AHCI problem with my G33T-M2 ECS motherboard.

[Dorkmaster]

Spitted topic from: "How to enable AHCI on Intel ICH9 under XP"

Okay, here's my situation, and I've spent well over 36 hours on this and it's driving me nuts! I trust you guys are much smarter than myself and I welcome ANY and ALL ideas on the subject:

Another quick preface: I'm assuming this is on topic, by the way. If you know of a better topic thread I should be posting in, please please do refer me. I'm new here and I did try to search and came up with nothing...

All that being said, first I present you with my basic info:

I'm building from scratch. No preinstalled OS. Therefore, no way to implement half of these steps, like running a registry file, or whatever...)

I'm attempting to install WinXP Pro (32bit).

Here's my hardware specs (along with relevant info in parentheses):

Motherboard: ECS G33T-M2 (BIOS seems to work just fine, recognizes all SATA-attached hard drives) Northbridge is G33 and Southbridge is ICH9

Memory: 4GB (4x1GB) G-Skill DDR2 800 (tested, seems to work just fine)

Hard drives: (2) Western Digital CaviarSE 500GB drives (I'm attempting to simplify things though, so feel free to just ignore all other drives, and assume I'm using just one 500GB drive, as I have no problem adding the other drives once WinXP is installed!)

ALSO, (2) 160GB Western Digital Caviar Drives

Processor: Intel 775 Socket Quad-Core (Q6600 I think? Forgive me, as I'm tired...)

I DO have a floppy drive, and I'm currently using an external USB CD-ROM, as my current optical drives are IDE, and I've got a card for that, but the BIOS doesn't seem to recognize that card, no matter what I do... So I'll put those in, after WinXP installs, I figure...

If you need additional info let me know!

Also, I'm installing with SP2 slipstreamed in, as the XP pro disc I've got is previous to ANY service packs.

SO NOW THE PROBLEM:

I'm continuously getting the BSOD, with the error 0x0000007B (0xF78D2524, 0xc0000034, 0x00000000, 0x00000000)

HERE'S WHAT I'VE TRIED ALREADY:

* Installing using my motherboard manufacturer's included drivers (they're unfortunately those pesky ICH9R ones, not plain old ICH9 ones.) (I've tried this using F6, and with nLite)

* Installing using the JMicron drivers (although I'm positive that isn't the issue, as the specs for the mobo state that they're using ICH9 Intel specs, not JMicron... but after like 50 tries, yeah...)

* Using non-textmode drivers (PnP)

* Stripping down to basic components (mobo, memory, one hard drive, keyboard, etc)

* Using SP1 instead of SP2 (ya never know...)

And variations of combinations of the above.

So... any ideas on how I can get this to work? I get all the way through installation, and before windows starts for the first time, the BSOD starts. Anything you folks can think of?

EDIT: Also, although I feel comfortable with most things, this is my first build, so feel free to treat me as a total noob, so step by step is encouraged, just as I have been working with this for so long, that I'm willing to try ANYTHING to get it to install...

Edited February 19, 2008 by puntoMX

[jtdoom]

Many add-in IDE controllers cannot boot an IDE optical.

Some IDE add-in cards do not have a bootrom at all.

My thinking is that setting BIOS to boot from SCSI wont fix booting from an IDE (atapi) optical.

(SCSI for the IDE add-on card.. w/i strange, but yes.. It must be because everything was based on SCI and DMI but gets called something different in the different ways that they will make things work. It was a long time since I used True SCSI cards which had six devices on one ribbon.. )

Anyway, you could invest in a sata internal optical. It won't break the bank and could end frustration.

You say that ECS does not have the R variant of that ICH9 chip, so you could set your BIOS to Base IDE mode or SATA and not RAID. (In fact, it should not show RAID ?? What does it say there? I did not get the manual for that mobo..)

The strange thing with the ICH9 iastor driver is that the HWIDs are almost all tagged with CC_0104 which tells me it expects RAID. (The CC_0106 is for AHCI..)

I know it is better that the user figures things out with a little hint here and there, than that a user gets everything on a platter and learns nothing. OTOH, in a good forum like this you should not hesitate to ask questions.

I have not been in your situation yet.. But when more mobo sellers follow this trend (no internal IDE ports) then I foresee more posts like this in the forae.

(OH, the stop error tells us that the driver sees the hard disk during TXTmode, but once windows plug and play kicks in it expects a different mode for the controller. It's 32 bit driver triggers the BSOD.)

I can tell another little tale here..

Switching mode after a hard disk was partitioned in AHCI mode can cause a BSOD.

A drive once used and partitioned in a RAID array could fool you too..

A member disk has some info stored in the hard drive which can be removed with a RAID controller capable of lowleveling a hard disk. I figure this is not the case here, but we have good reason t believe that a drive once used in AHCI mode also stores info in the hard disk which is NOT removed when the drive gets re-partitioned in SATA or IDE Base mode. I know I had to lowlevel a few hard drives while we was trying to figure out what the hyll was going on with ICH5... That long ago, but I should mention this none-the-less.

Edited February 17, 2008 by jtdoom

[VascoMan]

dorkmaster, did you try my method? Its described in post#54

keplenk, i used nlite to integrate the drives into my XP w/sp2 cd.

here's how to integrate SATA drivers with nlite:

http://tech.aroundthehat.com/nlite_sata.html

[Dorkmaster]

(OH, the stop error tells us that the driver sees the hard disk during TXTmode, but once windows plug and play kicks in it expects a different mode for the controller. It's 32 bit driver triggers the BSOD.)

I can tell another little tale here..

Switching mode after a hard disk was partitioned in AHCI mode can cause a BSOD.

A drive once used and partitioned in a RAID array could fool you too..

A member disk has some info stored in the hard drive which can be removed with a RAID controller capable of lowleveling a hard disk. I figure this is not the case here, but we have good reason t believe that a drive once used in AHCI mode also stores info in the hard disk which is NOT removed when the drive gets re-partitioned in SATA or IDE Base mode. I know I had to lowlevel a few hard drives while we was trying to figure out what the hyll was going on with ICH5... That long ago, but I should mention this none-the-less.

I totally understand what you're saying here...

And as far as the optical IDE drives, that's not really an issue, as once I can get WinXP running, I have an IDE+extra SATA card that will run those drives. I've put it in my home computer and it's working just fine. So the card should be plug-n-play recognized by windows. That's not an issue. I've got a USB external optical drive that seems to work just fine for the install, and then I'll do a lot of reconfig before saying everything is final.

But yeah, as far as the drives go... I've tested them, they work fine. They've been reformatted, I've used the Data Lifeguard (WD diagnostic stuff) to write zeroes on the drive... I've done everything I can think of to ensure that there's nothing "still on the disk" because they were OEM drives... so who knows where they were before... but honestly, I'm like 99.999% positive the drives are not the issue...

It's simply a matter of somehow getting WINXP recognizable drivers for the ICH9 SATA controller. And I can't seem to find that ANYWHERE! That's my main issue. Because everything you say is correct, it seems that everything is fine in textmode and then just as windows starts to hit, it can't find the new boot device of the hard drive it literally just spent about 20 minutes writing to...

So that's where I could use some help! I cannot imagine that I'm the only person in the world who bought this mobo! Someone out there got it to work, and I don't know how, as Intel and Microsoft both do NOT make drivers for the NON-RAID Sata controller in ICH9... That's why I was originally so excited to see this starting post in the thread, but this is more written for someone with windows already running, not a virgin boot.

But thank you, I very much appreciate it! And yes, I tried darn near everything before I posted here for help... I consider myself very knowledgeable about computers and components and such... I'm not looking for an easy-out... I'm looking for SOMETHING out, ya know?

dorkmaster, did you try my method? Its described in post#54

keplenk, i used nlite to integrate the drives into my XP w/sp2 cd.

here's how to integrate SATA drivers with nlite:

http://tech.aroundthehat.com/nlite_sata.html

I'm trying this now... I'll update with more info! YAY, this looks promising!

Edited February 18, 2008 by puntoMX

[Dorkmaster]

4. BIOS Settings

Restart the computer and enter the BIOS (Mostly entered by pressing DEL). Make the settings:

SATA RAID/AHCI Mode		  [AHCI]
SATA Port0-3 Native Mode	 [Enabled]

For ASUS P5K motherboards (IF present in BIOS, please report if not present.):

SATA Configuration	   [Enhanced]
Configure SATA as		[AHCI]

Also, dont forget to set BOOT ORDER to CD/DVD first, HDD second.

Next, SAVE and EXIT.

Okay, so I'm totally trying this right now... HOWEVER, I don't have any option for AHCI mode on a Sata drive on my Bios...

So is there anything else this might be called in my BIOS options? (I'm taking pictures of my options in BIOS now... let me know if that would help, and I'll upload em...)

[Dorkmaster]

Okay, so I'm totally trying this right now... HOWEVER, I don't have any option for AHCI mode on a Sata drive on my Bios...

So is there anything else this might be called in my BIOS options? (I'm taking pictures of my options in BIOS now... let me know if that would help, and I'll upload em...)

Okay... didn't work...

Here are my options in BIOS... I'm including one page that I'm pretty sure has nothing to do with it, just in case...

[VascoMan]

Its possible your mobo/bios doesnt support this.

[Dorkmaster]

Its possible your mobo/bios doesnt support this.

I know... and that's the really frusturating part here...

It seems that there truly is NO solution to this problem, which would seem to me to be a VERY obvious and common problem, as there is ONLY sata drive capability on this motherboard! I just don't understand it at all... How can this be a viable product, if there's absolutely no supported (or even hack-around) way to get past this issue? Ugh... And the worst part is, that I believe that my only option through Newegg is a replacement, as I'm past 30 days... So no refund.

Oh well.. I learned QUITE A BIT from this experience... And really VascoMan, I really appreciate your help. You have a GREAT workaround... and I truly believe that if my stupid limited bios would accept it, it would work... I just don't have that capability, sadly...

EDIT: Do you think I should attempt to create an entirely new topic for this? As now I think we've exhausted the possibility of simply modifying the existing drivers?

Edited February 18, 2008 by Dorkmaster

[jtdoom]

have you tried while it was plugged into another sata port? (look at the silkpaint numbers..)

I see sata port 5 in them screenies there, and that is way up in the ladder when no others are attached.

XP is more forgiving than vista ladder wise, but the drive is way up.

5 is high. (like a tertiary controller in IDE, and they are seldom meant to boot from. In sata, like the quentanary.)

edit> hehe i dunno the fifth.. quintessential is NOT it. LOL.

Edited February 18, 2008 by jtdoom

[jtdoom]

This post can get deleted because it is OT.. the drive is not new.. was it onve used as a part of a dynamic drive? Was it once used with Linux? These are variables that will leave traces in embr/mbr. BIOS and RAID mode settings can be burried deeper than embr. When BIOS and HDD DMI have to sync a mode is set. And some drivers list problem devices in the INF.. Most of them are maxtors. I have probably gone more OT than anybody else in this topic her just saying all that. I wish I could eyeball that thing, but I cannot.

I do say that your reply shows you are eyeballing and looking for the explanation.

I hope it is not a flaky driver version (like I suspect we have seen in the past.)

XP is NOT dead, but driver writers are probably not looking at legacy.

I suggest you try NO driver, or a real OLD driver.

IDE mode, NO driver.. if that mobo won't support that, you better toss it back as RMA.

[Dorkmaster]

have you tried while it was plugged into another sata port? (look at the silkpaint numbers..)

I see sata port 5 in them screenies there, and that is way up in the ladder when no others are attached.

XP is more forgiving than vista ladder wise, but the drive is way up.

5 is high. (like a tertiary controller in IDE, and they are seldom meant to boot from. In sata, like the quentanary.)

edit> hehe i dunno the fifth.. quintessential is NOT it. LOL.

I have tried it in another spot... I've even tried it with a separate controller card (although the BIOS recognizes the controller card, it doesn't recognize the drives plugged into the card, which is frustrating by itself...) (and yes, with that controller card, I've slipstreamed (AND separately as an F6 install), the drivers for that card in there...)

So yeah, I've seemed to try almost everything conventional that I can think of to make this work...

I've even plugged the drives into my existing desktop and tested each one. They all work.

All drives have been formatted so they should operate normally, as if they were new.

All drives have been switched around ports, just to make sure that the port wasn't the issue...

I just used five in the screen shot as that was where I had it last.

But yeah, I've tried SO MANY different things, and I simply find it hard to believe that this board has NO support... I just don't get it.

I'll have to call for an RMA, but I don't think Newegg will support, as I'm like 6 days out of the 30 days of refund space... but we'll try.

[puntoMX]

But yeah, I've tried SO MANY different things, and I simply find it hard to believe that this board has NO support... I just don't get it.

The board you have simply has no AHCI BIOS, so hit a dead end sadly enough.

I will move your posts and replies from others to the hardware forum part...