Windows 7: Switching BIOS SATA RAID/AHCI setting causes BSOD at Windows Start

I just changed my disk setup from:

1 SATA HDD Primary OS Disk
2x SATA HDD Backup Disks in RAID 1

TO:

1 SATA SSD Primary OS Disk
1 SATA HDD Backup Disk
[No RAID]

Everything worked great, no problem. So, since I don't have a RAID array anymore, I decided that I could change my BIOS setting to AHCI instead of RAID. I have a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R v1.0 mobo.

These are my steps:

1. Settings > Integrated Peripherals > "SATA RAID/AHCI Mode" = RAID
   --> Changed this setting to AHCI
2. Reboot
3. Windows Start screen shows up, but as the color orbs are spinning into focus, BSOD and immediate restart
4. Repeated reboot several times, same outcome

Next Step:

1. Launch BIOS settings
2. Integrated Peripherals > "Onboard SATA/IDE Ctrl Mode" = RAID
   --> Changed this setting to AHCI
3. Reboot
4. Windows Start screen shows up, but as the color orbs are spinning into focus, BSOD and immediate restart
5. Repeated reboot several times, same outcome

Switch both settings back to RAID, reboot, and Windows starts up just fine, no issues.

What am I missing? Why can't I set it to AHCI mode without BSODs?

This is a hard one. As I'm sure you know, there should be no difference (to Windows) for RAID vs AHCI. It is normally the same driver, and the same registry setting.

So here is my WAG: maybe you need to have all 3 hard drives connected to break the RAID and change to AHCI.

Once completed, you would then remove the extra drive. Hopefully you have not formatted or changed that drive at all.

Thanks TVeblen. I'll give it a try. I have not changed them yet. As a matter of fact, I was just about to restart the computer with them hooked back up, forgetting that they would show up in RAID. I'll let you know how it goes.

No luck.

I reconnected the drives (power and SATA) and it recognized them in the array. I deleted the array and verified it was deleted. Shut down, disconnect drives, boot up, change both settings in BIOS to AHCI, save and exit, then same BSOD before windows loads. Because it happens before windows loads, it doesn't create a minidump file.

Any other ideas? I guess it won't hurt to leave the settings at RAID and not have a RAID array (only takes about 5-7 seconds longer to boot).

Alternatively, if I can't figure out what's going on here, I could set them to IDE, but I'm not sure what's better. Leave settings to RAID, but never having an array, or setting to IDE. Thoughts?

You might try backing up all your important data to another drive and unplug all spare drives and reset the bios to ahci, shut down, boot to your Win 7 dvd and do a clean install. Go into bios and make sure it's set to ahci, that should bread the raid setup.

I would first go with IDE to have a running base. Then you set the OS ti AHCI. Shut down and restart the PC going first to the BIOS to make the AHCI setting. Then save the BIOS setting and reboot. That should work.

Didn't get an email update with your response before I found the Microsoft "Fix It" solution--an MSI that you download. Either way will work, so for those who are scared to touch the registry, you can try this: Error message when you start a Windows 7 or Windows Vista-based computer after you change the SATA mode of the boot drive: "STOP 0x0000007B INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE".

Thanks for the help!!

Glad to hear you got it sorted. Good work.

I'm curious as to what the registry setting was set as. Was it 3?
3 is the setting for IDE mode. That is the surprise here. Do you have any idea how it got there?

Go here for the solution. I had the same problem in Windows 8. The solution basically involves rebooting in Safe Mode, changing to AHCI in the BIOS settings, letting it boot in Safe Mode, and then restarting in Normal Mode again. It magically fixes itself. I'm not kidding. Hours of frustration avoided...

Changing the ATA Drive setting in System Bios causes reboot loop on Windows 8