Vista - SB600 AHCI Drivers

Ok, so I've been trying to install the latest SB600 drivers on my Vista Ultimate 64 system with no luck. If I turn on AHCI I get a BSOD.

I know the process about rebuilding everything from scratch (ugh) but don't want to go there. How does one install the drivers on a working Native IDE system? I know that the driver file ahcix64s.sys need to be copied into the system32/drivers file and I also know that I need some registry settings to appear that I can see using REGEDIT but I can't seem to get those created.

The driver package I have has an ahcix64s.inf file but it won't install. When I right click on the file and select Install I get the message:

The inf file you selected does not support this method of installation.

Can someone post the registry entries one needs to create?

Is there a way of forcing the creation of the right registry entries?

I finally got it working! So I've switched from Native IDE to AHCI without having to reinstall Vista. I'm not sure if this is still an ongoing problem with people but if anyone is interested I can post my method here.

Hi, pmerrill, and welcome to the forums.

In order to be helpful, just post the method anyway - you shouldn't need someone to ask for it.

Ok, here's the trick.

The main reason for the crash is that you can't install the drivers because the install routines needs to recognise your hardware (so the mode must be set to AHCI) but if you change the BIOS, you can't boot because it needs the drivers. Classic Catch-22. So, you need to copy the .sys file to system32/drivers and add some registry entries using regedit before you make the switch to AHCI. The steps are as follows:

1) Download the AHCI driver for your motherboard from your MB providers site. In my case the ATI drivers are found here

https://a248.e.akamai.net/f/674/9206...4_sb_66001.exe

2) Unpack the drivers and find the Vista 64 ahcix64s.sys file. In my case the file was found in

C:\ATI\SUPPORT\8-7_vista32-64_sb_66001\Packages\Drivers\SBDrv\SB6xx\RAID\LH64A\ahcix64s.sys

3) Copy this file to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\ahcix64s.sys

4) Now you need to create some registry entries that will recognise and load the driver once the mode is set to AHCI mode. The easiest way is to create a file with the entries in it. I've attached the one that I used. It's probably not minimal (there is probably some entries you don't need, but it seems to work). In order to load it into your registry you just double click or Right-Click and select Merge.

5) Reboot your system and change the BIOS from Native IDE to AHCI. On boot if it complains about unsigned drivers, then I believe you select F8 and ask Vista to ignore that on this boot.

6) Your system should now boot but you're not done yet. What you need to do is run the proper install routines, since the hardware is now visible. In my case that meant running C:\ATI\SUPPORT\8-7_vista32-64_sb_66001\setup.exe which installs the driver properly and adds a few more registry entries.

7) You'll need to reboot again and then you should be right.

8) As a further step, AMD seems to have a more up to date driver than what is in the ATI package (Version 44 versus 43). The updated driver package can be found at Software Posting

I'm pretty much sure the exact same procedure can be used for Windows XP, just install the XP drivers rather than the Vista drivers.

Enjoy!

I also have a mb on sb600 and I've done it the same way as you. Unfortunately after rebooting and changing to AHCI my windows still gives me BSOD I think of giving up (I don't think I'll be reinstaling windows because of that).

If you've tried it before, make sure that the msahci section of the registry is turned off. If you look under msahci you should see Start set to 4 and not 0. These are the MS drivers and perahps don't work. If they are being loaded first it could be confusing Vista.

Having done the conversion, there is not a huge difference in the speed of the disks over Native IDE, so I wouldn't worry that much if it does not work.

I've attached the hdtach results for my drive under vista

By the way, who manufacturers your motherboard?

I tried with both settings in the registry (4 and 0) but still BSOD :/ My mb manufacturer is ASROCK (ASRock, WiFi+AP). I do agree with the way you are thinking and doing the switch in Vista for AHCI. The problem probably is in my system configuration/drivers. I think that the ahci ati drivers should be loaded first, before other drivers are loaded. The reason that I get BSOD is that other things try to load first but they can't I the system doesn't have AHCI drivers loaded first. In windows 3.11 that would be not a problem as it would only require to change one file. But I have no idea how to change the drivers loading sequence in Vista. Do you how to do it?

I have the same problem.My mb is asrock 4Core1333-FullHD.I have always bsod.I use vista ultimate x64.

The only good reason for using AHCI is for eSATA hot swapping. Otherwise don't bother with it, it'll likely cause you more grief than performance.

msahci loads very late when I boot my system, so that's not the issue. The storage driver is the first thing loading, and it doesn't need the msahci driver to do its job. It's more likely to be the registrypatch that's the problem.

The first line is system specific, you may need to figure out the appropriate replacement for pci#ven_1002&dev_4380 for your motherboard somehow. It can be done with a linux liveCD (set the sata to AHCI, boot the livecd, bring up a terminal and use the command "lspci -n", don't include the quotes, it'll show you a list of devices. Find the one for the storage controller and take a note of the vendorID and deviceID)

Hi, I have a motherboard ATI sb600 on vista ultimate x64 and i have the same problem but my notebook is a toshiba satellite a215 s5818 and my bios has simple, and just i can change a boot mode, any one here can help me? and i follow all steps and i have not changes.