In case your your XP installation was done using IDE mode, and you decide to use AHCI for what ever reason, don’t worry. You can do that without reinstalling your Windows XP. This trick might usefull to for those who are confuse / lazy / afraid / to slipstream AHCI driver into WinXP installation disc. • Start Device Manager (Right click on My Computer –>Property –>Hardware –>Device Manager • Right click on Primary IDE channel and choose Update Driver • • Choose No, not at this time • Install a list or specific location (advance) • Don’t search.

I will choose the driver to install • • Have Disk • use AHCI driver (provided by manufacturer or download from net), in my case Acer 4530 provide AHCI driver for WinXP • Then, restart your computer/notebook • Enter BIOS (F2 usually for most notebook or DEL for most PC) • Change your SATA Mode to AHCI (instead of IDE) • Start your Computer (Windows) Done. ———————————————- Alternative Solution – Credit to Steve I took a slightly different approach. 1) Get SATA drivers for Windows (whatever flavour you use) 2) Control Panel, Add New Hardware. 3) Yes, already connected, browse to the bottom, hit “add a new device” 4) No, point it to the directory of your SATA drivers 5) Choose your driver from the list that returns. (Mine was the nVidia SATA controller) 6) Uninstall other standard IDE controllers. 7) Reboot and enter your BIOS Change to AHCI mode 9) Boot to Windows which finds the *ACTUAL* AHCI controller, and installs the same driver as what you chose in step 5. 10) Windows wants to reboot.

11) Go to Device Manager and then uninstall the AHCI controller that you installed (there will be two or more now, but you want to get rid of the one with the exclamation mark) 12) Success! That was a *LOT* easier than what I thought it would. After reading many guides on how to do it with Intel chipsets with home-made registry entries and copying files around Installing the driver manually as a “dummy” effectively does all that for you anyway!

Windows XP service Pack 3 offers you new updates, improvements and provides you new security This is completely original product key for windows XP service pack 3. It provides you new, revised and updated graphical user interface. Easy guide to slipstream your SATA AHCI drivers into a Windows XP installation CD using nLite. Windows XP will be able to detect SATA AHCI HDD.

Cheers people! The guide at the top was the closest that I found to succeeding, and put me on the right track! -Steve —————————————– Thanks Steve. I took a slightly different approach. Stephen Moyer Distressed Debt Pdf Download. 1) Get SATA drivers for Windows (whatever flavour you use) 2) Control Panel, Add New Hardware. 3) Yes, already connected, browse to the bottom, hit “add a new device” 4) No, point it to the directory of your SATA drivers 5) Choose your driver from the list that returns.

(Mine was the nVidia SATA controller) 6) Uninstall other standard IDE controllers. 7) Reboot and enter your BIOS 8) Change to AHCI mode 9) Boot to Windows which finds the *ACTUAL* AHCI controller, and installs the same driver as what you chose in step 5. 10) Windows wants to reboot. 11) Go to Device Manager and then uninstall the AHCI controller that you installed (there will be two or more now, but you want to get rid of the one with the exclamation mark) 12) Success! That was a *LOT* easier than what I thought it would. After reading many guides on how to do it with Intel chipsets with home-made registry entries and copying files around Installing the driver manually as a “dummy” effectively does all that for you anyway!

Cheers people! The guide at the top was the closest that I found to succeeding, and put me on the right track! In Device Manager you go to ‘IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers’ and right click on ‘Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller’ and update the driver to your AHCI driver; you have to browse for location.

After that, restart and enable AHCI from bios. Start your windows. Now the AHCI will be detected.

If you want to be sure, after all this, YOU CAN NOW run the setup of ‘Intel Matrix Storage Manager’ to be sure that your Sata AHCI drivers are installed correctly. Before step ‘1.’ the setup will give you an error about not finding the ACHI hardware on your computer; that’s because it wassn’t enabled yet.

Hope this helps & sorry for my bad english. Finally Ok friend here the story. I try to install Vista Ultimate X64 to my Acer 4530.

Since failed to slipstream Vista. So the shortcut install using IDE first.after finish installing. Now the final pain part to enable the Sata. Follow the Mr Steve solution it seem ok. But than dissaster slip in. The Blue Screen syndrom after change the bios from ide to achi what the heck.

What and where is wrong dont panic. How lucky Mr Steve can do it without error blame it to mr Microsoft error is due to AHCI driver (Msahci.sys) is disabled in Windows Vista due to the default behavior of Vista to turn off all unused storage driver so that system will load faster. So these are the step follow mr Steve solution until step 7. Before you reboot a) modify the registry using regedit and Locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE System CurrentControlSet Services Msahci b) in the right pane, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify. C) In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK.

Exit and close regedit then follow MR Steve instruction step 7. Reboot and enjoy.

Hi Expertester Shame on me. Maybe i’m too excited since it works after fail to slipstream the vista x64. Tq for your informative website.

It help alot 🙂 Anyway when i install vista 32 do you have problem with the modem driver for vista 32. I feel irritating when i check the modem with exclamation mark. The driver that they provide is not accurate or is it different brand ( that why i install vista X64 ). But when i check at vista64 device manager it mention “In-Build COnexant HDA Type 2 modem “. I just succesfully convert my notebook harddisk from IDE to AHCI. My notebook is ACER 4530 The following steps work for me: 1) Get SATA drivers for Windows (whatever flavour you use) For you who want to get driver AHCI for Acer 4530, the driver can be download here: 2) Control Panel, Add New Hardware. 3) Yes, already connected, browse to the bottom, hit “add a new device” 4) No, point it to the directory of your SATA drivers 5) Choose your driver from the list that returns.

(Mine was the nVidia SATA controller) 6) Uninstall other standard IDE controllers (Not Primary nor Secondary) 7) Reboot and enter your BIOS 8) Change to AHCI mode 9) Boot to Windows, if you success you will not meet the Blue Screen and Windows will install and find the driver automatically. 10) Windows wants to reboot.

11) Go to Device Manager and then uninstall the AHCI controller that you installed (there will be two or more now, but must Uninstall the one with the exclamation mark) 12) Success! Thanks Admin and Steve. Bloody Brilliant! I was about to spend the next 5 hours backing up my drives, then another doing trying the repair install method and then another 3 hours of Windows updates.

But this did the job in 10 minutes on my Gigabyte EP45-DS3R motherboard. While my system was still in IDE mode there were 3 Primary IDE controllers listed in the DM. I just picked the second one and used the Expertester method. I don’t know if it helped, but after reading a bit from someone elses advice, I pre-installed the files for the Matrix Manager using the -a switch. It doesn’t install the program. It just extracts the files where there supposed to go eventually. After the second reboot, I installed the software normally and everything was good.

It may not have been neccessary, but if you’re having trouble, I guess it can’t hurt. Hi, I have an “Acer 3810T” which came with Vista. Have created a dual boot and installed WinXP Pro. However, I installed Win XP by going into the Bios and changing the SATA from AHCI to IDE (if not, it would not permit me to install). Currently, Vista works fine when I switch to AHCI and XP works fine when I switch to IDE. Some of the steps above from Steve appears to be easy, but I have a few queries. 1) I have the AHCI driver for Win XP from the Acer website but when I log on to XP and try to install the driver apllication it results in an error (something about not being compatible).

Hence can I have the correct driver if available. 2) The instructions above: Quote: ) Get SATA drivers for Windows (whatever flavour you use) For you who want to get driver AHCI for Acer 4530, the driver can be download here: 2) Control Panel, Add New Hardware. 3) Yes, already connected, browse to the bottom, hit “add a new device” 4) No, point it to the directory of your SATA drivers 5) Choose your driver from the list that returns. (Mine was the nVidia SATA controller) 6) Uninstall other standard IDE controllers (Not Primary nor Secondary) 7) Reboot and enter your BIOS Change to AHCI mode 9) Boot to Windows, if you success you will not meet the Blue Screen and Windows will install and find the driver automatically. 10) Windows wants to reboot.

11) Go to Device Manager and then uninstall the AHCI controller that you installed (there will be two or more now, but must Uninstall the one with the exclamation mark) 12) Success! Unquote: Where can I find the SATA drivers? There is a funny problem for nvidia chipsets. I have made a post on nvidia’s forums about it, “Alter AHCI, RAID driver inf files to allow individual install” The last paragraph: The solution meanwhile: Each time you make an attempt at the AHCI driver switch, perform the hack of forcibly changing the controller to the new AHCI controller. BEFORE you reboot, go to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Control CriticalDeviceDatabase] and find the key entry with a similar name to the first device ID described in the [driver’s].inf file.

Rename this key to a different ID referred to in the.inf file. Do this until one works.

Example, I install the nvidia SATA storage controller over the standard controller. Then go to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SYSTEM CurrentControlSet Control CriticalDeviceDatabase] and rename the key “pci#ven_10de&dev_0554&cc_0106” to “pci#ven_10de&dev_0AD5&cc_0106”.

If this fails, use the “Last Known Good” option to repair the Windows boot, then do the hack and try another device ID. One will eventually work. Can anyone help me out? I have an acer aspire 8930g. I’m trying to install the ahci driver for xp, which i have downloaded from the acer site, but it seems to be the driver for vista? Although others are saying it’s also a xp driver.

The problem i have is that the folder that downloads is not a driver file, and needs to run through a setup wizard. On xp, this setup fails, saying that it is not the correct system for the setup to run. Anyone with any ideas, please!!! Thanks to anyone who can either help, or add some suggestions! After review on how to enable AHCI in winXP in this post and made some trial and error, I came to this solution and work great for me.

I hope it will be great for you too. This only for NVidia Chipset and for else I don’t know) First to keep in your mind that AHCI driver is include in chipset driver (for NVidia! Else, I don’t know).

Download your laptop NVidia nForce chipset driver (newest is better) 2. Extract that driver and you will find your AHCI driver in it. Mine is in “E: ACER ASPIRE 4530 DRIVER XP Chipset_NVIDIA_17.04_XPx86 IDE WinXP raidtool” 3. RAIDTOOL folder!

In here you will find your actual AHCI controller driver. Copy RAIDTOOL folder to your specific location so you can search it easily later.

Instalation Go step by step as same as Expertester and Stevedid. And I really sure that you won’t get BSOD. NOTE: As I read in NVidia’s Forum, your AHCI controller must have same type or version with your chipset. So if we use AHCI driver provided by ACER it self, we will come to BSOD because they’r not on the same version or type. Sorry for my bad grammar. Didnt work for me. I had the SATA drivers from Fujitsu installed but could not boot up after I enabled AHCI in Bios.

Heres what I did: Download Intel matrix storage manager Run it with -a to extract the drivers Device Manager >IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers >Intel(R) ICH9M-E 2 port.>Driver file details Here I see IDE drivers Hence, Update driver Install from a location: C: program files intel intel matrix storage manager winall driver Selected ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI Controller Rebooted Enabled AHCI in bios IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers will have a PCI device After another reboot, it will show ICH9M-E/M SATA AHCI controller and in driver file details, it will be iastor.sys Hope it is useful. My laptop acer 4730ZG and i need to get sata mode. Before i changing win 7, i used win xp sp3 and sata mode activated, but i forgot to do that way. Now i want to use xp again. I use way from you 1) Get SATA drivers for Windows (whatever flavour you use) 2) Control Panel, Add New Hardware.

3) Yes, already connected, browse to the bottom, hit “add a new device” 4) No, point it to the directory of your SATA drivers 5) Choose your driver from the list that returns. (Mine was the SATA controller) it say unable to updated hardware. My bios is up to dated, and i set drive signing to ignore. Secondly i use alternatif way in device manager, same response it say unable to updated hardware. Anyone can help me. [] Originally Posted by sonofsanta Make sure the SATA mode is NOT set to AHCI, this causes the problem. As for SATA drivers (which have always been a pain in my with XP), find the drivers from the manufacturer website and use nLite to package them into the XP CD, then you can just boot from CD as normal.

You can also slipstream security updates, service packs, other hardware drivers etc. Into the XP install CD with nLite.

It is magical and pretty straightforward to use. Enable IDE emulation in the bios ( instrucions may differ depending on the make / model of your motherboard ) then you can follow instructions below to re enable ahci mode How to enable AHCI: Windows XP Expertester []. If anyone is having trouble with this its because xp just doesnt recognise the sata drivers i bought 70 laptops for our network and had a lot of trouble with ahci and ide on the d250 i had to have the bios set to ahci because i was using windows deployment to image the pc’s but xp pro just doesnt like it. It took me a lot of stress and time to work it out but here it is try this, it will format the drive but it will work, type in nlite in google, download and install the software, you will need your windows cd and sata drivers (or maybe storage drivers) run nlite, select your copy of windows xp and choose add driver, add the sata driver and nlite will create an iso for you burn this iso to cd (there are a lot of free iso burning programs on the net). From there, select ahci in the bios and boot from your new cd and it will format, install windows with the sata driver and will work okay, it may seem like a lot of hassle but it does work and itsn’t as complex as it sounds, the big problem you may have if you dont do it this way and leave the bios as ide is when installing the chipset drivers it may throw up a blue screen when rebooting because they expect ahci in the bios and it isnt there hope that helps. I have a P5GD1 Pro (Asus) motherboardd with dual boot xp and windows 7.

The easiest way after many hours of internet searching that I found was through trial and error and reinstall of image, however, there is a simpler way. If you install CPU Z (cpuid) which you can google, on the mainboard it will tell you the southbridge version. You can then identify your driver chipset from this information.

Download the F6 floppy preinstallation from the motherboard manufacturers web site. Right clock my computer Select manage Open Device manager Open IDE/ATA ATAPI Controllers Right click the storage device you want to switch to AHCI mode Select update driver, do not search and have disk. Browse to your extracted drivers click the one you want (AHCI) and ok For Z68 (and probably P67 now to) the new Intel drivers changed the name to “Intel Desktop/Workstation/Server Express Chipset SATA AHCI controller” Restart changing BIOS to AHCI mode and reboot. New device will be found. XP will install driver automatically and require another restart. I tried both methods without success: When I used Device Manager, and pointed the Wizard to the drivers provided by Asus, it said “the specified location does not contain information about your hardware.” I then tried downloading and pointing to the latest drivers from Asus, and got the same result.

When I used the second method, the add hardware wizard did absolutely nothing after I clicked “Have Disk” and “opened” the driver file. I checked, and it did NOT add it to the Windows System inf folder, as would be expected. The driver folder contains ahcix86.cat, ahcix86.inf and ahcix86.sys. This happened when I tried it with both the ASUS M5A97 R2.0 AM3+ and Asus M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 motherboards. What am I missing?

This question is part of a larger list of things I'll need to do before installing a new SSD drive, but I think it deserves its own question. Current setup: A dual-boot machine with Windows XP installed on a SATA 6Gbps HDD. BIOS has always been configured in IDE mode. Because of this, if I try to change to AHCI in BIOS, as Windows doesn't have AHCI drivers, it won't boot. I already know that I can achieve this reinstalling the whole OS. But if possible, I'd like to enable AHCI without reinstalling again. • Would it be possible to change the driver to the AHCI one while in Windows?

(using the Device Manager, for instance). If it where possible, will the OS crash at the moment the driver is changed while still being BIOS in IDE mode? • If not, is there a way to install it doing a partial repair using Windows disk? If such a method exists, will my current settings and applications remain unchanged? Thanks in advance. UPDATE My South Bridge is an Intel(r) ICH10R. I already have the correct drivers which are located in my motherboard disc.

Notice that the drivers are different for 32bit and 64bit OSes, so it is important to pick the correct ones. The files are called 'iaStor.inf' and 'iaAHCI.inf'. As far as I can tell, those 'registry hacks' are an alternative (and, frankly, stupid) method of installing the same SATA AHCI/RAID drivers. A lot of those people use an Intel chipset, therefore an Intel SATA controller (built into the chipset), therefore iaStor.sys. Why don't you tell us which motherboard model you have, and we can tell you which driver to use.

In short, Windows XP does not have a AHCI/RAID driver, you must install a third party one. The most common is Intel, because the most common controller is Intel. – May 22 '12 at 12:29 •. I'll start with why you cannot use AHCI mode without modification. When Windows is installed, it only installs (enables) AHCI/RAID drivers if you have a storage controller it recognises as AHCI/RAID. Windows Vista and 7 would (usually) have the drivers anyway, but typically disable them.

Vista and 7 come with a generic AHCI driver, with a more hardware-specific driver potentially available from the controller manufacturer. A manufacturer provided driver is necessary for 'FakeRAID'. However, Windows XP does not come with a generic AHCI driver.

That means no out-of-the-box AHCI support. Intel only released preliminary (not even complete!) specifications to the AHCI standard mid-2003 - a year and a half after XP was first released. Microsoft has apparently not seen fit to include an AHCI driver as part of a service pack. Motherboard manufacturers often include an AHCI driver on a CD or on their websites. This driver is provided by the manufacturer of the storage controller, typically Intel on systems with an Intel CPU.

Some other candidates are nVidia (nForce) and Marvell (on some AMD boards). They are generally not interchangeable. When installing XP, it is possible to load an AHCI driver from a floppy disk (!!!) or slipstream them onto the install CD. However, you want to add the driver to an existing installation. • The first step is to determine the manufacturer of your storage controller, or at least motherboard chipset. This is usually listed in the motherboard specifications.

• The next step is to make sure you have a System Restore point available. System Restore can usually roll back changes in drivers, which provides a safeguard against mistakes while installing the drivers. • Then it's all dependant on your controller manufacturer.

There are many registry scripts that can insert the correct registry entries (the driver file is required, and a download is often provided). Since this is very specific to what hardware you have, you'll have to provide that information or search yourself ( is a good place to start). If the motherboard manufacturer provides a SATA driver installer package specifically for XP, try installing that first.

If it doesn't work, or one isn't provided, installing a driver manually may be necessary. If they don't provide the drivers at all, there isn't much you can do. Personally, I recommend the if you can get away with it. This involves selecting the SATA controller entry(ies?) in the device manager and using the Update Drivers option to select the AHCI/RAID drivers you should obtain from the manufacturer.

For Intel, it should be manually extracted from the installer package. Some people note that nVidia change a hardware ID in IDE mode so this method may not be possible for nForce chipsets. It all depends on your controller manufacturer. Yes, I use storage controller, chipset and motherboard somewhat interchangeably.

The controller is often part of the chipset. The chipset (and/or controller) on a specific motherboard model is almost always the same. After arriving home, and without doing any backup at all XD, I finally got the job done.

It took no more than 10 minutes. My method is based on so its author is the one that deserves most credit. Also I have to mention which quickly posted this link as a comment (my apologies Bob, yes it worked). Still I'd like to post the steps I followed since there are some differences and it may be helpful for some other people. I've a Gigabyte board and it comes with a Utility DVD that contains, among other things, the AHCI drivers. Here is my installation explained: • (This step is only for Gigabyte MB owners.

You can get the drivers somewhere else and go to #3) Go to BootDrv folder and copy the file MSM32.exe to a USB drive or a hard drive partition. This is the correct file for 32bit OS (Windows XP). According to the motherboard manual, it is also the one to choose for Windows Vista 32bit. In case you have a 64bit OS, copy MSM64.exe instead.

There's another one named MSM2k.exe, I suppose it is the driver for Windows 2k, but I'm guessing here. • In the folder where you copied that file, double click on it and it will open a command-line prompt asking for confirmation to extract the files. Type 'yes' and then enter. Several files will be extracted at that folder. These are the actual drivers.

We'll need these files to tell the Device Manager where to search for the drivers. Open the Device Manager and expand the 'IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers' node. In my case, there were listed the regular IDE channels, and a couple of generic Intel ICH10 SATA controllers. These were the generic drivers installed by Windows, and I can tell you for sure that these don't work (tested enabling AHCI in BIOS and trying to load the OS resulted in beeps and reboots). • Select one of the SATA controllers ->Right click over it ->update driver ->Install from a list or specific location (Advanced) ->check the ' don't search' radio button and click next ->click on ' Use disc' ->click on ' browse' button and select the folder with the drivers from wherever you have copied them.

If you have the drivers in a CD or DVD, make sure it doesn't contain an AUTORUN.INF file at the root folder, because the file picker dialog is looking for.INF files and it won't let you browse to subfolders. • Now the list with drivers is populated with at least a new option. Here I selected the correct one for my chipset (ICH10R). Windows shows a warning message. • The driver is installed and Windows ask for a reboot, BUT don't reboot yet.

Instead, select the remaining SATA Controller in Device Manager and repeat #3 and #4. • After the second driver install, Windows does not ask for a reboot. BUT now it is time for rebooting. Be ready to enter BIOS as soon as the computer starts. • Change in BIOS (in my case, under ' Integrated peripherals' ->' SATA RAID/AHCI Mode') from IDE mode to AHCI.

This can vary depending on your system and BIOS, and maybe you even need to select RAID if no AHCI option is available. There are better questions on this site where this topic is better explained, so I won't delve into it. In my case, there was a second option, just after the IDE/AHCI one, named ' SATA port0-3 native mode'.

It was disabled, I enabled it. The explanation for this option in my motherboard manual is that DISABLED allows the SATA controllers to operate in legacy IDE mode, and that it should be selected for OSes that do not support native mode (like Windows 9X/ME). Windows XP supports native mode so I enabled it.

I guess more modern OSes will also support it. Save BIOS and continue with the boot. • Windows is loaded correctly.

It starts recognising the existent drives in the new AHCI mode, and showing yellow bubbles. After that, it asks for a second reboot. Select OK to reboot. • Windows is loaded again and this time everything should be ready. The 'Update driver' method didn't work for me, but I found another way that's simple too, and guaranteed to work.

Trying the above method on my pc made it reboot before the driver had updated completely. I have an Ivy Bridge (Z77) motherboard. So I did it like this Using your functioning XP in IDE mode do these steps: • Find the Intel RST driver package on your motherboard cd (or download latest if you don't have cd). Extract this to get the 2 files iaAHCI.inf and iaStor.sys. • Get a registry file from.

Read his short description and do as it says. And Edit the _07b-AHCI-SATA-forPE.reg file to add Intel 7 series AHCI SATA. Open iaAHCI.inf that you got in the previous step in Notepad.

Copy/paste 2 older entries in the registry file and modify the 2 new entries with values found in iaAHCI.inf. Put the modified _07b-AHCI-SATA-forPE.reg file and iaStor.sys (from step 1) together in their own folder.

• Make a BartPE disc - download and install Bart's and get the Registry Editor PE plugin v1.0a here (). Put your XP install cd in a folder. It has to have SP3.

You can slipstream SP3 to your cd with nLite from () if you need. Don't make or burn iso with nLite. We only need the slipstreamed source for BartPE. Run Bart's PE Builder. In the builder, select the folder with your XP SP3 as source and add the folder where you put _07b-AHCI-SATA-forPE.reg and iaAHCI.inf as source for Custom files so they get included in the BartPE disc we build.

And lastly, add Registry Editor PE plugin that you downloaded by clicking on Plugins button. Make sure Registry Editor PE plugin is enabled. Now build the iso and then burn it to an empty cd. • Boot with your BartPE cd.

In Bart PE menu (in lower left corner) load the registry of your real XP system with Registry Editor PE. Click Ok when it shows a message. In the regular looking Regedit window you then import the _07b-AHCI-SATA-forPE.reg file in File menu/Import. And copy iaStor.sys to windows system32 drivers folder on your C: drive. The 2 file should be in the root folder of your BartPE disc either in a folder or as separate files, depending on how you included them in the PE Builder. • The registry of your XP installation is changed and saved and iaStor.sys is copied to it's system32 drivers folder.

Now you can reboot into bios and set SATA to AHCI mode and then save bios and reboot into your XP installation. XP will now detect new hardware and install it. Wait, and you'll be prompted to reboot. After this reboot you can see in the Device Manager that your SATA devices now operate in AHCI mode. You may want to install the Intel RST package the normal way now to get all software from it. All done:) Note: for future needs it may be good to include _07b-RAID-SATA-forPE.reg in the process, if you ever should want to run your SATA in RAID. You don't need to edit that file, just include it in BartPE and import it with Registry Editor PE.

I have a P5GD1 Pro (ASus)motherboardd with dual boot xp and windows 7. The easiest way after many hours of internet searching that I found was through trial and error and reinstall of image, however, there is a simpler way. If you install CPU Z (cpuid) which you can google, on the mainboard it will tell you the southbridge version. You can then identify your driver from this information. You need the southbridge version because when you install a driver through the update driver for the ata storage controller through the device manager, it will give you a number of versions. If you choose the wrong one you may find yourself unable to boot and having to reinstall your image like I did.

The procedure that worked for me for the P5GD1 Pro (and so likely any other mother board) was to use the intel AHCI folder on the driver disc (if not got you can could on google or something for 82801FB drivers) then simply update the driver in the device manage for the ATA storage controller. Choose have disc and browse for your driver file for intel, or whatever version you have, and then choose the driver which matches the southbridge version for whats indicated in CPUZ. Using CPUZ to identify your southbridge will save you doing what I did and having ot find out the hard way. Then reboot which windows will ask yu to do anyway, enter the bios and enable AHCI for the IDE configuration. It should then boot and install the discs then ask for another reboot.

Also as a side note, if updating to a solid state drive, this will inrease your speed to 1/3 of its previous. It should only take 5 mins to do once you identify your driver. To identify which chipset you can use something like CPUID (CPU Z) or some other system information program and identify your southbridge version. Enabling AHCI on existing Windows XP installation. • Download Intel Sata RAID/AHCI storage driver floppy (used during Windows setup with F6) from your motherboard manufacturer and extract files to a directory on your HD. • In device manager change existing IDE ATA/ATAPI controller: a. Open IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers (click on +) b.

Right click the first Intel controller listed c. Select 'Update driver.' Select 'No, not this time, Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)' e.

Select 'Don't search. I will choose the driver to install' f. Select the Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller and click Next (do not reboot) g. Repeat steps c. For the second controller • Reboot.

• In device manager, update the drivers for the existing IDE ATA/ATAPI controller: a. Open IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers (click on +) b.

Right click the first Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller c. Select 'Update driver.' Select 'No, not this time, Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)' e. Select 'Don't search.

I will choose the driver to install' f. Click on 'Have disk' and browse to the directory with the AHCI drivers g. Select the iaAHCI.inf and click Next h. Ignore any warnings and reboot (If you get a blue screen and the system reboots during these steps, repeat them for the second controller) • Reboot • Enter system bios and change controller to AHCI and save. Your system should now run in AHCI mode. Possibly you can install the Intel Matrix Storage Manager. Although I'm not sure, it might improve performance.