AHCI/RAID/SATA

[SoulflyTribe]

Hi Everybody

I recently bought myself a new hard drive, I installed it myself and it was working fine but I noticed now my PC does not detect my DVD-rom I was a bit puzzled as they are all connected and all work or have worked fine in the past,I have it set on SATA mode in the storage config but it only picks up the 2 hard drives when i change the storage config to either AHCI or Raid it detects all the drives but once it goes into windows itslef it flashes a BSOD then restarts.I re installed windows as I thought this was the issue but alas its the same.

So please if anyone can help me out it would be much appreciated!

Reagards

Me

 

[Twoboxer]

What Windows are you using?

What mobo are you using? Or what make/model PC?

What color socket is each SATA device connected to on the mobo?

 

[geofelt]

In the Bios, you can set the SATA mode to AHCI, IDE, or raid. When you install windows, the setting is detected, and appropriate driver will be loaded. After that, you can not easily change the mode without reinstalling windows. If you change, the installed windows does not have the appropriate driver installed ti be able to boot.

I suggest you set SATA to AHCI unless you need raid functionality. Raid is a superset of AHCI, but uses the motherboard raid drivers, and not the windows drivers which can transmit the "trim" command to a SSD(on windows-7) You need a specific reason for wanting raid, and there are not that many.

IDE is a compatibility mode that does not seem necessary.

 

[Hawkeye22]

In the Bios, you can set the SATA mode to AHCI, IDE, or raid. When you install windows, the setting is detected, and appropriate driver will be loaded. After that, you can not easily change the mode without reinstalling windows. If you change, the installed windows does not have the appropriate driver installed ti be able to boot.

It sounds like his bios was set to IDE mode when he installed windows and later changed it to AHCI after installing the new drive. In this case he needs to return it to IDE mode.

 

[Twoboxer]

^ Yeah, except he says one device is not detected in IDE mode. So there's some stuff he's done he doesn't remember or hasn't told us yet.

CMOS needs to be cleared and BIOS restored to whatever it was set to when the OS was generated, presumably IDE (or whatever the board "Default" is, unless he jiggered that before genning the OS).

But I'm assuming there's a second problem preventing his DVD from being recognized - maybe a SATA cable connected to a controller that's disabled.

Hopefully, he'll be back soon.

 

[SoulflyTribe]

Hi guys thanx for the input and sorry about the delay in the reply was at work unfortunately^^

Anyway I havnt changed any setting from day one its always been on SATA and Ive always had only the DVD drive and one SATA HDD so I had no reason to change anything but now I have a 3rd drive it only picks up 2 of the drives regardless of the SATA port Im using. And my Mobo is a ASUS M4N78 I did a BIOS update for it aswell as I thought maybe that couldve been the prob but again no solution.Ive actually tried all the settings AHCI/RAID and IDE and still the same result where it logs into windows gives a BSOD then restarts.

So would you recommend I remove the BIOS battery and re install windows or is the another quick fix method?

Much Appreciated!

 

[Hawkeye22]

It wouldn't hurt to reset the bios to "optimized defaults". You can always make any necessary changes on the next reboot.

Also, the info twoboxer asked for would be of help.

What Windows are you using?

What mobo are you using? Or what make/model PC?

What color socket is each SATA device connected to on the mobo?

 

[Twoboxer]

Don't reinstall yet.

Your mobo manual, page 2-11 section 2.3.7 Storage Configuration, subparagraph "SATA Mode Select" says:

"When SATA is configured as [SATA Mode] in BIOS, only SATA ports 1-4 can be detected. Ensure to install the AHCI driver to detect and use SATA port 5-6 in AHCI mode under OS."

So let's:
- Power down and clear CMOS**,
- Before powering up make sure all SATA devices are using only ports 1-4 on the mobo,
- Power up and go straight to BIOS.
- Load default values,
- Make sure SATA is set to [SATA Mode].
- Save and exit BIOS setup.
- Immediately re-enter BIOS setup (don't boot through to Windows),
- Verify all SATA devices are detected by BIOS. If not, resolve this before moving forward. If you are using the correct ports (Note the number on the mobo may not correspond to the port number in BIOS ) check/replace the cable on the offending device, try another port, etc.
- Cross fingers and boot into Windows.
- Let us know what happened.

** Pull plug from wall, remove battery from mobo, press the case power button a few times to discharge capacitors, wait 5 minutes (good time to check SATA cabling/ports), replace the battery, put plug into wall, power up and boot straight into BIOS setup.

 

[SoulflyTribe]

Thanks for all the help it worked! Much appreciated!

 

[Twoboxer]

I knew if you crossed your fingers on the final boot that it would work

NP! Glad you're up and running.