The reason? Intel only released preliminary (not even complete!) specifications to the AHCI standard mid-2003 - a year and a half after XP was first released. That means no out-of-the-box AHCI support. However, Windows XP does not come with a generic AHCI driver. The generic AHCI driver can be enabled with two quick, easy registry modifications. A manufacturer provided driver is necessary for 'FakeRAID'. Vista and 7 come with a generic AHCI driver, with a more hardware-specific driver potentially available from the controller manufacturer. Windows Vista and 7 would (usually) have the drivers anyway, but typically disable them.

When Windows is installed, it only installs (enables) AHCI/RAID drivers if you have a storage controller it recognises as AHCI/RAID. I'll start with why you cannot use AHCI mode without modification. The files are called 'iaStor.inf' and 'iaAHCI.inf'.

Notice that the drivers are different for 32bit and 64bit OSes, so it is important to pick the correct ones. I already have the correct drivers which are located in my motherboard disc. 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? If it where possible, will the OS crash at the moment the driver is changed while still being BIOS in IDE mode? Would it be possible to change the driver to the AHCI one while in Windows? (using the Device Manager, for instance). But if possible, I'd like to enable AHCI without reinstalling again. I already know that I can achieve this reinstalling the whole OS. Because of this, if I try to change to AHCI in BIOS, as Windows doesn't have AHCI drivers, it won't boot. BIOS has always been configured in IDE mode. 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.Ĭurrent setup: A dual-boot machine with Windows XP installed on a SATA 6Gbps HDD.

Windows xp enabling sound in bios