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

Hi DJ,

I can not see amdsata.sys and amdxata.sys in the package downloaded from  http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows+XP+-+Professional/Home  under "Optional Downloads".

In these folder, I only see ahcix86.sys, amd_sata.sys and amd_xata.sys.

Do you know the link to download amdsata.sys and amdxata.sys ?

You need to download both the chipset drivers and the RAID drivers.  I believe the complete list was assembled from the two download packages.  

Since I did this, in the spring of 2013, it looks like they may have streamlined the process a bit... The two download packages I see now are executables, which may make this easier if the drivers are self-installing... you may not have to follow my method at all.  Try this link:   http://support.amd.com/en-us/download    Then go down to the section that says "Manually Select Your Driver".

-- under System, select Chipsets

-- under Product Family, select your chipset series (mine uses the 780 chipset and 700 Southbridge, so I selected "7 Series"

-- under Product, select "All" (mine was "All 7-Series Chipsets")

-- under Operating System, choose XP 32 or 64 bit (the exe's are the same for both, it probably contains two sets of drivers and uses the ones it needs)

-- download both driver packages, and run them.

Afterwards, look at your Device Manager.  If you don't see "AMD SATA Controller", then add it with the Hardware Wizard, and install the registry hack, the way I described it.  (You may need to install the registry hack, regardless.)  But once you have that device listed, and its Properties say it's installed correctly, you should be able to reboot into BIOS and flip the switch.

Hi DJ,

I can not see amdsata.sys and amdxata.sys in the package downloaded from  http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows+XP+-+Professional/Home  under "Optional Downloads".

In these folder, I only see ahcix86.sys, amd_sata.sys and amd_xata.sys.

Do you know the link to download amdsata.sys and amdxata.sys ?

-- Go to Add New Hardware and Add a New Device, under "IDE/ATAPI Controllers", point it toward the second and third drivers.  This will give you an AMD SATA Controller, although it will be in "Native IDE Mode"

Hi DJ Roff, 

Thank you for your instruction about installation Xp on SSD with AMD system.

I also have the problem like this. I have SSD M550 Crucial & Crosshair IV Formula and must run with XP because some programs only live with this system. 

As your mention above :

point it toward the second and third drivers -> so what the name of second and third drivers ?

Native IDE Mode -> is this the nature name of the driver in Xp you mentioned ? although the right is AMD SATA Controller ? 

Because I can not find out the driver you list in Add New Device.

Those drivers can be downloaded from AMD's website, but you may need manufacturer-specific drivers which you can get from your motherboard's site.  The Asus I have in my main machine used the AMD drivers.  The ASRock board, which I later abandoned, needed their own drivers.  Once you download and unpack them, copy them into the C:\Windows\System32 folder, where they can be grabbed by the Add New Hardware wizard.  (You'll need to tell it to "Install drivers from a specific location", and select those.  AHCIx86.sys is the most important one, but I found that the second and third ones, amdsata.sys and amdxata.sys, needed to be installed manually this way, whereas the system grabbed the first one on its own, at reboot.)  You should be able to get all of those drivers from here: http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows+XP+-+Professional/Home  under "Optional Downloads".  Once you unpack, all of those driver files I mentioned should be available.  If you still can't locate them, I can get them to you thru Dropbox, or email them to you directly, let me know.

"Native IDE Mode" is the way your system is already running, before the switch.  Even after you install the "AMD SATA Controller" (with the Wizard), it will still be in IDE mode, until you reboot into the BIOS and switch it from IDE to AHCI.  When you reboot the final time, you will no longer be in IDE mode.

-- Go to Add New Hardware and Add a New Device, under "IDE/ATAPI Controllers", point it toward the second and third drivers.  This will give you an AMD SATA Controller, although it will be in "Native IDE Mode"

Hi DJ Roff, 

Thank you for your instruction about installation Xp on SSD with AMD system.

I also have the problem like this. I have SSD M550 Crucial & Crosshair IV Formula and must run with XP because some programs only live with this system. 

As your mention above :

point it toward the second and third drivers -> so what the name of second and third drivers ?

Native IDE Mode -> is this the nature name of the driver in Xp you mentioned ? although the right is AMD SATA Controller ? 

Because I can not find out the driver you list in Add New Device.

Your motherboard must be a little bit newer than mine, the one I'm still running is an M3A78-CM.  Mine did NOT have the AHCI driver on the driver disk, I had to go to the website for it... hence the whole routine with installing it another way.  Other than that, we had a similar situation and a similar problem.  (Though the first release of Win 8 really had to be prodded through the process, where Win 7 just installed those drivers like magic.) 

Funny, how Asus seems to be stuck on that 4/2 configuration -- in my mobo's case it will only recognize the first 4 ports on boot, and not the last 2.  And the last two can be left in dual IDE/AHCI mode, if memory serves.