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Integration of Intel's SATA AHCI and RAID drivers


Fernando 1

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With some controllers its just impossible to find the correct driver, I have a Packard Bell desktop PC iSmart B3420 which isn't even supported / shown on their website
The correct name of your Packard Bell desktop PC is "iStart" and not "iSmart".
There is no way to find out the type of chipset because I cant find an AHCI driver to allow me to install XP.
There is a way to find out the chipset details and the specifications of the SATA Controllers without opening the desktop case: Download Win7 Sp1 for free as test version or borrow a Win7 DVD and install it by just booting off the DVD (no key required and no separate driver will be needed).

Once Win7 is up, run the Device Manager and search for the HardwareID's of the Controllers, which are listed within the "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" section (right click onto it > "Properties" > "Details" > "Property" > "HardwareIDs").

When you have posted the HardwareID's I will let you know the appropriate SATA driver for a successful XP installation.

no option to change to IDE mode
Are you sure about that? Usually the BIOS of AHCI supporting desktop PC's has the option to change the mode of the on-board SATA controllers.

Regards

Fernando

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Hi Fernando

Thank you for you reply, yes sorry my mistake, it is an iStart. I do not have access to a Win7 DVD and do not have a big enough cap to download Win 7. I checked the BIOS but there is no option to change to IDE mode, not all BIOSes provide this option I have noticed (only the ones designed by clever people provide an IDE option ;-) )

Kind Regards

Jennifer

Edited by JenniferArden
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Hello Jennifer,

if you don't have access to a Vista or Win7 DVD, you may do the XP installation by using the "Try and Error" method.

This is what I recommend to do:

  1. Boot off the original XP CD with integrated SP2 or (better) SP3 and look, if the SATA hdd will be detected.
  2. If the first test should fail (no hdd has been detected by the XP Setup), use nLite and integrate the "modded" 32bit version of the latest AMD AHCI driver v3.3.1540.22, which you will find >here<.
  3. If this didn't work either, start a new nLite processing from scratch and integrate this time a specially "modded" 32bit Intel AHCI driver, which you can get >here<. When the textmode driver popup window comes, enable all listed Intel® SATA AHCI Controllers (not the RAID ones).

Good luck!

Fernando

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Hi Fernando

Thank you for your reply. XP produces BSOD after displaying message "Starting Windows" before detecting hard drives. I will try your drivers as soon as I have some time.

Thank you very much for your assistance I appreciate it very much.

Kind Regards

Jennifer

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I have another weird issue on my laptop, I integrated Intel chipset / SMU drivers with NLite, the chipset is ICH9EM, sometimes if I install XP, my DVD drive is immediately detected on first start of XP and my copy commands that I integrated with NLite under the unattend tab in NLite are executed successfully, other times when I install XP my DVD drive is not detected on first start and my copy commands are not executed. Only when I restart XP my DVD drive is detected. I suspect it has something to do with the chipset driver, am I correct?

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XP produces BSOD after displaying message "Starting Windows" before detecting hard drives.
This indicates, that you are booting off an XP CD, which has already been modified. You have to use an untouched original XP CD as source.

Another possibility: Overclocking or a bad RAM module. The installation of any OS should be done with the Default CPU and RAM settings. If your desktop system has more than 3 GB of RAM, you should try to remove 1 RAM stick before you are going to restart the XP installation.

I have another weird issue on my laptop, I integrated Intel chipset / SMU drivers with NLite, the chipset is ICH9EM, sometimes if I install XP, my DVD drive is immediately detected on first start of XP and my copy commands that I integrated with NLite under the unattend tab in NLite are executed successfully, other times when I install XP my DVD drive is not detected on first start and my copy commands are not executed. Only when I restart XP my DVD drive is detected. I suspect it has something to do with the chipset driver, am I correct?
No, I don't think so.

Questions:

1. Why did you install Windows XP so often onto your laptop hdd?

2. Didnt you integrate any Intel AHCI driver into the XP CD? Is the SATA hdd of your laptop not running in AHCI mode?

3. Why did you integrate Intel's chipset "drivers" (better name: "Intel's chipset device INF files", because they do not contain any real drivers = SYS files)? The integration of these "drivers" into the OS CD is not necessary at all.

4. What about the SMU driver? Only nForce chipset mainboards need an SMU driver.

Regards

Fernando

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Hi Fernando

The XP CD has been modified previously with NLite, I simply added AMD drivers as I asked Dino and he said its fine adding additional drivers to an existing NLited source. BIOS settings are on standard settings, I have never been one for overclocking as the standard settings are fast / good enough for me. The PC has 1.5GB RAM. As for the laptop yes I did integrate Intel AHCI drivers otherwise I wouldn't be able to install XP. The HD is operating in AHCI - I prefer AHCI over IDE. I make NLited disks all the time as it is a work in progress, the updates never stop and one's XP disks must always be up to date, my laptop is my testing station which is why I install XP many times.

I hope I don't sound dumb but I thought its necessary to integrate chipset driver so Windows can correctly identify the chipset :unsure: As for the SMU driver, I got it when I downloaded the drivers for the laptop and thought its necessary to integrate them as well.

Overall my XP CD works very well, its just the desktop with weird storage controller (AMD / ATI) and laptop's intermittant optical drive issue thats a bit weird.

Jennifer

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Hello Jennifer,

thank you for your quick reply.

The XP CD has been modified previously with NLite, I simply added AMD drivers as I asked Dino and he said its fine adding additional drivers to an existing NLited source.
Nuhi's message maybe correct for PnP drivers, but not for all textmode drivers.

The integration of different textmode drivers by nLite can cause a BSOD, even if the correct textmode driver has been added too.

So if you want to prevent a BSOD by a mixture of wrong and suitable textmode drivers, you should do the following:

1. Use a clean (untouched) original XP CD as source.

2. Don't load any Last_Session.ini of a previous nLite process.

3. Just integrate the latest Service Pack (if the original XP CD is not up-to-date) and the appropriate textmode driver for your system (with the same 32/64bit architecture as the OS).

its just the desktop with weird storage controller (AMD / ATI) and laptop's intermittant optical drive issue thats a bit weird.
Regarding your desktop PC I recommend to do what I have already written.

The issue of your laptop may be caused by an incompatibility of the DVD-ROM drive with the AHCI mode of the connected SATA Controller. Some optical drives do not like the AHCI and/or the RAID mode.

Regards

Fernando

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Hi Fernando

Good news :thumbup Your suggestion worked, I successfully installed XP Pro SP3 on my iStart B3420. The chipset: NB: ATI RC415, SB: ATI/AMD SB600, Integrated graphics: ATI Radeon Express 200

I am very happy now, thank you again for your assistance I appreciate it very very very much.

Kind Regards

Jennifer

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3. Additional advice for the later OS installation:

•Make sure, that the CD/DVD device where you want to boot off your nLited CD, is not connected to any of the Intel S-ATA ports. Optical drives generally have problems with the enabled AHCI or RAID mode.

Solution: Connect the optical drive to another available S-ATA port (for example with JMicron Controller), which is running in IDE mode. Alternatively you may replace your S-ATA CD/DVD device by an IDE connected one.

"

Hello, thanks so much for being so helpful!

I am trying to build a new system, an thought I could just follow your guide, until I got to the above quote...please help:

I have:

Asus P8P67 LE mobo

this has:

(Intel)

4 x SATA 3Gb/s ports

2 x SATA 6Gb/s ports

(Marvell)

1 x SATA 6Gb/s port (specifies cannot be used for optical drive)

1 x UltraDMA 133/100/66

I have:

SATA optical drive

SATA HDD

Server 2003 (ready to nLite/slipstream SP2 and AHCI drivers ver. 10.8.0.1003)

I thought I was all set to install until I got to your quote above...now what?

Is it possible to enable AHCI on only some of the ports, or is it all or nothing?

Please don't tell me I bought the SATA optical drive for nothing...?

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I have an ABIT IX48 GT3 motherboard, it has 6 internal SATA 3Gb/s connectors (AHCI & RAID), with AHCI selected in the BIOS, not IDE or RAID.

Have two Plextor CD/DVD drives connected to SATA 3 and 4 and they are detected as AHCI devices during boot just fine. Have no problems in XP Pro w/SP3, XP Pro x64 w/SP2 and Win7 Ultimate 64-bit w/SP1 detecting said drives.

The JMicron SATA connectors on this motherboard are for external SATA drives so are not used.

Optical devices must not be connected to the SATA 6GB/s ports, at least that is what I have been told.

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Hi everyone

I am not so clued up as to where and where not to connect optical drives but I can confirm that on my two desktops the optical drives are connected to SATA ports and I have no problems installing XP Pro SP3. The BIOS on both units are set to AHCI when I install Windows and have no problems. The one mainboard manufacturer is unknown to me (has ATI storage controller SB600 and RC415 chipset) and the other is an ASUS P5QL-EM. I guess it depends on the type of storage controller if it is a bit temperamental and maybe on the BIOS.

Jennifer

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