AHCI : Enable in Windows 7 / Vista

Well, after reading most of this thread it seems to me my problem is still not resolved, please correct me if I missed it.

Basically, the tutorial procedures did not work for me.

Now, I have the Dell Inspiron 530 with G33M03 motherboard (Q6600 with 8 GB RAM). The Dell BIOS does not have an AHCI mode, just IDE and RAID. Basically there are no other options at all (on the side note I was reading something about "unlocking" ro "modding" the BIOS but I am not sure I am ready for this).

I wated to enable AHCI since I got a new SSD and wanted to have TRIM, etc. So, after a bit of reading, it turned out there is AHCI support (with ICH9R Intel controller) and it's in the RAID mode. I turned on the RAID and installed Windows 7 on my SSD, it's working fine, but there are the following issues:

1. I kept my old OSs (on other hard drives I still had the original Vista that came with the Dell and the Windows 7 I was using since it came out, both are on their separate hard drives). These were isntalled in the IDE mode, I did not try the RAID setting before. Thus, to boot the old OSs - and I am still customizing my new set up, so the work is still being done on my "old" Windows 7 - I need to change the BIOS setting back to IDE. Not a big problem, but I would prefer the computer to start up without my pressing lots of buttons.

2. Most annoying - after repeated changes from IDE to RAID and back, the computer now has difficulties recognizing the SSD as a bootable device. What I mean is that once iI change to RAID - or start up the PC in RAID mode in the morning (the PC is off when I don't use it) - I will get the screen saying that AHCI BIOS is installed, it identifies the drives, then pauses and then sees only the HDDs as bootable. I have to restart three times before it will recognise the SSD as bootable (it sees that SSD is connected to SATA 0 port from the start). Now that's rather annoying.

What I tried to do, I tried to use the tutorial to enable AHCI in the old Windows 7 and Vista, in order to avoid this switching abck and forth between IDE and RAID. I set the registry value as described , but then switching to RAID and booting just doesn ot work, the computer simply does not boot, so I never get to see those screens where it installs the drivers. Moreover, pressing F8 does not work - the machine just reboots without getting to the screen where I could choose the safe mode, etc.

To be honest, I am not sure where to go from here. Thought I would share this.

unifex said:

Well, after reading most of this thread it seems to me my problem is still not resolved, please correct me if I missed it.

Basically, the tutorial procedures did not work for me.

Now, I have the Dell Inspiron 530 with G33M03 motherboard (Q6600 with 8 GB RAM). The Dell BIOS does not have an AHCI mode, just IDE and RAID. Basically there are no other options at all (on the side note I was reading something about "unlocking" ro "modding" the BIOS but I am not sure I am ready for this).

I wated to enable AHCI since I got a new SSD and wanted to have TRIM, etc. So, after a bit of reading, it turned out there is AHCI support (with ICH9R Intel controller) and it's in the RAID mode. I turned on the RAID and installed Windows 7 on my SSD, it's working fine, but there are the following issues:

1. I kept my old OSs (on other hard drives I still had the original Vista that came with the Dell and the Windows 7 I was using since it came out, both are on their separate hard drives). These were isntalled in the IDE mode, I did not try the RAID setting before. Thus, to boot the old OSs - and I am still customizing my new set up, so the work is still being done on my "old" Windows 7 - I need to change the BIOS setting back to IDE. Not a big problem, but I would prefer the computer to start up without my pressing lots of buttons.

2. Most annoying - after repeated changes from IDE to RAID and back, the computer now has difficulties recognizing the SSD as a bootable device. What I mean is that once iI change to RAID - or start up the PC in RAID mode in the morning (the PC is off when I don't use it) - I will get the screen saying that AHCI BIOS is installed, it identifies the drives, then pauses and then sees only the HDDs as bootable. I have to restart three times before it will recognise the SSD as bootable (it sees that SSD is connected to SATA 0 port from the start). Now that's rather annoying.

What I tried to do, I tried to use the tutorial to enable AHCI in the old Windows 7 and Vista, in order to avoid this switching abck and forth between IDE and RAID. I set the registry value as described , but then switching to RAID and booting just doesn ot work, the computer simply does not boot, so I never get to see those screens where it installs the drivers. Moreover, pressing F8 does not work - the machine just reboots without getting to the screen where I could choose the safe mode, etc.

To be honest, I am not sure where to go from here. Thought I would share this.

Try here Inspiron 530S - "AHCI BIOS not installed" - error came out of nowhere. - Desktop General Hardware Forum - Desktop - Dell Community "Inspiron 530S - "AHCI BIOS not installed"

Others are having a similar problem with the Inspiron 530S. You should try the Dell chat rooms.

Thanks, Belikexp, but this is not my problem. First of all, I've got 530 (no "s"), second, AHCI BIOS is installed and is working - it's just that it boots from the SSD on the third attempt for some reason, while seeing the disk every time. I did try Dell forums of course - to no avail, I'm afraid.

I tried your tutorial and no success. My regedit was already set to 0, but it refuses to boot into Windows whatsoever. I'll get a black screen with a white dash after changing my bios to AHCI. When I change it back to IDE, it'll boot right into Windows like nothing ever happened. What am I doing wrong here? Am I supposed to wait? It looked to me like it was stuck on that screen.


System Specs

Thanks a lot for this wonderful tip. It was killing me to have non-raid disks being controlled by the raid bios. You have shown me the way how to make ahci bios work. And it does!

carolinabranden said:

I tried your tutorial and no success. My regedit was already set to 0, but it refuses to boot into Windows whatsoever. I'll get a black screen with a white dash after changing my bios to AHCI. When I change it back to IDE, it'll boot right into Windows like nothing ever happened. What am I doing wrong here? Am I supposed to wait? It looked to me like it was stuck on that screen.


System Specs

Problem solved. I've been off this computer for a couple of days. It asked me if I wanted to boot off my system disc.!!! My boot priority settings. Went in to find the external drive was somehow set as the first. I'm not sure how it got there because it was 1. ROM 2. Flash 3. HDD... etc... before. Why didn't I check that before? lol Something so simple can cause such a hardache.