On Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 12:50 PM, Jeff Bunting <[email protected]> wrote: > ... if no driver is available (I couldn't even find a mention of it on HP's > G6 > driver download page).
AHCI is supposed to be a generic interface standard, kind of like the venerable PIIX IDE controller became a de facto standard. If your Windows version didn't come with an AHCI driver, you might try downloading the Intel AHCI driver to see if it works your controller. > From what I've gathered there may be OS > problems when switching the BIOS to AHCI mode, but I haven't seen any > mention about switching from AHCI to compatible mode. Short version: Won't be a problem. Long version: Switching modes effectively changes how the disk controller appears to the OS. The NT loader has to be explicitly told what device driver(s) to use for the controller the boot drive is attached to. If you change controller modes, the loader doesn't load the needed driver, and when it boots the kernel, the kernel then bluescreens with INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE trying to mount the boot drive. Once the PnP subsystem is running, other device drivers will be loaded dynamically. So if the only thing attached to that SATA controller is an optical drive, you're all set. Incidentally, you should be able to work around this problem if, before you change the controller mode, you tell Windows to also load the proper SATA driver at boot. With both SATA and PIIX drivers present for the kernel to use, the system should then boot regardless of which mode the controller is in. This is what SYSPREP does with it's "additional mass storage drivers" stuff. I once came across a way to do this without SYSPREP, but don't have the reference ready to hand. -- Ben ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
