Switching Bios to ACHI causes BSOD even after registry tweak

bazpaul1

Hey guys,

Hey guys,

I am trying to enable ACHI on my comp;

Dell Dimension t3400
Intel(R) ICH8R/ICH9R/ICH10R/DO SATA RAID Controller
Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS VERSION 1.10 A14

I do the registry tweak

Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then press ENTER. 3. If you receive the User Account Control dialog box, click Continue. 4. Locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Msahci
5. In the right pane, right-click Start in the Name column, and then click Modify. 6. In the Value data box, type 0, and then click OK. 7. On the File menu, click Exit to close Registry Editor

I then boot into the Bios and change the bios from "Raid on" to "Raid if signed drives otherwise ACHI"

when i boot i get the blue screen of death.

i cant find any info on why this is happening - any ideas???

Torqay

Are you referring to this?

Did you install the controller driver? Go to Dell's support website, select your operating system, find the Intel storage driver under Serial-ATA

P.S. Your Dell ain't no shabby Dimension desktop, it's a Precision workstation. But keep in mind, they're built for exactly this, precision and reliability. Performance is secondary and no matter how hard you tweak it, you won't turn a 5 yr old workstation into a gaming rig (I believe you have another thread re upgrading the graphics card).

bazpaul1

Hey Torqauy, thanks for all your continuing help.

Wow, i never found that article that is specific for a Precision Dimension - that could help. Will try today after work.

I'm pretty sure i have the controller driver, when installed windows 7 fresh I downloaded everything I could from the DELL downloads page using my service tag.

I understand that my old girl will never be a gaming rig, i'm only a part time gamer anyway. I just wouldn't mind running BF3 if she'll have it! (I dont mind if the video settings are all at medium)

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Basically i just love dickin around with the PC - have been reading a lot about SSDs. I was thinking of buying a 128gb SSD and replacing the master drive containing the OS with it. (ACHI needs to be enabled for an SSD)

.... thoughts?

Torqay

Why didn't you enable AHCI prior to the installation? Doing it later only complicates matters.

And if you fit a Solid State Disk you better install the OS again rather than cloning the HDD... to make sure it is properly aligned (Windows 7 should do this automatically during setup).

bazpaul1

Yeh would probably need to re-install windows i'd say. I just want to make sure it's fully compatible - i was reading that your motherboard should support SATA III or at least SATA II before you go installing a SSD drive.

Any idea on how to check if my MB supports SATA III ???

Torqay

SATA II onboard controller, but SATA III drives are backwards compatible and will work just fine.

Or buy a PCIe SATA III controller.

bazpaul1

Torqay wrote: »

SATA II onboard controller, but SATA III drives are backwards compatible and will work just fine.

Or buy a PCIe SATA III controller.

Have been reading that ssd drives dont necessarily improve game performance. My money would be better spent on a new graphics card over a ssd

Torqay

bazpaul1 wrote: »

Have been reading that ssd drives dont necessarily improve game performance. My money would be better spent on a new graphics card over a ssd

Well, a SSD can improve the performance of some games, but they really shine in other realms, such as boot time, general responsiveness, robustness (more of an issue in a laptop), etc.

So yes, IF you want spend some cash on this old computer, get some mid-range (or 2nd hand) GPU. High-end graphics is not worth it, considering you only have a Core 2 Duo processor which is coming close to the end of its shelf life where gaming is involved (unless you think about moving the card to another computer in the foreseeable future).

bazpaul1

This didnt work for me

dont know whats goin on with this feckin machine!

bazpaul1

yeh so i found the specs of my MB

Torqay

You can boot from your Windows 7 DVD with AHCI enabled in the BIOS, if Windows Setup can't find the drive, it will tell you (without making any changes to the drive).

It Windows Setup does detect the drive in AHCI mode, you should consider reinstalling Windows 7, if it ain't too much hassle.

bazpaul1

after lots of dickin about, i ended up having a BSOD permanently - so i ended up having to install windows again - Super!

However there's some ram and a new graphics card in the post - so it probably wasnt a bad idea.

Praying that BF3 will play decently on my comp now!