PCI Parity Error w/xp3 in AHCI

[lioninstreet]

I searched this forum on this so if anyone has posted a similar experience I just plain missed it.

After a failure to launch XP in AHCI mode with the F6 install of SATA AHCI drivers on a Gigabyte z68mx-ud2h-b3 and a Crucial M4, I went for the slipstream route. The board has 1 stick of 2gb ram and no cards installed.

Prior, I had started the install with a W7 pro disk and set the partitions instead of dealing with aligning them after the OS install.

After hours of digging I found which of the (at least) 8 controllers is supposedly the correct intel controller (desktop/workstation/server express chipset/SATA ACHI controller (iaAHCI.inf)) to slipstream. Success! I was finally able to get the driver loaded, the OS partition formatted, as well as the OS loaded.

Then more pain. After restart, the OS does not begin the install routine. I get thru bios, the system passes the hit any key to load OS, then stops dead with a DOS error that reads PCI Parity Error Press F1 to continue F2 to reboot.

Then the install just hangs. F2 wont work to reboot, nothing happens when I key F1.

I went back into bios and loaded the safe defaults (remembering to switch to AHCI) but the boot errror continues. Same with a full powerdown and pulling the Bios battery. Nada

Anyone with a tech level of experience care to help out a hobbyst?

Edited April 10, 2012 by lioninstreet

[Ponch]

I was finally able to get the driver loaded, the OS partition formatted, as well as the OS loaded.

Then more pain. After restart, the OS does not begin the install routine. I get thru bios, the system passes the hit any key to load OS

And if you do press any key, does it boot again from CD with no hardware error ?

[lioninstreet]

Sorry I misunderstood,

If I hit any key the OS goes thru the low level driver load again and then would have me load the OS again.

If I do nothing at restart it passes the hit any screen notice and then hangs at the parity error screen. No key works at that point.

Edited April 10, 2012 by lioninstreet

[Ponch]

That's all I could find yesterday, not very helpfull unless you do overclock your board. Are you 100% sure you're loading the good drivers ? Is it a new board or are you reinstalling after having used it without problem for a while? What if you install Windows 7 does it boot without error ?

[lioninstreet]

@Ponch,

Thanks for looking, I didnt find much either. With all the issues I've had, no this is not an overclock. Board is new for whatever that is worth.

Frankly, I am not sure the driver chosen is correct. After about 2 hours of digging I found a thread that basically said "everyone says just slipstream the Intel z68 AHCI controller driver without saying which one to use" and went on to state the one I am using is the correct one. I could find no where else that could specify which driver that comes up in the slipstream was the series 6 controller. All I can do is call Intel at this point.

As for installing W7, I have not attempted a full install of that OS primarily becuase I have never performed a data wipe on an SSD. However, when I created the partitions under W7 upon clicking into the install routine the OS did seem to want to continue the install.

[lioninstreet]

Helpful is a very long thread here at msfn by Fernando 1 titled "Integration of Intel's SATA AHCI and RAID drivers" This is the most exhaustive information regarding integration I have found. If you are using the 6 series chip set start around thread page 52-53.

Also a Google search of: intel desktop workstation server express chipset sata ahci controller driver turned up some good information on integration (especially for XP users) from the intel communities website.

Lots of reading, fun fun.

Further searching found a consensus that the correct AHCI driver for a 6 series chipset is indeed called desktop/workstation/server express chipset/SATA AHCI controller.

Now comes another challenge. When I open the unzipped f6flpy-x86 driver folder during the slip stream routine there are not one but two .inf flles, each containing this same driver name. One file is called aiAHCI.inf and the other is aiStor.inf

So the million dollar question now is, which of these 2 .inf files is the correct one? Shame on Intel for making what should be a simple install such a time sucking nightmare.

[GrofLuigi]

I have a Z68 board (Asus) and the controller is indeed called "Intel® Desktop/Workstation/Server Express Chipset SATA AHCI Controller".

You need iaAHCI.inf. The other one (iaStor) is for RAID.

Be careful with the creation of partitions. You said you created them with Win7, which is a good thing for alignment, but I think might, in some circumstances, not be acceptable for XP at install time. Again, I'm not sure about this, there were some threads here about it, but if I were you I'd double check the partitions with any third party tool (parted magic live CD or whatewer it's called nowadays).

GL

[lioninstreet]

@GrofLuigi

I was planning to explore your suggestion regarding the W7 partitions. Unfortunately I dont think I can use parted magic becuase there is no OS yet to install it to.

But I can go back in with the W7 install get in and wipe out the partions. Do you think it's necessary to try and wipe the Crucial SSD clean and get any low level drivers out of it before proceeding? Any utilities come to mind that will do that?

[GrofLuigi]

@GrofLuigi

I was planning to explore your suggestion regarding the W7 partitions. Unfortunately I dont think I can use parted magic becuase there is no OS yet to install it to.

But I can go back in with the W7 install get in and wipe out the partions. Do you think it's necessary to try and wipe the Crucial SSD clean and get any low level drivers out of it before proceeding? Any utilities come to mind that will do that?

I had something like this in mind, but your needs are different.

The idea is to use the Parted CD (download and burn the .iso from here) to boot from. If you don't have an optical drive, there are instructions on that page to make live USB stick. I would have used it like this: Boot from the CD/USB, delete all partitions on the SSD (if any), create (and align) the partition, boot from XP setup disk, install by pointing it to the partition.

That's because:

- If you create partitions with XP setup from the CD, they will not be aligned.

- If you create partitions from Vista/Win7 setup from the DVD, it might create a small partition, or write its own bootsector, or simply the created (and aligned) partitions are not compatible with XP setup (I am not sure about this, I keep searching the forum about this issue, but can't find the exact thread. It mentiones this).

That's why I alway prefer to create and format partitions with independent tools before installing the OS.

Also, for some reason, I think this might help you. About wiping, do it if you're absolutely sure you can do it correctly. Otherwise, don't bother.

GL

*Edit: I might have mixed up the tools, Parted with Gparted, but I think both will do.

Edited April 14, 2012 by GrofLuigi

[cdob]

If you create partitions from Vista/Win7 setup from the DVD, it might create a small partition, or write its own bootsector, or simply the created (and aligned) partitions are not compatible with XP setup

KB931760 hotfix refers to XP SP2,

A XP SP3 works at such aligned partition here.

Boot Vista/Win7 setup from the DVD, press shift F10, run diskpart to create the partition.