CRAP! Looks like no AHCI support for me!

[rmcard]

I've been attempting to build a cheap Media Center PC from OLD stuff I've had laying around and I've been just running into frustration after frustration with it. The latest that I've not been able to work around is that the Motherboard I have has a Intel H61 Express Chipset that must be Intel's bastard stepchild which seems not to have any AHCI driver support given by them (for the Windows 8 64 Bit OS).

The Basics:
Zotac H61MAT-A-E Motherboard
Intel G2030 LGA1155 CPU
G.Skill 2GB DDR3-1333 PC3-10666 x 2 Sticks
OCZ Arc 100 240GB SSD
MSI N650-1GD5/OC Graphics Card
Windows 8.1 Standard 64Bit OS

Short story, no matter what Intel driver package I download, version 9 thru 13 - from either Zotac's download site or Intel's website, none give me AHCI capability for the H61 express chipset.

My web searches seem to indicate that the H61 wasn't Intel's best and I think even Intel's version 12 drivers has AHCI support for series 5, 7, and 8 chipsets but no series 6.

I guess I'm to the point of just accepting it unless someone here has any bright ideas. I'm not even sure what all I'm losing not having the SSD run in AHCI other than I believe it helps in garbage collection and automatic maintenance so the SSD runs faster. I could pop the SSD out every month or so and stick it into one of my other AHCI capable computers as a secondary drive so it can get some clean-up time if need be.

This set-up is mainly going to be a Media Center PC but I'm sure it will have some games on it, but more likely older classics rather than the latest higher resource heavy ones.

 

[Calculagator]

On the H61, AHCI is supported by the platform controller hub (PCH). You can enable AHCI mode in the bios by setting your SATA mode to AHCI. It probably won't be supported by Intel's "rapid storage," but default windows drivers will work just fine for all AHCI functionality.

 

[rmcard]

Thanks Calc for answering, but I have already attempted to switch to AHCI within the BIOS and each time the computer always hangs on boot up.

After a prolonged attempt at booting the computer briefly shows a Blue Screen with an unHappy face then attempts to analyze itself but always ends up not having a clue. I end up having to switch back to IDE mode. I can try it again to get the specifics of exactly how it reacts if you want me to or if you can think of other things I should look for but it simply hasn't worked for me.

 

[Calculagator]

This is what always will happen when you switch SATA modes after you install windows. It has nothing to do with H61. Changing modes used to require reinstalling windows, but with windows 8, you may be able to switch without as much trouble. I found this guide: http://www.ithinkdiff.com/how-to-enable-ahci-in-windows-8-after-installation/
Basically, from windows (in ide mode) open an administrative command prompt and enter the command
bcdedit /set {current} safeboot minimal

Reboot, go into the bios, change the mode to AHCI.
After booting your computer into the safe mode, enter the command
bcdedit /deletevalue {current} safeboot

Reboot into normal windows and hopefully things will work.

 

[rmcard]

Thanks Calc, I tried the directions on your link and it worked!

I pull up my Device manager now and under Drives it's showing the AHCI controller. Took me only 5 minutes to change it.

All it took was someone who knows what he's doing!!