Recovery Console crash solved by SATA compatibility mode

[Anthony S]

When I got my T60 a year ago I installed the MS Recovery Console, but when selected at reboot, it always crashed (BSOD). Today I came across an article on the Symantec support site that suggested a solution to another, possibly related problem: set compatibility mode for the SATA driver in BIOS Setup. Knowing that WXP has problems with SATA disks, I decided to try this compatibility mode. And it worked - the Recovery Console no longer crashes.

But I have a question: does SATA compatibility mode have any disadvantages? I find no mention of it on the Lenovo website.

[MrBean]

Hello Anthony,
I can point you to this, yes, it is for my T61, but it describes the modes and method to properly install the driver for WinXP to work properly with AHCI mode.

There will be a perfomance hit using compatibility mode, but it would probably only affect you on large file transfers, where it would be most noticeable.

The same method should apply for your T60!

Hope this sorts you out.

[Anthony S]

MrBean - thanks for the link, but that was not my question. I have all the drivers installed and they all work properly. I just wanted to know if running SATA in compatibility mode had any consequences. You say that it will affect performance, which seems plausible, though I can find no information about AHCI versus compatibility mode on the Lenovo site or anywhere else.

[EOMtp]

There is no measurable difference in performance between the two modes -- at least with the present generation of hard drives. There are no disadvantages to running "Compatibility Mode"; there are only advantages.

[Anthony S]

There are no disadvantages to running "Compatibility Mode"; there are only advantages.

Thanks, that's encouraging. Can you be more specific about the advantages, other than avoiding the Recovery Console crash that I reported at the start of this thread?

[kccheng]

to install recovery console correctly on a AHCI or raid system, you need a xp setup disc that is integrated with the correct driver, or u will have to press F8 and feed driver to it using a floppy drive. recovery console BSOD because it could not access the harddisk after bios loaded it into memory.
you can make a customized xp setup disc with nlite http://www.nliteos.com/

AHCI is the native control interface for newer SATA harddisks. NCQ, a feature that reorder commands sent to the disk so that the disk can do the jobs better, is only available in SATA. some claim performance boost with NCQ