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Thread: BIOS Says SATA Controller is RAID but when i change to AHCI Windows wont boot

  1. #1
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    BIOS Says SATA Controller is RAID but when i change to AHCI Windows wont boot

    I dont have a RAID set up on my computer.
    I have 2 hard drives (SSD = 128GB and a SATA drive = 1TB). The SSD is the Primary Boot for Windows 7 Ultimate x64 on my computer.

    When i installed windows my BIOS setting for SATA Controller was: RAID
    In Windows 7's Device Manager under Storage Controllers it shows: "Intel Desktop/Workstation/Server Express Chipset SATA RAID Controller"

    Now everytime i cold boot i get a "Intel Rapid Storage Technology Option ROM" Configuration screen that halts the system up from loading into Windows for 1 second. This screen asks you to press "CTRL+I" to access the RAID config screen.

    I want to remove this screen so i went into BIOS to change the "SATA Controller" from RAID to "AHCI". That change did remove the "Option Rom" screen successfully but when Windows tries to start i get a BSoD.

    The only way to get Windows back to normal (and not see the BSoD) and load successfully into Windows is to change the "SATA Controller" back to "RAID" in BIOS.

    So can someone tell me, is there a way to either:

    A) Remove this Intel Option ROM screen on boot up since i dont use RAID (both drives have never been set up for RAID ever)

    OR

    B) Change my BIOS to be AHCI and successfully allow Windows 7 to boot up instead of the present state BSoD?

    I tried using the Windows Repair option after the BSoD which is available when you reset (so it should be noted i didnt use the Windows disc which maybe it has better repair utils??) but it only asked if i wanted to "System Restore". I cancelled that request and after trying to hunt the problem down it ended up saying it had an error (?) and wanted to send the info to Microsoft. The error seem to indicate a "BadDriver".

    My guess is it is try to look for the AHCI driver but only finds the RAID driver (as noted above in my Device Manager) and so it fails. Is this a correct assumption? What must i do to fix it so i can just boot up and not see that Option Rom screen anymore. I am sure by setting my system to use AHCI it will save time loading the unused RAID stuff.

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    Post the make and model of your computer, or the motherboard make and model if it a home or custom built computer.

  3. #3
    Stark Raving MOD Midknyte's Avatar
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    That change did remove the "Option Rom" screen successfully but when Windows tries to start i get a BSoD.
    When you change the controller type, it changes the HAL. That causes the BSOD. This is the same for Windows going back to NT. You would have had to change the setting BEFORE installing Windows. At this point, you could try a repair install or an "in-place" upgrade on Win7.

    http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...r-install.html

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    Quote Originally Posted by Midknyte View Post
    When you change the controller type, it changes the HAL. That causes the BSOD. This is the same for Windows going back to NT. You would have had to change the setting BEFORE installing Windows. At this point, you could try a repair install or an "in-place" upgrade on Win7.

    http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...r-install.html
    Ah very interesting! Thanks for the info...I will try the repair install and PRAY it works..would hate to have to reinstall the whole thing from scratch..that would really suck!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Midknyte View Post
    When you change the controller type, it changes the HAL. That causes the BSOD. This is the same for Windows going back to NT. You would have had to change the setting BEFORE installing Windows. At this point, you could try a repair install or an "in-place" upgrade on Win7.

    http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...r-install.html
    After reading the link you gave there is a big problem with it....since the steps require you to be IN WINDOWS to do the repair install then i am out of luck since for me i would have to switch it to AHCI mode in the BIOS whch would result in a BSoD, preventing me to return into winfows to begin the repair install.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Train View Post
    Post the make and model of your computer, or the motherboard make and model if it a home or custom built computer.
    Acer Aspire M3970
    System Type: x64
    Processor: i5-2320
    BIOS: Amercan Megatrend P02-A2, 10/31/2011
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64

  7. #7
    Stark Raving MOD Midknyte's Avatar
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    Ah rats. Did you try Startup Repair and adding the AHCI drivers?

    http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolso...tup-repair.htm

    If that doesn't work, then it would probably require a reinstall. Like I said, the HD controller settings need to be changed BEFORE installation of Windows.

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    Select the IDE setting and that Raid bit should not show up.

    Clean install time is my guess.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Midknyte View Post
    Ah rats. Did you try Startup Repair and adding the AHCI drivers?

    http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolso...tup-repair.htm

    If that doesn't work, then it would probably require a reinstall. Like I said, the HD controller settings need to be changed BEFORE installation of Windows.
    That's an interesting idea about providing the AHCI drivers during Startup Repair...i didnt try that...

    Interestingly i found this article which specifically talks about my issue and how you can actually just modify the Registry directly to tell windows to Load the AHCI drivers...you do this before modifying the BIOS to AHCI. I tried doing it but i keep getting a BSoD...but my error code is different than what the article is expecting of its BSoD...maybe you can have a looksey: http://tweaks.com/windows/44119/impr...m-ide-to-ahci/

    My BSoD error is:

    0x0000009F (0x0000000000000003, 0xFFFFFA800B811060, 0xFFFFF80000B9C3D8, 0xFFFFFA8006FD3B40)

    Anyone know what it means?

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    Oh an although i havent checked yet, so based on my hazy memory i dont think the Startup Repair has an option to Load Drivers. If it does then please let me know where. This of course is the Startup Repair that one gets automatically without a disc after a BSoD when you try to reboot.

  11. #11
    Stark Raving MOD Midknyte's Avatar
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    Oh an although i havent checked yet, so based on my hazy memory i dont think the Startup Repair has an option to Load Drivers.
    Yes it does. Look at page 6 of the link I posted. There is a button that says Load Drivers.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Midknyte View Post
    Yes it does. Look at page 6 of the link I posted. There is a button that says Load Drivers.
    Thanks for the heads up...I will go give it a try right now ... crossing my fingers.

  13. #13
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    SUCCESS!!!!

    Midknyte the process of going through the Startup Repair unfortunately didnt work however, i did do some messing around in the registry and was able to get it fixed without any need for repair installs at all...So i guess to help any future readers who are having the same issue then here are the steps i used to fix it.

    This can be used for those who are other types too (e.g. IDE/RAID) but i will just give the steps for fixing my issue of RAID and wanting to change my BIOS to AHCI.

    1. Go to: http://downloadcenter.intel.com/default.aspx

    2. Search for "Intel Rapid Storage Technology (Intel RST)" (Type = Drivers)

    3. Click on "IntelĀ® Rapid Storage Technology F6 Driver Diskettes" and download either the 64bit or 32 bit version (its a zip file).

    4. Inside the zip is iaStor.sys. Copy this into your "system32\drivers" folder

    5. Download the latest ""IntelĀ® Rapid Storage Technology". It will have a name similar to: iata_enu_[version here].exe. Don't run it. Just keep it around for later.

    6. Create "first.reg" text file with the following content. Save it and Double-click to install it to your Registry:

    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\iaStor]
    "Type"=dword:00000001
    "Start"=dword:00000000
    "Group"="SCSI miniport"
    "ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
    "ImagePath"="system32\\drivers\\iaStor.sys"
    "tag"=dword:00000019
    "DisplayName"="Intel AHCI Controller"

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\iaStor\Parameters]
    "queuePriorityEnable"=dword:00000000
    "BusType"=dword:00000003


    7. Create a "second.reg" text file with the following content. Save it and Double-click to install it to your Registry. Note: You MUST change the "1C02" shown below to your SATA Controller's ID. Mine was "1C02" but yours may be different.


    Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

    [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_8086&dev_1C02&cc_0106]
    "Service"="iaStor"
    "ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
    "Security"=hex:01,00,04,90,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00 ,00,00,00,00,14,00,00,00,02,\
    00,4c,00,03,00,00,00,00,00,14,00,ff,01,1f,00,01,01 ,00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,\
    00,00,00,00,18,00,ff,01,1f,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00 ,05,20,00,00,00,20,02,00,\
    00,00,00,18,00,9f,01,12,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00,05 ,20,00,00,00,21,02,00,00


    8. Reboot your computer and go to your BIOS and modify your SATA Controller to "AHCI"

    9. Now allow Windows to reload. And if all goes well then YAY no more BSoD! You should now be back in Windows.

    10. Windows will now start recognizing New Hardware (your SATA Controller). It will install it and ask you to restart one or more times.

    11. Once windows is done installing the AHCI and its connected devices then you must now run the iata_enu_[version here].exe you downloaded back at step #5.

    12. Reboot your computer.

    DONE. You have now modified your BIOS SATA Controller from IDE/RAID to AHCI with no more Windows BSoD and no need to reinstall windows

    Hope that helps other future readers.

  14. #14
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    Hey Corezz.. How did you get past the BSOD though? Don't you need to first get into Windows to be able to change the regkey? Am I missing something here? I have the same issue and I have been stuck for two days!

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