Thinkpads Forum

Hi folks,
I decided to give a chance to the AHCI mode, so I just browsed the forum but haven´t found yet any guide how to switch from the compatability to the AHCI mode (however, found other interesting things making me want to try out AHCI ) My current OS is a well working Win Vista Business 32bit. I´d be very happy if someone could post here how to manage this step by step, and if possible without unistalling everything

Cheers

Marin

Run the following package (make a note where it unpacks, you would need it for the following step, normally it does in C:\DRIVERS\WIN\IMSM):

Intel Matrix Storage Manager Driver for Windows 2000, XP, Vista (32bit) - ThinkPad

To install it, follow this:

-Click Start, then click Control Panel.
-Click System and Maintenance, then click System.
-Click Device Manager.
-Expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers category.\
-Right-click Intel ICH8M SATA AHCI Controller or
Intel 82801HEM/HBM SATA AHCI Controller or
Intel 82801GBM SATA AHCI Controller or
Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller
and then select Update Driver Software...
-Click Browse my computer for driver software.
-Click Browse..., then select the driver location (C:\DRIVERS\WIN\IMSM\install.cmd) and then click
Next.
-Click Close when the installation has completed.
-Click Yes to restart the computer.

Go into BIOS (F1) and:

-Select Config.
-Select Serial ATA (SATA).
-Select AHCI.

Press F10 to save the changes and exit. Then follow the below:

-Start Windows. The Welcome to the Found New Hardware Wizard appears.
-Click No, not this time and click Next.
-Select Install from a list or specific location(Advanced), then click Next.
-Select Search for the best driver in these locations. Then select -Include this location in the search:, specify the path, C:\DRIVERS\WIN\IMSM, and click Next. The Completing the Found New Hardware Wizard appears.
-Click Finish.
-When the System Settings Change window appears, click Yes. The computer restarts.

Thanks for your reply.
Well, things didn´t exactly happen as expected:

1. I downloaded the Intel Matrix Storage Manager Driver and it unpacked where you said and then I just followed the instructions of Lenovo you quoted above. I selected the path \IMSM\install.cmd but it didn´t find anything. I checked the path manually and in fact install.cmd wasn´t there. Yet I found it in IMSM\PREPARE. Then I changed the path \IMSM\PREPARE\install.cmd but it didn´t find anything either, so I tried with \IMSM\PREPARE and it told me that it feels fine and already has the most current driver appropriate for that device. Nothing changed, I tried to reboot with AHCI mood but it of course resulted in BSOD

2. As a final try I run the script install.cmd form IMSM\PREPARE and was prompted to restart. So I did and changed the BIOS settings as demanded for AHCI mode, then rebooted again. After reboot I didn´t see the Found New Hardware Wizzard as I would expect from XP (I have no idea how it look like in Vista as I changed my OS 2 weeks ago), but I received the message in the right down corner that new hardware was found and OS was installing the appropriate driver for it. There was no window with "No, not this time" or anything else. After it completed its job, I was prompted to restart.

3. After reboot I noticed some unusual HD activity for a while. Maybe I´m just not used to AHCI mode yet. I toke a look on the device manager and they are both Intel(R) 82801G (IHC7 Family)... and Standard AHCI 1.0 seriall ATA controller shown in IDE ATAPI-Controller.

Well, now I´m not sure if it was supposed to run like this or simply I screwed up something. I hope it´s OK

...maybe just one thing more: In case I don´t feel happy with AHCI or I´ve messed up a lot, is there any way to restore the previous configuration?
My first impressions on AHCI mode (if I have installed it successfully at all...): some unusual HD activity (compared with compatability mode) also occurs when starting a download, and holds for a while.

Marin85 wrote:...maybe just one thing more: In case I don´t feel happy with AHCI or I´ve messed up a lot, is there any way to restore the previous configuration?......snip

Simply go to BIOS and change back to Compatibility mode, Windows Vista will automatically reinstall the required drivers.

Thanks ryengineer,
you answered all my questions just in one sentence One can find here a really great "support"

Marin

Hi, noticed your topic - if you're interested in AHCI you might have an interest in this too:

http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 786#333786

Thanks for the link, that was the post I started with...

Marin