Can't install Windows 7 on SSD with AHCI enabled

Hey guys, Need some assistance here please.

I just got a Kingston SNV425-S2 SSD which is my first SSD.

I went to enable AHCI in the BIOS and then when I went to install Windows 7 it wouldn't let me. I got to the screen where it lets you choose which HDD to install Windows on and every time I select the SSD it won't let me. I can install it on a regular HDD, but for some reason it won't let me install on the SSD. Windows 7 install says this on the where do you want to install Windows screen "Windows cannot be installed onto this Disk. This computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure that the disk's controller is enabled in the Computer's BIOS menu" How exactly do I enable AHCI so I can install Windows 7? When I enabled it, it seemed to enable it for all hard drives. I have three other regular 7200rpm HDDs in the system.

MB is a DFI T3EH8 with 11/05 BIOS.

For now I changed the SSD back to IDE mode and installed it like that. What am I losing installing it with IDE mode compared to AHCI?

Not sure if this will help, but a good read.....
AHCI provides several features for SATA devices. These include hot plug functionality and power management functionality

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

also how about just having the SSD drive connected for the installtion with AHCI enabled and then later adding the other drives if they are for storage only.

Dont worry about it - AHCI wont benefit you at all if you're not doing anything with RAID or hot-swapping devices.
Its only supported in Vista and Windows 7, XP doesnt support it at all.
Just leave it at IDE/compatibility mode.

Weird. Did you have any removable usb drives plugged in when you tried to install in AHCI mode? If so remove all other drives and try again as Win 7 seems to get confused when removable drives are connected during an install.

The other option is to modify the registry on your existing installation to enable AHCI. If you do this and then switch to AHCI in the BIOS you should be able to boot up in AHCI mode.

http://www.recipester.org/Recipe:Ena...ows_7_26944413

It is worth the effort as Intel drives work much better in AHCI mode.

i install win7 from removable drives in achi mode all the time. i dont think that is yer issue. who knows?
make sure that you are not on a sata port that is on a different controller. most motherboards have at least two sata controllers. i would make sure the correct controller is activated to achi, and that you are connected to the correct port.

Sorry I should have clarified external usb hard drive. I can install from a usb thumb drive but I can’t install Win 7 if I have any external usb hard drives connected.

oic :)

I am using a USB thumb drive to install Windows 7. I'm also using the main SATA ports of the DFI T3EH8. There is 6 green ports and 2 yellow, so I have the SSD plugged into one of the green ones. I have three DVD drives connected and also three SATA hard drives - Smasung 1TB, Samsung 500GB, WD 640GB. The Samsung 500GB and WD are on the two yellow ports in IDE mode, whereas the rest is on the main green ports. Even though I have all those devices it should still work shouldn't it?

I just remembered I also have an eSATA port on the front of my HAF 932 which is plugged into a green port.

Have you tried modifying the registry to switch to AHCI mode? This should work (although back up just in case).

If you want to try a fresh install why not disconnect all hard drives apart from the one you want to install to? Once the OS is installed you can simply connect the drives and they should automatically install.

I have had this issue in the past - the problem was that the manufacturer of the SSD (Corsair) and the manufacturer of the thumb drive (Corsair) were the same, which apparently confused the Win7 installer. Different thumb drive = no problems, same thumb drive with different SSD also = no problems.

It's worth a shot, anyhow.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by audienceofone

Have you tried modifying the registry to switch to AHCI mode? This should work (although back up just in case).

If you want to try a fresh install why not disconnect all hard drives apart from the one you want to install to? Once the OS is installed you can simply connect the drives and they should automatically install.

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I think I'll try that as a last resort. I install Windows quite often and just to unplug all the drives would mean I'd have to take out both my 5870s just to get to the SATA ports. That would be really be annoying.

How about the DVD drives? Should they be unplugged too?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SoulsCollective

I have had this issue in the past - the problem was that the manufacturer of the SSD (Corsair) and the manufacturer of the thumb drive (Corsair) were the same, which apparently confused the Win7 installer. Different thumb drive = no problems, same thumb drive with different SSD also = no problems.

It's worth a shot, anyhow.

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This sounds like it's a possibility, but my Flash drive is a Corsair Voyager and SSD is a Kingston.

Should I try updating the BIOS on my MB?

Can you disconnect the drives at the drive end - sounds like the w7 installer is getting confused.

did u install the ahci diver on the drive select screen

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SteveRo

Can you disconnect the drives at the drive end - sounds like the w7 installer is getting confused.

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Yes I can do that. Is it OK though to leave the cables plugged into the MB though? I didn't think it was otherwise I would have tried that. I thought having a cable plugged in might still be detected by the Motherboard. How about the power cables? Can I leave them plugged in if I just take out the sata cable from the back of the HDDs?

If that's OK should I also unplug all the DVD drives too?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zanzabar

did u install the ahci diver on the drive select screen

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No I haven't. Which driver is this? I was thinking I might need to install a driver there at the drive select screen, but from what I read no one said one was necessary.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ice009

Yes I can do that. Is it OK though to leave the cables plugged into the MB though? I didn't think it was otherwise I would have tried that. I thought having a cable plugged in might still be detected by the Motherboard. How about the power cables? Can I leave them plugged in if I just take out the sata cable from the back of the HDDs?

If that's OK should I also unplug all the DVD drives too?



No I haven't. Which driver is this? I was thinking I might need to install a driver there at the drive select screen, but from what I read no one said one was necessary.

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ice - based on all the mobo's I have ever used you can disconnect the drive from either end of the cable. The port should appear to the mobo unused/open either way and you should be able to leave the power plugged in for dubug and benching. On some SSDs this might be additionally beneficial - so to allow garbage collection w/o the os interferring.

download the ahci driver, its an exe that extracts. go into the extraction and find the x64 diver folder then copy it to a usb drive. then when u get to the screen on the windows install were u select the drive click on advanced then load driver and load.
http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_ca...ista32-chipset

it will also be on the disk that came with the MB but i like this way better

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SteveRo

ice - based on all the mobo's I have ever used you can disconnect the drive from either end of the cable. The port should appear to the mobo unused/open either way and you should be able to leave the power plugged in for dubug and benching. On some SSDs this might be additionally beneficial - so to allow garbage collection w/o the os interferring.

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Alright, I will try this a bit later. I'll unplug all the SATA plugs from the back of all the Hard Drives and I'll leave the power cables plugged in. I was thinking of doing this yesterday, but wasn't sure if it's OK to do it like this as I didn't want anything damaged.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zanzabar

download the ahci driver, its an exe that extracts. go into the extraction and find the x64 diver folder then copy it to a usb drive. then when u get to the screen on the windows install were u select the drive click on advanced then load driver and load.
http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_ca...ista32-chipset

it will also be on the disk that came with the MB but i like this way better

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I just went to the page and that driver says for use with AMD Motherboards only? My Motherboard is a DFI T3EH8 X58 Intel board. Are these OK to use?

Earlier today I downloaded the Intel Rapid Storage drivers and got the 64 bit F6 install version http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Deta...18861&lang=eng Would this be the same thing?

Have you tried the registry mod? This should be all you need to switch to AHCI. You do not need to F6 drivers for AHCI. Win 7 will install default AHCI drivers as long as you have set the bios to AHCI. If you want to use Intel drives you can F6 as suggested above or you could update from the default Win 7 AHCI driver after installation.

+1 to audienceofone - all he said is right and should work for you - has worked for me

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SteveRo

ice - based on all the mobo's I have ever used you can disconnect the drive from either end of the cable. The port should appear to the mobo unused/open either way and you should be able to leave the power plugged in for dubug and benching. On some SSDs this might be additionally beneficial - so to allow garbage collection w/o the os interferring.

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OK I just tried unplugged my 3 Sata Hard drives and now the only drive that comes up in Windows 7 Installation is the SSD and it still doesn't work. I also updated the BIOS on my DFI and that didn't make a difference either. This is getting ridiculous. I wonder if it is my Motherboard or this Kingston SSD?

Should I try unplugging the DVD-rom drives too?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zanzabar

download the ahci driver, its an exe that extracts. go into the extraction and find the x64 diver folder then copy it to a usb drive. then when u get to the screen on the windows install were u select the drive click on advanced then load driver and load.
http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_ca...ista32-chipset

it will also be on the disk that came with the MB but i like this way better

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Any chance you could answer this zanzabar? That driver says it's for AMD. Does anyone have a link to the drives for 64 bit Windows 7. I am pretty sure I got the right ones though that I tried this morning that didn't do anything.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by audienceofone

Have you tried the registry mod? This should be all you need to switch to AHCI. You do not need to F6 drivers for AHCI. Win 7 will install default AHCI drivers as long as you have set the bios to AHCI. If you want to use Intel drives you can F6 as suggested above or you could update from the default Win 7 AHCI driver after installation.

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Have you got a link to the registry mod? I've never touched the registry before and have no idea what I am doing in there. If it's easy I will try it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SteveRo

+1 to audienceofone - all he said is right and should work for you - has worked for me

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No I haven't. I've never touched the registry before. Why did you do it this way? Did you have the same problem as me with it not installing when I changed to AHCI mode in the BIOS?

Just to clarify this is the message again on the where to install windows screen "Windows cannot be installed onto this Disk. This computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure that the disk's controller is enabled in the Computer's BIOS menu"

I actually pressed next and it started the first part of the installation, but when it reboots for the first time it won't read the SSD or start the second part of the installation.

Also, since I can install Windows no problem on IDE mode that would rule out a faulty SATA cable right?

Thanks for the help so far guys. I really appreciate your input.

Ice009

Are you able to install using AHCI on a SATA HDD?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Anvil

Ice009

Are you able to install using AHCI on a SATA HDD?

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Good question. Yes I can do that. I installed Windows 7 Ultimate 64 on my Samsung 1TB HDD this morning to try it out.

What would that mean?

Try as Anvil suggests. This way you will find out if it is the SSD that is causing the problem. I doubt it will be the ssd but if it is try a secure ease with hdderase and then try to install again.

Here is a guide to switch the reg to AHCI........but be careful. If this is a problem with your bios settings you may well not be able to boot back into windows.

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/fo...l=1#post442151

Sorry cross post. Try the hdderase option to clear the drive back to a factory clean setting.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by audienceofone

Try as Anvil suggests. This way you will find out if it is the SSD that is causing the problem. I doubt it will be the ssd but if it is try a secure ease with hdderase and then try to install again.

Here is a guide to switch the reg to AHCI........but be careful. If this is a problem with your bios settings you may well not be able to boot back into windows.

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/fo...l=1#post442151

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Not sure if you saw my reply to Anvil, but yes I was able to install Windows 7 in AHCI mode on my Samsung 1TB hard drive.

Have you got a link for the Hdderase thing? Also, can that be run in Windows or can you run it with out an OS installed? I just want to try to get it working properly. I'll do the registry edit thing last as it seems simple enough reading those instructions.

http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/SecureErase.shtml

You need to create a boot device to run hdderase. It can not be executed in Windows. Needless to say it will wipe all data from your drive.

Ice009

I had the same issue with an HDD once, never found what caused the problem.

HDDerase runs from DOS and needs IDE mode, you could try that. Link to pcper article and download

edit:

You could try updating the MB BIOS, as a last option you could try selecting RAID mode.
(raid mode compares to AHCI performance wise, should be identical)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Anvil

Ice009

I had the same issue with an HDD once, never found what caused the problem.

HDDerase runs from DOS and needs IDE mode, you could try that. Link to pcper article and download

edit:

You could try updating the MB BIOS, as a last option you could try selecting RAID mode.
(raid mode compares to AHCI performance wise, should be identical)

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Alright, Thanks. I've downloaded both versions 3.3 from your link and also the latest version from Audienceofone's link.

I am kind of stuck on how to make a bootable USB drive. A bit confused about the instructions. If it's not any trouble can someone explain how to make a my Corsair Voyager flash drive boot with it?

Ice009

Google translation of a German webpage

It uses the HP USB Boot Utility which is the same one as I've been using, however I'm using the Win98 boot files, just not sure where you could download them.
The above link should make it work.

ice - i have installed w7x64 4-6 times with ahci turned on in the bios - always just had one drive connected to the mobo - the drive has always been found and instal as far is getting the os onto the drive has been no problem.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Anvil

Ice009

Google translation of a German webpage

It uses the HP USB Boot Utility which is the same one as I've been using, however I'm using the Win98 boot files, just not sure where you could download them.
The above link should make it work.

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OK that seems simple enough to make the flash drive bootable. Do I then just copy the HDDerase.exe file to it after making it bootable?

Ice,

That's correct, just copy any files you need to the USB.
I keep firmwares, hdderase, mb bioses and so on the USB stick, very neat.

the intel ahci diver is built into windows, but the amd one is not thats why i thought u had AMD. sorry for the confusion

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zanzabar

the intel ahci diver is built into windows, but the amd one is not thats why i thought u had AMD. sorry for the confusion

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Actually the default AHCI driver is Microsoft's own, and was the only TRIM enabled driver until now. Now Intel has their TRIM driver out (Rapid Storage Technology its called).

Microsofts pciide driver also supports ATA TRIM. But since you get better performance and more options with AHCI, it's not really an issue.

This is an amazing amount of responses to the OP.

Have you tried using a board NOT! made by DFI? I have tried close to one dozen SSD's (that's 12 F'ing disks!) on a DFI board and they never....ever....worked right.

Maybe the board was bad? I thought so too. I replaced it. And replaced it. And replaced it. Nothing helped...... Until
I got a board made by some one else. Even DFI tech support told me I was right in buying a board from someone else. I had to deal with RMA from more than one company before I realized that it wasn't RAM (which I RMA'd) or the CPU (which I replaced!!!) or the PSU (which I tested against 5 other units) or, so I though, the mobo, which I replaced more than once with a DFI board.

My personal conclusion is that DFI boards will get the highest overclocks you know, but the stability is worse than awful with SSD's.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Anvil

You could try updating the MB BIOS, as a last option you could try selecting RAID mode.
(raid mode compares to AHCI performance wise, should be identical)

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Hey guys, just want to say that I was able to get the drive installed in RAID mode as a single drive. This still gives me Trim right?

I had all drives unplugged except the DVD drive and the SSD to do it.

Question. Should I try moving the DVD drive to one of the two yellow Jmicron ports and have the SSD by itself on one of the 6 green SATA ports?

Also, I forgot to mention that I have my HAF 932 e-SATA front panel SATA connector plugged into one of the green ports. Would that make a difference you think?

Ice,

In order to get TRIM on your SSD in RAID mode you have to install RST 9.6.

Based on the number of ports I would expect the ICH ports to be Green and the yellow ones to be some sort of extra bonus controllers.
Keep the SSD on the ICH, the DVD should work on both the green and yellow ports, it shouldnt make any difference whether keeping it on the ICH or not.
(I've got my DVD installed on one of the "bonus" controllers, it's working just fine)
The same goes for the eSATA front panel connector, it shouldn't matter where you connect it.

Putting everything on a single controller should not be an issue.
One “problem” with using different on-board controllers is the added time to initialise the controller during boot up, albeit it only a few seconds it can be annoying. ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by audienceofone

Putting everything on a single controller should not be an issue.
One “problem” with using different on-board controllers is the added time to initialise the controller during boot up, albeit it only a few seconds it can be annoying. ;)

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I haven't used multiple add in controllers very often but when i have it seemed that intialization - for the most part - went on in parrallel. The cards seem to initialize themselves and usually only stop if there is operator intervention. For this reason - again generally speaking - adding/using multiple controllers should not add a lot of additional boot time.

My experience is that if you use multiple controllers on a mobo, or if you add controllers via a dedicated card then you will have to wait whilst each one initialises serially during the boot process. :shrug:

You can see what I'm talking about on one of the videos I posted on the Napalm thread. ICH9 first and then the U3S6. It’s only a few seconds for each controller but if you reboot frequently it can be annoying.

A while back I had 2 areca 1231's installed in the same machine for a short time - both cards initialized at the same time.
I now have a 9211 and 1231 but not in the same machine - I should give this a try and see what happens.

The extra onboard might take some time initializing *if* there are devices connected.

For me that's not an issue, compared to raid controllers initializing the onboard stuff are just peanuts.

As for initializing in parrallel, the PERC and the 9260 initializes in their own time.
The 9260 doesn't start "booting" until the PERC is done, can't really speak for other controllers.

Just a quick tip if you get odd bios errors like the OP:

Put the #1 Intel/Amd controller in AHCI/RAID mode and the #2 mb controller in IDE mode. Then just connect the drive to the #2 controller, install windows and add drivers for the Intel/Amd when you're in windows. Turn off, switch the drive to #1 controller, boot and off you go.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by saint-francis

This is an amazing amount of responses to the OP.

Have you tried using a board NOT! made by DFI? I have tried close to one dozen SSD's (that's 12 F'ing disks!) on a DFI board and they never....ever....worked right.

Maybe the board was bad? I thought so too. I replaced it. And replaced it. And replaced it. Nothing helped...... Until
I got a board made by some one else. Even DFI tech support told me I was right in buying a board from someone else. I had to deal with RMA from more than one company before I realized that it wasn't RAM (which I RMA'd) or the CPU (which I replaced!!!) or the PSU (which I tested against 5 other units) or, so I though, the mobo, which I replaced more than once with a DFI board.

My personal conclusion is that DFI boards will get the highest overclocks you know, but the stability is worse than awful with SSD's.

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I'm actually thinking it might be the Motherboard because someone pointed out to me on a previous BIOS update for the DFI T3EH8 was for compatibility with SSD drives.
"Major Reasons of Change:
1. Fixed system lagged issue.
2. Fixed some SSD device can’t install OS issue."

That was listed for an old Beta BIOS, but I'd say you might be right that it's probably a compatibility issue with the DFI Motherboard. What kind of problems have you had with SSD drives and on what DFI board?

Anyone know how would I go about telling DFI about the issue to see if it can be fixed via a BIOS update?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Anvil

Ice,

In order to get TRIM on your SSD in RAID mode you have to install RST 9.6.

Based on the number of ports I would expect the ICH ports to be Green and the yellow ones to be some sort of extra bonus controllers.
Keep the SSD on the ICH, the DVD should work on both the green and yellow ports, it shouldnt make any difference whether keeping it on the ICH or not.
(I've got my DVD installed on one of the "bonus" controllers, it's working just fine)
The same goes for the eSATA front panel connector, it shouldn't matter where you connect it.

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Thanks for the info. I just installed the Rapid Storage Technology 9.6 driver. How do I go about checking to see if Trim is working properly?

So just to clarify running a single drive in RAID mode should be very similar to AHCI mode? What are the actual differences if any between RAID mode and AHCI with a single drive?

Hey guys,

Can anyone quickly tell me how to check to see if Trim is working? Thanks.

google fsutil disabledeletenotify to see if os is sending the command
instal and then run crystal disk info to see if drive accepts the command

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ice009

I'm actually thinking it might be the Motherboard because someone pointed out to me on a previous BIOS update for the DFI T3EH8 was for compatibility with SSD drives.
"Major Reasons of Change:
1. Fixed system lagged issue.
2. Fixed some SSD device can’t install OS issue."

That was listed for an old Beta BIOS, but I'd say you might be right that it's probably a compatibility issue with the DFI Motherboard. What kind of problems have you had with SSD drives and on what DFI board?

Anyone know how would I go about telling DFI about the issue to see if it can be fixed via a BIOS update?

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I had the same issues you had (I.e. couldn't do anything with a SSD unless it was in RAID mode) as well as things like not being able to install an OS and the system crashing from time to time (well actually it was fairly often). Trying to make a backup with Acronis amounted to failure about 85% of the time. I had this problem on P35 and X48 boards. They apparently had the same kinds of problems with the X58 board and there were a bunch of BIOS fixes which seemed to help people but never completely ironed all of the bugs out. I even got a custom BIOS from DFI Taiwan to address the issue and it didn't do a damn thing for me. Replacing the board was really good though. Fixed all of my problems instantly. Now I have a pile of SSD's and DFI boards. The SSD's work in any board not made by DFI and the DFI boards work with any disk that isn't a SSD.

You can call DFI and tell them but I don't think they are going to do anything about it. If they haven't fixed it by now they probably never will or don't know how to. Or maybe the "bug" causing all of these problems is something that they depend on for other performance factors which they deem more important than SSD support.

Edit:
Just realized that you are using the X58 board. This is a known issue. There's no secret about it. The running train of thought on the DFI support forum last time I checked was "there are problems but they go away as soon as you have booted". Whatever that means. Obviously this is not the case.