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

Anonymous
2012-11-24T16:14:09+00:00

Original Title: How do I change Widows XP from IDE  mode to AHCI mode so that I can dual boot to Widows 8

I have XP is installed in IDE mode on one SSD, and Win 8 is installed in AHCI mode on a second SSD . How do I  switch my  XP install to boot in AHCI mode so that I can dual boot?  My motherboard is an ASRock 990FX Extreme4.  The bios can be swiched from one mode to the other, but can't be set for each drive individually. I've found plenty of guides on switching the device driver in the XP device manager, but none have worked for me. I have AHCI SATA drivers from ASRock and from AMD, but I always get the message to the effect that the driver applicable to my hardware.  Can't find any info on this here (in these forums).  In the XP device manager there are 9 devices listed. Three primary channel, three secondary channel and three dual channel. 

Regards,

Kelly

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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  1. Anonymous
    2012-11-27T01:47:02+00:00

    It'll be the stop error i posted where the reg file is 7b. Which can happen with XP when you enable AHCI in the BIOS

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  2. Anonymous
    2012-11-27T01:40:39+00:00

    Forgive me for intruding here, but I am perplexed by your issue. This should not be a problem. This should be as easy as installing the sata/raid drivers then changing the bios from IDE to SATA..

    after changing the bios from IDE mode to Ahci mode I get a brief blue screen and then a reboot.

    Regarding the comment quoted, which OS are you attempting to load when this occurs? Have you attempted to disable auto restart on system failure via advanced options menu? Your computer may be blue screening when it automatically reboots. The stop/error code may give you some insight if that is what is actually happening.

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  3. Anonymous
    2012-11-27T01:13:31+00:00

    Get the reg file here, then dbl click on it in XP

    Then reboot, then  enable AHCI. Then see if anything else appears under IDE. If something else appears in device manager add the drivers for it. Or it may load them

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  4. Anonymous
    2012-11-27T01:07:42+00:00

    In Win XP my device manager shows three primary IDE devices, three secondary IDE devices and three dual channel IDE/ATA devices. Of course with Win 8 I was wise enough to install it in AHCI mode so no problem there. Each operating system is on its own SSD, with XP having been installed a few months earlier in this build. Just trying to get XP switched to AHCI mode without having to re-install everything. Looks like its not going to work with this ASRock AMD board.

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  5. Anonymous
    2012-11-27T00:37:41+00:00

    Thats what I did here with the SATA drivers. Installed Win8 then updated them to 11.6.0.1030 (intel drivers). Through device manager

    What does appear under IDE in device manager then?

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