Setup Installation :: Can't Get AHCI To Work - Windows 8
Feb 3, 2013
I just can't seem to get windows 8 to install/use the ahci controller - some specifics:
- new system
- clean windows 8 install (non-pro)
- one new ssd drive and one new hybrid drive, latest firmware flashed
- windows 8 installed on ssd (samsung 120gb)
- bios set to ahci+raid
- bios version current
- installed Windows 8 without pre-installing latest storage drivers during setup, ahci not recognized in device manager
- reinstalled Windows 8 using latest pre-installed drivers during setup, ahci still not recognized in device manager
Spent a lot of time researching this issue and none of the suggestions i've come across seem to work, including registry hacks. regardless of what i do Windows 8 just won't recognize my drives as ahci mode - ahci mode is setup in bios but Windows 8 still loads the ide drivers which can be seen in device manager under ata/atapi controllers. Why won't windows 8 recognize the bios ahci setting?
chipset - intel pch-c206
hp z1 server
latest bio update installed
cpu - e-1245
ssd (120gb) - operating system
hybrid drive (500gb) - storage
memory - 16gb
Ever since switching to AHCI mode, I've noticed that my keyboard has issues with the volume wheel not working properly. Also after setting up the LED lighting on the keyboard and a few restarts later, I've notice that when restarting my system the keyboard LED, blue in this case, will automatically show up and when it does, and I use the del key to get into BIOS doesn't work. I have to move the the usb connection to a different port, restart and keyboard LED will be white. This time using the del key, I can get into my BIOS no problem. This never happened when I was using native IDE mode.
A couple of weeks ago, I cloned my HDD C drive to a new 250GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD.
After fitting the SSD in place of the old HDD, the system rebooted fine and worked well with a very noticeable increase in the speed at which Windows loaded.
However, Samsung's "Magician" software informed me that the drive was running in SATA mode and that better performance would be obtained by switching the Storage Configuration parameter to AHCI mode in the BIOS on my ASUS P7P55D Pro motherboard.
So, I tried this but Windows would not load. I didn't get a BSOD as such... I'd get the Windows 8 start-up logo with the spinning dots below for a while, then the screen would go blank, then a message would flash briefly on the screen saying something along the lines of "Windows has experienced a problem and was unable to start so your computer is being restarted" (not exact words as it's not on screen long enough for me to read) and my computer reboots. This startup/error/reboot loop is repeated until I enter the BIOS and switch Storage Configuration back to IDE whereupon all is back to normal.
Further research then revealed that I needed to tweak the registry so I did this but I still get the startup/error/reboot loop.
Next I tried booting into SAFE mode as described in this thread. It'll boot fine if I leave Storage Configuration set to IDE but not if I change it to AHCI. It just goes back to the same old startup/error/reboot loop and Windows makes no attempt to install any new drivers.
I know I could do a clean install of Windows but I don't really want to go down that route if I can possibly avoid it.
I strongly suspect that the motherboard's Intel(R) 5 Series/3400 Series SATA AHCI/RAID Controller does not have the right driver installed that would enable AHCI mode to work. Is there a way that I can force installation of an updated driver? Is there such a thing (device manager tells me the latest driver is installed)?
I can live with IDE mode as the computer boots considerably faster from the SSD and programs load much quicker too but not being able to use AHCI mode is bugging
I am using Windows 8.1 x64. I am booting in IDE mode and I want to convert that into AHCI. I have read the following post-: Change from IDE to AHCI after installing Windows 8 - Super User
But has anyone converted Windows 8/8.1 to ACHI after installing ? Are there any problems after the conversion ?Microsoft has a patch for Windows 7/Vista but nothing for Windows 8/8.1.
The reason I want to do this is because I am going to install Debian Squeeze(Linux) and dual boot it with Windows. It seems Linux does not support SATA IDE but only supports AHCI.
I've got an Asus n550lf with windows 8 single language. Because I'm noob and I wanted to have dual-boot without gpt disks, I've raped off my original windows 8 oem. I've reinstalled but I guess it is Windows 8 Core.
I tried to use slmpt -ipk cdkeyhere but it gives me a message error.
How can i force my oem key to work and activate my windows 8 core?
One of our software providers has instructed us to make some changes to our Win 8 PC's registry to get the software to work properly. They have sent me details of what changes are required:
Open Windows Registry Editor (Regedit) Right click HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT - click PERMISSIONS - click ADVANCED Click/Check: REPLACE ALL CHILD OBJECT PERMISSION ENTRIES WITH INHERITABLE PERMISSION ENTRIES FROM THIS OBJECT Double click the entries: USERS, CREATOR and ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES For each entry: TYPE: Select Allow Applies to: Select This key and subkeys Click/Check: Full control and Read Click OK on Entry detail screen Click OK on Entries list screen
I know very little about Windows Registry other than not to touch it. These changes seem quite extreme.
I thought I would look at creating/using my own media.
I have been using VMs for testing these, so much better than playing with someone's PC
I have ISOs for both 8.0 and 8.1 which I downloaded using Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 ISO - Download or Create. The licence key I used for the download was my legitimate one that I purchased from Microsoft (so it wasn't OEM), it is actually an upgrade key from Windows 7 for Win 8 Pro. I can install these ISOs no problem but they always install the Pro version and I never get an option for installing Home.
I tried putting a ei.cfg file in the sources directory containing [EditionID] [Channel] Retail [VL] 0
But this just allows me to install without the key. I tried putting both "Core" and "Home" in as an EditionID but the install process fails saying "The product key entered does no match any of the Windows images available for installation. Enter a different product key"
If I try using the downloaded iso without the ei.cfg file but instead use the generic key for Home I get the same message.
So I'm pretty sure the downloads I got from MS just contain Pro. Is this right or is there a special way of making Home available? Based upon what I have seen in the forums I would also probably need "Home Single Language" to be available as well (if possible).
In case it makes any difference the ISOs I have always set their language to English (United Kingdom) during the install.
Laptop came with Windows 8 and has been updated to 8.1
Installed Ubuntu on a new partition, but no matter how many times I try, I can't get the machine to load Grub at power-on. If I boot Super Grub Disk/Rescatux, I see the installed Ubuntu, but other tools (like EasyBCD) only see Windows.
Apparently, we're no longer using MBR? Everything I used to know about computers seems to have become false in the last year or 2. How do I get Grub working on this new EFI thing?
I've bought Windows 8 when it was first released, but reinstalled Windows 7 again. Now I want to install Windows 8.1, but I get an error saying my product key is invalid. I've tried multiple product keys (We own multiple computers, two of which have Windows 8 installed), but I get the same error with all of them.
Edit: Because none of my product keys don't work, I can't install Windows 8 to further install Windows 8.1.
I have used Pragon HDM 14 to migrate existing Win 8.1 installation (gpt with uefi and secure boot) to new hdd. Migration went ok, system booted up from new hdd. However after that it seems hibernation does not work. When I hibernate and power on back pc, it does a clean start. System event log says the system has shut down inapriopertly. I have tried to turn off and on hibernation, disable safe boot, nothing worked.
I purchased a Lenovo Y510P laptop over a month ago which came with Windows 8.0. and I hated it from the get go. I was aware that 8.1 was available as a free download so I downloaded and installed it. All of these updates seem to have bogged down my system. When I click on what I am assuming is the new start button (the white house icon in the taskbar) it takes 6-10 seconds for the menu to appear .
I dug out the key with Belarc advisor and went to MS's site to download an ISO of 8.1 but it told me that it would not let me download the 8.1 ISO since my key was for 8.0. If I were able to get my hands on a 8.1 disc would I be able to use my 8.0 key to do a clean install of 8.1? It is so disappointing to have purchased such a powerful laptop and have it bogged down by so many updates as well as all of the bloatware that came preinstalled on it.
I went to update my father's old PC to 8.1 and I get the message that his CPU is not supported. That you need the combination of SSE2+NX+PAE.
He has a Intel Pentium 4 Prescott 630 3GHz. I looked it up and it should qualify for the upgrade. I ran CPUID and it says it has the SSE instructions (says MMX, SSE (1, 2, 3), EM64T).
I'm pretty sure it supports PAE (how do I check that???).
And in the BIOS, the Execute Disable Bit is turned ON (this is Intel's equivalent to NX?).
Is there any way to bypass this check and install the OS?
i want to copy my C: to new HDD. i also want to put the bootfiles in separate Boot-partition in new HDD. the boot-files are currently together with windows partition in C: in old HDD.
How can i copy my current windows to work on new HDD and also the bootfiles in separate partition?
One day, I changed the configuration of IDE to AHCI through Windows registry and configuring the BIOS parameters. Today, I want to go back to IDE without reinstalling Windows. I do not know how to do.
I tried installing the 8.1 Intel SATA/RAID driver from the ASUS website P8Z68-V motherboard model, but when enabling AHCI in BIOS I'm getting blue screens which is making me think something isn't configured properly in the OS. How to properly enable this in 8.1 yet? I'd definitely like the extra speed out of my SSD
I have a SSD and tried to switch to AHCI without having to reinstall. A guide suggested i had to do to device managers and then select my IDE items, select manually install driver and install the driver for AHCI
Well now i can't boot windows 8 anymore. I get an error message before the loading is finished, and i don't even have the time to read it my computer will instantly reboot and do the same thing over and over again
Setting the BIOS to AHCI will just cause another error. Windows8 won't boot and will tell me i need to repair it.
Automatic repair from install CD isn't useful. I don't have any system restore point.
I was installing Windows 8 at my desktop pc.Suddenly power cut occured and it caused the compute to shut down.Then when I restarted my pc again a messege appeared saying that the installation has been corrupted and it can't be continued and it doesn't log on.After that when I tried to re-install Windows 8 the setup got stuck at the "setup is starting" window.I waited overnight for it to go and the installation to start.But it doesn't happen.I have tried to re-install several times but the same problen happens again and again.So neither I can log into my computer now nor I can re-install windows.I don't know what to do.
So I switched over to the SATA setup via BIOS in attempt to improve my SSD performance. I knew I had to reinstall on the SSD but my I am not able to read or even format my second HDD that was also in AHCI. Is there any way to (would be awesome if) read, or at least format my drive so I can use it again? I tried disk management and other options within the OS and couldn't format.
it's an MSI 990xa gd-55 mobo. Which I am ashamed to even own because it sucks. MSI USA ? Motherboard - 990XA-GD55
i have recently bought an SSD. I have heard from a youtube video that changing the Sata controller from IDE to AHCI can give me better performance but i tried to enable this and it doesn't recognize the drive. The PC will not boot in AHCI mode which meant i have to switch to IDE again. I have tried booting from the Windows install DVD but it tells me that i cannot install Windows on this drive. Am i missing something?
The OS is installed while the mode was set for IDE, and afterward it was changed to AHCI. Now, the system does not boot. "Attempting repair" is displayed and the process does not advance.
Windows 8 is installed on a ssd and a hdd, and both exhibit the same symptom.
The system includes GA-970A-UD3, FX-6300, DDR3 1866 4GBx2, 1TB SATA3 and 120GB SATA3 SSD.
Currently using Onboard RAID1 which is just a pair of 1TB SATA drives that boots into windows 8.1. SATA BIOS mode is set to RAID.
I need want to switch the onboard SATA mode to AHCI so I can boot to SSD, instead.
I'm sure some have tried this: If you just clone the RAID partition as it sits on to the SSD, it will not boot the SSD when the SATA Bios mode is set to AHCI.
So, besides a bare-metal reinstall, how do move my Windows 8.1 installation on to the SSD so that when its all done the SSD will boot into windows and the SATA Bios is in AHCI mode? I'm not opposed to purchasing software like Macrium or Acronis if any of those can do the job.
It seems like anyone using onboard RAID would have run into this problem after purchasing an SSD.
I have a HP Envy 4 Ultrabook and I want to install Windows 8 from scratch, I put the installation files on a flash drive from a DVD of Win 8 I had, but when I go to install it, it says the "We couldn't find any drives". I have tried using DiskPart within the CMD as well, but it only finds my flash drive when I run list disk. Also, my drives are completely formatted, and I accidentally wiped the recovery partition. I tried with a USB of Win 8 Pro, and it was fine, showing all of my drives correctly, but that version is linked to another PC, so I can't install it. Also, I booted into a Linux Mint live CD and tried to install it, it sees my hard drive correctly, but the Windows install does not, I can't figure this out, never encountered it before. Is Linux my only option at this point?
I am trying to upgrade from windows 8 pro to windows 8.1 on a samsung laptop. The download completes and installation starts.
After a while the following message appears "you cant install windows on a usb flash drive with setup"
I am not actually trying to install to a flash drive. I contacted Microsoft and after 5 hours they said that I should connect to the internet with a cable and not by wireless in order to solve the problem (this didn't work of course and I had told them that it was an install problem and not a download problem).
Until very recently i was running Windows 8 with a 240 GB Sandisk SSD as a primary and a 2 TB Western Digital Green HDD as a storage. I decided to set up a RAID 1 setup so i purchased a second 2 TB HDD and installed it.
My intent was to run windows 8 off the 240 SSD as a primary and have a RAID 1 setup for my 2TB HDDs.
I learnt that my data configuration was set to AHCI. I decided to do a complete clean install and change the sata configuration in BIOS to RAID.
After successfully creating a RAID volume using my 2TB HDDs i proceeded to install Windows off my primary. I am however having difficulties in that it will not allow me to install windows on either drive.
I am trying to setup a new Windows 8 computer that is going to be a gift. I need to go through the setup procedure so I can install some software which is also part of the gift. How can I do this without having to use a Microsoft account, or at least with leaving the least amount of account remnants for the new user?
I have tried updating my Windows 8.1 Pro (64-bit, upgraded from Windows 8 Pro) with the new "Update 1" (KB2919355) but it always fails with ERROR code 8007005 (or 80073712).
What I have tried do to fix:
Run WindowsUpdateDiagnostic (that e.g. removes files from C:WindowsSoftwareDistributionDownload and cleans Windows update history metadata info)DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /ScanhealthDISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /RestorehealthDISM.EXE /online /cleanup-image /startcomponentcleanup
After all of this, still the update (KB2919355) fails
There must be something that Microsoft needs to fix, there are xxxxxxxxxxxx amount of similar complains and reports out there...
I decided to install Win 8.1 RTM x64 yesterday but what I expected to be a breeze turned into a nightmare. Installation fails, I am even unable to get into Safe Mode.
I was running Win 7 Ultimate x64 before without any issues whatsoever.
I already described my issues here, with errors and logs: Windows 8.1 RTM installation fails on Dell XPS 1340
Changed memory from 2x4GB to original 2x2GB but completely same issue
I have recently formatted my old windows. But now I am not able to install windows 8(actually even windows XP and seven) . When I try to boot from USB setup starts But 'Getting files ready' (which is second step of installation) stucks at midway like at 14% or 52% or 74% i.e. at any arbitary percentage and nothing happens . Actually I am able to move my cursor but installation no more proceeds further . I have tried to format many times and to run installation but everytime installation stuck at midaway without any error .
My laptop specs are : Acer aspire 5745 , 500GB HDD , 3GB RAM , intel core i3 processor
I have Windows 8 consumer preview installed on my laptop. A couple days ago its licence expired, so I got Windows 8 professional to upgrade.
I made an install USB with the win7 USB utility and proceeded to boot from the stick. The setup then told me I should restart my pc and restart the installation from windows.
I did that, but Windows 8 setup won't start. It just starts reading from the usb for a second, then stops. The setup from the .iso I downloaded does the same thing.
To make things more interesting, the first time I restarted my PC after trying to upgrade windows from USB at start-up, I ran Windows 8 setup and it did start and started doing some things, on that small blue screen that pops up. I didn't pay attention to it until the blue setup screen disappeared and nothing else happened...
One more thing, I tried to install Microsoft windows server 2012 on my laptop a month ago and the same thing happened with the setup.
Did a few hours of research on the internet, tried to run it in compatibility mode.Can't really afford to do a "clean" install now, and on top of that, my PC reboots every 2 hours because my licence is expired...
