How do I change Windows XP to use AHCI disk mode rather than IDE mode for Dual boot?

Hi DJ!  

Sorry about the delay in replying to your message. Yes indeed it does sound like your experience is very similar to mine! If you've read through this thread you will know that I've tried all (I believe) of the recommended solutions and more. The hardware manufactures put the blame squarely on Microsoft for this issue. They have the driver support, but XP simply won't do what we are trying to to with AMD hardware. In short, after spending countless hours trying to find a solution (and it really bugged me that I couldn't find one) I gave up and re-installed everything with the bios  in AHCI mode. Now I'm able to dual boot from Windows 8 to XP.

I too will eventually work mostly with Windows 8, though I have hardware and software that are important to me that will probably keep me still using XP for some time to come -- at least on the occasion that I need that software and hardware. Windows 8 64 bit is far quicker on this machine than XP 32bit which already gives me plenty of incentive to use Win 8 much of the time.

If by chance you do find a solution, please post here. It might be of great help to someone else that finds themselves in the same predicament.

Regards,

Kelly

Hey, AudioDoc --

I stumbled onto this thread a few days ago, whilst attempting the same thing you were trying back in the fall, and wanted to share my own tale... and see if you have any further insights to share.

Both machines in question are AMD-based, so a lot of the advice out there, being Intel-based, won't work.  So it takes a little more digging to find the answers.  I've effectively been trying the IDE-to-AHCI conversion on three different OS versions, and have had success on two, and partial on the other.  As you might guess, XP is the "partial" success.  My wife's machine is running Windows 7 64-bit, and I installed it in IDE mode before I knew better.  But switching it to AHCI was relatively simple, took me about an hour of nervously picking at the registry, installing some drivers, etc.  At the final boot, everything loaded up like magic.  I have had nothing but good experiences with Win 7, it seems to be very nimble at seeing what it needs to do.

My own machine has both Win XP and Win 8, and they've been tougher.  I converted Win 8 first, which took some more extensive registry editing, but now that appears to be fine, as well.  However, I would have to switch the BIOS back to IDE mode, if I wanted to boot into XP.  Unacceptable, so I started picking at making that AHCI-compliant, as well, and here's where I ran aground.  After much searching, many driver downloads, many registry hacks, many restores, etc., I have XP able to run with the BIOS set to AHCI.  However, the ahcix86.sys driver (the only one which seems to be recommended for XP) insisted on installing as "AMD AHCI Compatible RAID Controller", under SCSI Devices.  But under IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers, I cannot seem to get that driver to take.  I had to force it to even show a SATA controller at all -- an AMD SATA controller, using a Win 7 driver -- and that is all it will do.  It sits there with a question mark over it, and the OS still apparently runs in IDE mode.

I've about reached the point where you did, though, and am about to give up on it... not that I want to re-install anything, I'm only continuing to use XP long enough to get cozy with Win 8, and I'm almost there, after several tweaks.  And I don't need TRIM support in XP, that runs on a HDD, unlike Win 8, which I have on an OCZ SSD.  My only goal was to make it so that I didn't need to flip the BIOS each time I wanted to boot into a different OS, and I've accomplished that.  Eventually, I'll just uninstall XP and run with Win 8.  So I guess the moral of the story is... there's only so much time you can fiddle around with something that's outdated!

Regards,

Even if you install the wrong driver the worse that will happen is a bsod. You then boot into safe mode in which only Windows default drivers are loaded and uninstall the driver or, alternatively, perform a system restore. It is for that purpose system restore points are created by both Windows update and any reputable driver update software at the time of installing the new driver. If you run into a situation in which you are unable to get a device to function you can run the file in compatibility mode. Remember, Google is your friend when dealing with computers. There is no issue that you can have which someone else has not already had meaning the answer is a few keys away. ... :-)

I used to use driver magician sometimes (when Win7 was installed). But its not free. But, it did find some drivers for whatever I had installed.).

Even if it found drivers (that weren't from the manufacturer's site, the drivers still worked, and they were more recent that the installed drivers)

And yup, normally with Windows (well what I usually do) is install it, and the 1st thing you should do is install chipset drivers (usually from Intel) if its an Intel based system. Then everything else

XP didnt have anything on the CD (like NIC drivers/wireless drivers). Unless you slipstreamed the drivers etc

Or, if you don't  download the drivers before you reinstall XP, (obviously), you wont get online (unless you get the drivers with another computer), then install the drivers after

WIn8 wasn't too bad on this. I'm still using the windows sound/HDMI,NIC drivers at the mo. The only thing that wasn't compatible was the webcam (VX-3000). According to the Widows 8 compat site it's not compatible.

I may install the vidcard drivers now that there's WIn8 drivers for it. but its only got WDM 1.1 functionality or something. Which is what Win8 installed I think. So, I may not notice any diff.

I use a vidcard with HDMI on it, but it probably wont make the sound any better. I'm only using the monitor speakers. I dont have any speakers at the mo

I've already done Windows 8 builds and installed manufacturer's (mainboard) drivers after initial installation without issue. Admittedly only Intel builds so far.

If your graphics is not permitting the native resolution of your monitor you should install the manufacturer's graphics card drivers which should solve the problem (assuming that they say they are Win8 compatible).

Tricky