ICHicanery8

Posted by fdiv_bug on March 9, 2007 Leave a comment (47) Go to comments

Or: How to install Windows XP on a SATA hard drive attached to an Intel ICH8 SATA controller in AHCI mode.

I, like many people, have an Asus P5B motherboard, the non-Deluxe model. It’s been a pretty good board for me so far, and I’m pleased with its feature set for the price I paid. It’s got the Intel P965 Express chipset, which features the ICH8 Serial ATA controller, not the ICH8R model that its bigger Deluxe brother has. Apparently Intel has decided not to release drivers for Windows XP that support running the regular ICH8 in AHCI mode. AHCI supposedly gives better performance and enables more features in supported SATA drives, and so it’s kind of a feature I want. But try as I might, I couldn’t get any of the drivers that Intel has on their Download Center to work with XP and my board — they all claim to only support the ICH8R and not the vanilla, non-RAID-supporting ICH8. So I did what any good geek would do in a situation like this: I Googled.

Searching led me across a post on KernelTrap, of all places, where a user posted some updated INF and TXTSETUP.OEM files. These updated files, when added to the disk you can make for installing XP — this one, the latest version at the time of this posting — allows the iaStor.sys driver to see your ICH8 controller and its attached volumes. I tested it this morning and it appears to work like a champ. To save others, and myself, time in the future I’ve saved these files here:

Download the driver from Intel, make a floppy with it following their instructions, copy those two files to it (overwriting the ones that are already there, of course), boot the Windows XP installation CD, and hit F6 when prompted at the bottom of the screen. Hit S to specify a new adapter, insert the disk when asked, and you should then see an entry for “Intel(R) 82801HB SATA AHCI Controller (Desktop ICH8)” in the list of available controller choices on the disk. Select it and you should be good to go.

Thanks are due to “Berdi” on KernelTrap. Also note that these instructions and files come with no support or warranty, expressed or implied. I’m providing the files as a convenience, as Berdi did in his or her original post on KernelTrap, but you’re on your own with using them. If something breaks, you get to keep both pieces.

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47 Comments.

Berdi March 10, 2007 at 11:44 am

I THANK YOU

No problem at all, I thank you for sharing it…, my intention was to help peoples frustrated due the misinformation from Intel and other forums…

I have no time and patience to register in dozens of forums, so I choosed that one (free of register) no need to remember another password, hehehe.

I really disappointed with Intel, something so simple only a little number… I donâ€™t need to continue, right? hehehe.

Have fun and success all

Berdi
kucigaromeo March 12, 2007 at 2:03 am

I’m using Gigabye 965P-DS3 also equipped with ICH8 but never thought it support AHCI, after I upgraded the BIOS to version F10 I can set ICH8 to AHCI mode, at first I tought I downloaded a wrong BIOS, but later when I boot linux the AHCI driver is used instead of ata_piix driver, so maybe it does support AHCI. Googling around I found the kerneltrap post and this site. I’ll try the XP driver later.
fdiv_bug March 12, 2007 at 8:56 am

Berdi,

Thanks for the well wishes! I’m disappointed with Intel as well. It really does seem like they’re trying to trick people into thinking the vanilla ICH8 doesn’t support AHCI mode and providing end-users with little choice but to run in compatibility mode. And, as you said, it is frustrating as someone who’s trying to get the most out of their hardware.

Maybe future driver releases will support AHCI on ICH8 directly. Here’s hoping.

Thanks,
`bug
fdiv_bug March 12, 2007 at 8:58 am

kucigaromeo,

Let me know if it works or doesn’t work for you, and good luck with it!

Thanks,
`bug
Danijel March 18, 2007 at 12:36 am

It works perfectly.
Put those two files on floppy.
Right click on My computer , Manage , device manager , select Ide/atapi controllers , select 82801hb sata ahci controller , update driver….Have disk
Reboot and select ahci to avoid crashing.
If something fails use Last good knowing configuration.
Thanks Berdi !
Michael March 22, 2007 at 6:42 pm

After installing the 82801hb sata ahci controller drivers, and enabling AHCI in BIOS, on my P5B (bios v1102), my IDE DVD drive stopped working. The drive is not even recogniced by BIOS anymore.
Anyone got a solution?
fdiv_bug March 23, 2007 at 7:37 am

Michael,

Hmmmm. Is your DVD drive PATA or SATA? You say IDE in your comment, but I wanted to be certain. Also note that I might not be able to help you — this isn’t much of a support forum, after all — but I’ll certainly give it a shot. I’ve got the same board and BIOS revision, and my PATA DVD-RW drive works fine.

Thanks,
`bug
Berdi March 24, 2007 at 12:21 am

strange,

on my board INTEL DG965RYCK my PATA dvd-rw drive works greate, i even updated the drives firmeware recently.

checking your board ASUS P5B:
http://www.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=1178&l1=3&l2=11&l3=307
it appears that the IDE (PATA) connector is controled only by JMicronÂ® JMB363 chip, not by ICH8.

so, the only things about it comming to my mind is that you might need enter JMicron BIOS (if there is any) or check if your dvd drive is set to slave by a jumper…

good luck
PL May 21, 2007 at 5:38 am

Thanks a million!! This worked beautifully on my new build, using an Intel 965 LTCK board.
ashraf May 28, 2007 at 1:24 pm

hi

I have a gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 (rev 3.3) which comes with both ICH8 and GSATA controllers. Now here’s the problem, I have one SATA drive installed on the ICH8-controlled SATA ports, and another installed on GSATA-controlled SATA ports, and I’m trying to install two OS, windows vista on the ICH8, since it has drivers for that and I use for the gsata controller a floppy that contains all the files, and on the GSATA controlled ports Iim trying to install windows xp professional, and of course you all might have guessed by now that windows xp I don’t have drivers for both controllers. therefore I have to hit f6 to install the drivers. Now here’s the big problem I can’t have the two drivers on same floppy and if I tried to switch to another the windows xp during the initial installtion insists on the driver I install initially. For example, if during the setup I choose the floppy drive with teh GSATA drivers on it, and installed that driver and then choose that option “hit s to choose additional scsi devices” and I inserted the the other floppy disk, which has the ICH8 driver on it, the windows won’t see it and it will keep giving me a list of the jmicron, GSATA driver, and nothing else. and again as I said before I cannot install the two drivers on the same floppy because they both have a filename caled txtsetup.oem, so the one which was provided on this site will be overwritten. Please help me guys..I’m about to go cracy..I had more than enough trying to insatll the original GSATA drives let alone other drives for another controller, in this case ICH8.
pepsi2125 June 7, 2007 at 10:38 pm

I also have the Gigabyte GA965-DSP3 (Rev 3.3) board. Install XP using the Jmicron drivers, with the HD attached to the Jmicron controller.. AFTER XP has been installed, then install the Intel drivers. You don’t need them both in order to get XP installed.

Thanks for the INF file idea – I had noth thought of that to get the AHCI drivers installed. I have hot-plug working fine on the Jmicron controller, but I want it on the Intel controller as well as I use e-SATA for my backup devices.
Dell June 27, 2007 at 3:53 pm

Thanks for this detailed guide.
Charles Chen July 4, 2007 at 2:05 am
Hi All,

I’ve been struggling to get the AHCI enabled on a Gigabyte GA-965QM-DS2 (Rev 2.0) which ships with “ICHR8DO”.

Perhaps I’m doing something wrong here:
1. Obtain Intel files.
2. Replace with the two customized files.
3. Navigate to “Device Manager”, “IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers”, “Intel(R) ICH8 4 port Serial ATA Storage Controller 2820.
4. Right click and select “Properties”.
5. Select “Driver”, “Update Driver”, “No, not this time”, “Install from a list…”, “Don’t search…”,
  “Have Disk”, “iaachi.inf”, “Intel(R) 82801HB SATA AHCI Controller”
Once I do this, I shut down the machine and reboot. I set “SATA RAID / AHCI Mode” to “AHCI” and then “SATA Port0-3 Native Mode” to “Enabled”.

I’m getting the BSOD over and over again just as it starts booting XP.

Is there any crucial step I’m missing? Anything obvious?

Any help would be much appreciated.
Berdinatilli July 7, 2007 at 9:33 am

you are not missing anything in the process to config it, but you are missing that your ICH8 is not HB, its Southbridge: IntelÂ® ICH8DO (HO version) (82801HR/HH/HO SATA AHCI Controller), try that one, and it should work fine now.
your ICH8 has official support, you can just download the driver from gigabyte or intel website…
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/Driver_Model.aspx?ClassValue=Motherboard&ProductID=2464&ProductName=GA-965QM-DS2

enjoy
Vincent Teng July 9, 2007 at 4:49 am

Hello , I have a gigabyte 965p-ds3 board , with 3 sata harddisk , and 2 ide dvd/cdr drive , how do I go about doing it ? all my 3 sata drive is plug @ the bottom of the motherboard , not near the keyboard mouse connector part , I already have Winxp SP2 installed , must I really go and format and reinstall? I dont have a floppy drive anymore , so can I do this without using a Floppy drive ? I wonder can I slipstream into my Win SP2 cd? If I have winxp sp2 installed , Can I still do this patch? Please help me , Thanks!
Vincent Teng July 9, 2007 at 4:51 am

Hi guys , one more question , will my 3 sata harddisk get wipe if I install this patch?
Thanks!
Billy Crook July 14, 2007 at 4:24 am

Thanks for the inf file. You made my day a lot easier. Intel ought to hire you so they would have someone competent at drivers.
Zaone July 26, 2007 at 8:19 am

I have an abit IB9 motherboard and ive tried installing widows with those two files youve posted and it still gives me the blue crash screen,can anyone help me solve this coze i`m going out of my mind here..
pat July 31, 2007 at 1:24 pm

hey there, iv just installed vista, but cannot install the intel matrix manager due to the aformenttioned lack of official ACPI support. i see you have those two modified files to enable this, but i dont have a floppy drive anywhere in my house or acces to one. anyway i can do it that you know of?

cheers

pat aldis
Russell Proulx August 5, 2007 at 3:17 pm

Pat,

These drivers are for Windows XP (read what’s written). Vista has built in support for AHCI so you don’t need to do anything.

Russell
shono August 19, 2007 at 1:08 am

cheers for that,
works a charm.
I already had WINDOWS installed on the Jmicron ACHI mode
but now i can have everything running in ACHI.
All i did was reboot with everything set to ACHI, then my 2 other HDs disappeared,
went into Device Manager and saw the unknown device and choose to installed from
location on HD, all is good.

Cheers
Wayne August 26, 2007 at 8:03 pm

Great information on supporting the ICH8 SATA controller when installing XP! However, I’m thinking of getting a GIGABYTE motherboard that includes an ICH9 SATA controller. Does anyone know if the method described at the beginning of this thread can be used with this newer controller? If so, are any changes required to the procedure? (I REALLY want to run XP, and it appears that AHCI mode is really desirable…)

Many thanks!
R1_NL September 8, 2007 at 9:59 am

I have a GA965-DSP3 (Rev 3.3), i connected 1 seagate 7200.10 sata disk to the ICH8 (port 0) but windows xp setup doesn’t recognize my hdd, the BIOS does.

If i connect it directly to the Jmicron controller windows XP setup does reconize the disk!

After using the files here, windows XP setup recognizes my hdd and im now installing!!
Thanx a lot!
Sammy3507 September 11, 2007 at 11:32 pm

I have GA965P-DS3 ver 1 with wd 150 raptor F6 install with XP Pro works on ICH8 port 0.

How do I know if ncq is being utilized?
Sammy3507 September 11, 2007 at 11:40 pm

Forgot to mention Great work Berdi!!!!!

Thanks for the files
R1_NL September 13, 2007 at 9:35 am

I posted a message to the Gigabyte technical Departement, in the hope they will supply a windows signed driver. The 2 replies i got from them, they dont beleive me
They say just connect your hdd to the ich8 connector and start the windows XP setup, this will automaticly detect you disk. WELL IT DOESN’T!
Im also trying to find, when they supply the right driver, if this will supportd NCQ.

You’ll here from me again!

Greetz
Wayne September 13, 2007 at 9:49 am

I ended up getting an ASUS P5B-VM motherboard with an ICH8 controller. Using the above instructions I installed (I think!) the driver to support the ICH8 in AHCI mode. XP Pro installed fine after I pressed F6 and selected the entry “Intel(R) 82801HB SATA AHCI Controller (Desktop ICH8)” from the list of drivers on the updated floppy. My system is working fine, but Device Manager (under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers) just gives:

Intel(R) ICH8 2 port Serial ATA Storage Controller – 2825
Intel(R) ICH8 4 port Serial ATA Storage Controller – 2820

and under SCSI and RAID controllers I just have:

JMicron JMB36X Controller

Perhaps I need to set something in the ASUS BIOS to force use of the AHCI mode, but I can’t find the appropriate setting (assuming there is one!)

ANY HELP/ADVICE WOULD BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!
dave October 1, 2007 at 12:24 pm

HELP… My issue is i am slipstreaming ahci drivers on my winxp cd, that much it seems to be working right it finds my drives no prob however after the installation is done OOBE kicks in and it wishes to be viewed as an html file computer crashes. computer reboots then goes straight to the desktop but then internet explorer does not work nor can I create a quicklaunch toolbar . I cannot validate for it wishes to launch it as an html . it seems as if some essential services are not running please help
helper October 13, 2007 at 8:23 pm

you used a tool that corrupted you new cd or even infected it with a virus…

use that one: http://www.nliteos.com/

good luck
T7 November 2, 2007 at 5:10 am

Excellent.

Could not see my drive in Disk Management (XP on JMicron, other drive on ich8), but after updating “PCI Device” with the driver disk with these two files on it, nemas problemas.
Dan November 17, 2007 at 6:57 am

Thank you so much – this was driving freakin nuts. I’ve managed to get XP installed but was wondering if this would work with Vista also?
fdiv_bug November 17, 2007 at 3:43 pm

I’ve had nothing but trouble with AHCI and Vista, both 32- and 64-bit. It would bluescreen quickly and 100% of the time with AHCI enabled, so I ended up leaving it in compatibility mode. I guess we can’t have everything. :-\
buidanhthuy November 29, 2007 at 4:52 am

I have read this guide but i had a problem when i had tried to do. I ‘ using GA965-s3 rev 3.3 n Vista Ultimate, some body said: ICH8 is supported on this OS. But i cant do anything. HDD is plugged purple sata port that controlled by Jmicron363 work fine with ahci. But orange port isnt, when i updated driver for ICH8, changed sata ahci mode to AHCI, BIOS noticed AHCI BIOS installed so I couldnt load windows. Can i do anything now
Mr. Moustache December 13, 2007 at 11:43 pm

I’ve got my Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 (rev 2.0) showing the 82801HB controller, but my SATA drive is still using the vanilla XP disk.sys driver from 2001. Shouldn’t it be using the pciide.sys driver? HDTach is showing an average read of 68MB/s, burst of 128MB/s (lower than SATA150 and ATA UDMA6), and sequential read speeds in the 80MB/s range downwards.

So is my drive still hobbled by the old disk.sys, and if so, any suggestions on getting it to use pciide.sys? I’ve tried different gyrations of removing the 82801HB, the SATA drive etc. with no change in drivers. Bios is set for SATA 0-3 in Native mode.
mike January 1, 2008 at 10:58 am

THANKS dude…. good job
Lovre February 26, 2008 at 9:17 am

Great, it works!!
I download txtsetup.oem and iaahci.inf from your blog.
From Intel site I download floppy for F6 install XP 32-bit.
I just replace these 2 files on floppy and
on my ASUS P5B SE with Intel P965 AHCI work fine.
Thanks
Tom March 22, 2008 at 1:22 am

Superb, it works for me too!
I have ASUS P5B and it worked fine, I created the floppy disk, replaced the 2 files and worked!
Thanks for distributing this information!
Bruno April 5, 2008 at 12:45 pm

Tks man.
Plecostomus May 14, 2008 at 10:13 pm

Excellent work Berdi, Ralf

Ralf,

I appreciate what you did very much.

I have an Asus P5K-VM here, and I was dumbfounded that the bios allowed me the use of AHCI, but Windows wouldn’t recognize my hard drive even after pressing F6 and choosing “ICH9 Desktop/Workstation”.

I was thinking after I read Berdi’s post, “Oh boy, now I’m going to have to install Windows XP in IDE mode, get the device ID, and do the mod myself for ICH9.

Your post saved my day, as well as will lengthen my sleep time tonight.

I have mirrored your file here just in case:

http://members.driverguide.com/driver/detail.php?driverid=1237044

Good work gentlemen.
FFrancesco May 15, 2008 at 8:51 am

Wonderful work! I was almost throwing away my motherboard… then I found your files!!! I’ve added them to the Intel floppy and works fine!! Thank you, grazie!
anibal September 22, 2008 at 11:35 pm

Could anyone re-upload the two files? I get access denied at both.
Thanks.
fdiv_bug September 23, 2008 at 12:52 am

Sorry, anibal; I switched hosting providers a while back and forgot to bring these files over. I’ve re-uploaded them, so they should work again.
Danny October 14, 2008 at 8:23 am

Hello,

Thank u for this post, it realy helped us out a hell of a lot!
Had this problem on 60 workstations!

Works like a train now! w000t.. Image time ..

Danny.
Fuckethead December 13, 2008 at 4:56 pm

Thanks Berdi

You hack was the best. you can use your files on the Win XP installation process (hitting F6) and selescting the now availables 82802HB SATA controller (thanks to you!) and install XP on a native AHCI controlled configuration.

PS: You can also use Nlite and make an XP image file that contains the 82802HB drivers and install AHCI support without a Floppy drive in case you don’t have one like many new PCs and notebooks do.
You can learn how to do that here:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Install-Windows-XP-On-SATA-Without-a-Floppy-F6-47807.shtml

Shame on Intel for no providing the goddamn driver themselves, so irresponsible. But thanks Berdi and fdiv_bug!
Mark February 3, 2009 at 6:32 am

Hi to all and thanks for the tip. My question is about the two different controllers Intel Intel (R) ICH8 4 port Serial ATA Storage Controller – 2820 and the second Intel (R) ICH8 2 port Serial ATA Storage Controller – 2825.
With this trick you change the first controller to AHCI mode, but what happens with the second?