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July 15th, 2009 
Wayne Zimmerman Since it looks like Windows XP will still be hanging around for at least a few more months, I thought I should share one of the cool tricks that I have found when installing it to theses newer Dell computers that have difference mode SATA controllers. Coming from the factory most PCs will come with Vista on it and be have the SATA controller in AHCI mode. Vista has drivers to use the controller in this mode, however Windows XP doesn’t. And since most computers don’t ship with a floppy and won’t recognize a flash driver when installing XP your only option is to slipstream the driver on to the Windows XP CD to make it boot the PC. Well with these newer Dells you have the option to go in to the BIOS and change in what mode the SATA controller operates. You should see options for ATA mode / AHCI mode and RAID mode. By selecting the ATA mode you can use the drivers already supplied by default on the Windows XP CD, once you get it installed you can use the Windows Device Manager to update the drivers to the AHCI ones. Below are the detailed instructions on how to install the AHCI driver once you have Windows installed by changing the SATA controller to ATA mode.
- Download the correct AHCI driver from support.dell.com website. The driver should be called “Intel Matrix Storage Manager (OS Pre-Install Driver Only)” or something close to that
- Restart the PC and press F8 repeatedly to boot the computer to Safe Mode
- Open up the device manager and locate the current SATA controller (Intel(r) ICH10 Family 4 port Serial ATA Storage Controller) it will probably show 2 of them
- Right click on the first one and select Update Driver
- When the wizard pops up select No, not this time > Install from a list or specific location (Advanced) > Don’t Search. I will choose the driver > Have Disk button
- Browse to the Drivers you downloaded and select the file named iaStor.inf, now uncheck the Show compatible hardware
- You should now be presented with a list of drivers, this is where trial and error comes in. You will need to select the correct driver for your chipset. Here is a list of what I have for the AHCI driver for each model.
Dell Optiplex 960 – Intel(r) ICH10D/D0 SATA AHCI Controller
Dell Optiplex 760 – Intel(r)ICH10D/D0 SATA AHCI Controller
Dell Optiplex 755 – Intel(r) ICH8R/DO/DH SATA RAID Controller [This is using RAID 1]
Dell Optiplex 755 – Intel(r) ICH9 SATA Controller [Non RAID Install] - Now apply the driver to the second SATA controller
- Restart the computer, now enter the BIOS and change the SATA controller to AHCI mode
- Let it boot into Windows normally, If it crashes or fails to boot to Windows upon restart, boot back to BIOS change it back to ATA mode, then press F8 to get the windows boot menu and select Last Known Good Configuration. This should get you back in to Windows normally. Now restart the process at step 2, this time trying a different driver at step 6 and 7
- Done
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Thanks for this quick tip
)
Saved me some work!
i fail to get to the bios so that i can change the SATA to AHCL inorder to install win XP in my Dell 755 please help
I think it is F2 for setup on most Dell computers
Thanks Wayne, your BIOS trick got XP loaded. Neat.However, stage 2, installing driver, Dell Optiplex 755 – Intel(r) ICH8R/DO/DH SATA RAID Controller is a problem.
When I attempt to “update driver” no matter how or where I put it,the installer won’t recognise it.
Can you tell me why please?
Cheers, Rick.
I tried over an over but (Dell Opti 960) all goes well till I after the new driver load then blue screen restart until after check dsk and reverting back to old ATA drivers.
I am broken but still optimistc
.
Thanks for all your effort,
Bruce
Well I am using a Dell Optiplex 960 and it came with Vista and I reloaded it with XP so I know this is possible. I used the Intel Matrix Storage Manager (OS Pre-Install Driver Only). and installed the “Intel(R) ICH10D/DO SATA AHCI Controller” for each of that SATA controllers / channels that were detected. Good Luck!
Wayne,
Bios A05 and HD in Sata-0 ?
Sata0, 1 ,2 and ESata enabled?
I agree, it should work.
Got it!
You were 100% right.
Thanks
Bruce
Hey Wayne, thanks for your brilliant advice, I followed what u wrote and i managed to load Windows XP SP3 on my Dell 960. I changed the Bios settings from AHCI to ATA and Installed the XP (without any problems) but now i dont want to install the SATA drivers, and i just wanna leave it on ATA since its running perfectly ok. Tell me is it fine to leave it just the way it is or do i need to install the Sata Drivers. What impact will it make on the performance if i leave it just as it is. And will it bring the Blue Screen in Future? Thanks
You can leave it in ATA mode, I am not sure how this impacts performance but I doubt it will cause any stability issues in the future.
Thanks Buddy.
Hi Wayne, need your help. After Installing the Windows XP on my Optiplex 960,there are 5 unidentified devices listed in device manager. PCI Serial Port, PCI Simple Communications Controller,SM Bus Controller,Video Controller and Video Controller (VGA COMPATIBLE). I visited Dell’s Website but none of the above drivers are listed in their downloads. Your help will be highly appreciated. Thanks
Well follow this link and select Windows XP and you should see the different categories of drivers. You will at least need to install something from the video, chipset and maybe sata categories to get those devices the correct drivers.
[...] We still run XP for the classroom labs, so I am attempting to install XP on the SATA drive. I found this blog post, by Wayne Zimmerman, which seems to be the correct solution. It requires [...]
Not a bad post in any respect, would just have liked a couple of more details and some of the things explained a little more.
Disculpa, he seguido las indicaciones para instalar este driver y no he podido hacerlo, es mas ni siquiera me aparece la opcion de “Intel(R) ICH10D/DO SATA AHCI Controller”
Thanks Wayne – this saved me hours of troubleshooting! I already had XP loaded, but couldn’t get my Dell 760 to recognize my external 2TB eSATA hard drive. When I read your tip I realized Dell didn’t send the PC in AHCI mode . . . downloaded the AHCI driver and it worked!
You’re the man!
Sage
In case of Optiplex 960, changing the SATA operation to legacy mode helped me to install WinXP.
Press F12 to Go to boot options.-> Go to System Setup.-> Drives -> SATA Operation . Select it to “Legacy”