Restore causes AHCI error 23

Hello Everyone, I NEED AHCI for hot swap. That being said, I had W7x64 installed with no problem with AHCI enabled from the beginning and I even loaded drivers with F6. It was working fine no boot problems or anything so I saved an image.

Through the use of some "bad" software. I was forced to restore the OS to fix multiple problems.

Immediately upon restore I get the infamous AHCI BIOS hang at step 23.

Any suggestions? How can I make a reliable image and how can I successfully restore it?

Thanks!

For now forget about using AHCI. Go into the BIOS and set the drive configuration to IDE.
That way the system will boot. Once you get the system to boot properly then reload the AHCI drivers and or enable AHCI in the registry then reboot and set the drive configuration back to AHCI.

What more then likely happened is either 1 of 3 things.
1)You created that image before you enabled AHCI.
2)You are using a shity image program. Like the built in Windows program.
3)You did the restore using some type of Universal Restore option that wiped out the HAL part of the registry.

Good luck and stop loading crap software on your PC.

Thanks for your response. I created the image with the AHCI drivers loaded via F6 from the beginning. I saved an image using Windows 7 Backup and restored the image with the built in restore mechanism. From that point on I was in trouble. But I did a work around which I am not really happy with...
1. Prior to restore image go into BIOS and select IDE. My Intel RST does not work at this point.
2. Restore the image. It will boot and load new drivers.
3. Go back into BIOS and choose AHCI. It will boot although slower than it used too.. This what I don't like. My Intel RST does work at this point.

A proper work around is really needed as I need the eject hard drive feature...

Thanks,