data point of a brand new before/after scenario where AHCI was intact. Older system too
 
Does anyone know who I should contact about the lack of driver support? Intel? ASUS?
 
DarkStar02 said:
I bought a license and tried installing a fresh install on the new Samsung SSD but for some reason it wouldn't install. While installing, it would finish copying all the files for installation and then when it went to do the first reboot during the install it would take me back to the main Windows 10 install dvd screen instead of proceeding with the installation.
Click to expand...

What license did you buy? There's no win10 retail that I am aware of.
You said you got win10 ISO directly from Microsoft, was it through the Media Creation Tool?

I think you should just start over and do a fresh install onto the SSD with AHCI active in bios

Download the win10 image onto your surface pro and install it to USB.
 
Last edited:
Did you force your system to boot from CDROM as the first device? Sounds like you need to set the HDD/SSD as first device, CDROM as second device.
 
Hey dude, had the exact same problem.

I literally just fixed it right now. Only problem is, I was doing two things at the same time (registry changes and driver I found), so I don't know which one fixed it :p

here is the driver I installed, then rebooted and changed to AHCI.

http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/downloads/ds034629

If that doesn't work, post here or PM me and I'll tell you what else I did. (Don't want to post yet, cos I don't remember exactly).
 
Gookitron said:
What license did you buy? There's no win10 retail that I am aware of.
You said you got win10 ISO directly from Microsoft, was it through the Media Creation Tool?

I think you should just start over and do a fresh install onto the SSD with AHCI active in bios

Download the win10 image onto your surface pro and install it to USB.
Click to expand...

I bought a license key for Windows 10 Pro off of https://www.reddit.com/r/microsoftsoftwareswap. I tried using the Media Creation Tool and made sure to use the Clean install option and I also tried it again by downloading the iso directly (spoofed my useragent so microsoft's website thought I was on a mac and gave me a direct .iso).

I was just able to use EaseUS ToDo Backup tool to clone my Windows 7 install onto my larger SSD. I then used easyBCD to change the boot partition so that it would boot from the new SSD. I then booted into Windows 7 and tried updating via the installer and it worked fine but as soon as it booted into Windows 10 after installing my mouse and keyboard stopped working. Just rolled back to Windows 7 right now. :mad:

Ruoh said:
Did you force your system to boot from CDROM as the first device? Sounds like you need to set the HDD/SSD as first device, CDROM as second device.
Click to expand...

I've tried installing with CDROM as the first boot order and with the SSD as the first boot order, same result. :-\
 
My understanding is that there is no such thing as a Windows 10 product key (yet). Everything so far is based on upgrading a win7/8 system and activation is done via hardware id. The source of those keys youre buying isn't legitimate. I suggest getting a refund and buying a win7/8 key through a reputable source.

That said. Let's take a step back and see if your hardware is compatible. Since you're on win7 right now try running the win8 compatibility tool. The hardware requirements are just about the same for won10, and it might reveal which drivers are incompatible thus causing windows10 to freeze.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/upgrade-from-windows-7-tutorial

Other than that, I am stumped.
 
No. If you don't have an OS on your boot device (SSD/HD) then the CDROM/USB device should always be secondary. That way once the initial install is done, the system boots the OS from the SSD/HD and continues it's install... it doesn't try and boot off the install media and get you stuck in a loop (until you figure out the problem).
 
I think I've figured out the underlying problem. My motherboard (ASUS Maximus Gene IV/Gen 3) has 4x Sata 3 ports and 2x Sata 6 ports. When I have the Samsung 850 Pro plugged into any of the Sata 3 ports, it works fine. However, when I plug it into one of the Sata 6 ports, the 850 randomly vanishes from the BIOS. Sometimes it's there, sometimes it's not. At first I thought it was a bad sata cable (brand new, bought it when I got the drive) but I have another drive plugged in using that cable and it's working fine. Then I thought it was the 2x Sata 6 ports themselves, but if I plug one of the other drives into those ports it works fine. My motherboard has the latest BIOS and the SSD has the latest firmware. What do I do now? :confused:
 
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