# SATA optical drive becomes useless in AHCI mode?



## hat (Aug 6, 2010)

I can control the SATA ports to run in SATA (IDE emulation) mode, AHCI, or RAID mode. I can only control the whole group of them, I cannot configure them individually. I recently had to reformat, so I figured I would try the supposedly faster AHCI mode. Only problem is my optical drive is near useless now. The only thing it seems to be able to do is read discs once in Windows. I can't burn anymore (with cdburnerXP or with the built-in Windows burning function), and I couldn't boot off my memtest disc.

How do I get my optical drive to work in AHCI mode? I already tried going back to the IDE emulation mode, but my system just got a BSOD when I tried to boot to windows, similiarly to when I was running in IDE emulation moade and I tried to boot in AHCI mode.


----------



## 95Viper (Aug 7, 2010)

Funny thing switching modes like that.
Sounds like something went afoul, as most SATA optical drives should be O.K. with it.
What model drive and what firmware version?

Try going back to the mode that will let you boot into windows.
Goto device manager, first click on "show hidden devices", then, right click on the CD\DVD drive and click un-install(but, make sure the software stays, don't check that box)
If there is a ghosted drive there and in the hard drive section; un-install them, too.
Next, click on and high-light the "computer" at the top of the device manager list.
Then goto the menu at the top and search for new devices.

You may have to install the latest drivers for your MB and chipset(controller), too.


----------



## hat (Aug 7, 2010)

Before, it used to be I could only boot in SATA mode (IDE emulation mode) because that's what I installed Windows on. If I switched to AHCI mode and tried to boot, it would BSOD. I recently reformatted, and I set it to AHCI mode and installed on that because it's supposed to be faster, and now I can't boot in SATA mode. I tried to boot to SATA mode to see if the optical drive would work, but like I said before, it bluescreened out on me.

It's got to be more than a problem within Windows, because like I said earlier, I couldn't boot off my memtest disk. I'm not home right now, but I'll pull the drive out and find the model number. Where would I find the firmware version?


----------



## fritoking (Aug 7, 2010)

well i dont know much about this...but i do know you cant install windows in ahci mode and go back to sata or ide or whatever ..and vice versa..i actually found that out the hard way myself.  but never had an issue with the sata dvdrw.....


----------



## GENTLEMEN (Aug 7, 2010)

I suggest after enabling AHCI, booting with the main drive ONLY, letting windows install the drives, reboot, plug in the other drives.


----------



## 95Viper (Aug 7, 2010)

Alright,if you are using your Biostar TF720 A2+.
First make sure your optical is not in SATA 5 or 6 ports, manual says they are for Raid\ahci and since that is, those two may not like anything else there.

Just some info, if you ever get it to the point of usability, update your boards nForce drivers(64 bit drivers).

Since, it is not letting you boot off the optical drive, it has to be, either, the MB (or MB bios settings) or optical drive...  So, I agree with you on that.


----------



## hat (Aug 7, 2010)

I didn't even use my optical drive until way after I started using Windows. I installed with a USB stick and I couldn't use the optical drive cause I had to run 3 hard drives at once and my psu has limited power connectors.

Still, I think it has to be an issue with the board or the drive, cause I can't boot off my memtest disc...


----------



## 95Viper (Aug 7, 2010)

95Viper said:


> Alright,if you are using your Biostar TF720 A2+.
> First make sure your optical is not in SATA 5 or 6 ports, manual says they are for Raid\ahci and since that is, those two may not like anything else there.
> 
> Since, it is not letting you boot off the optical drive, it has to be, either, the MB (or MB bios settings) or optical drive...  So, I agree with you on that.



I agreed.
Use SATA ports 1, 2 , 3 and\or 4; see if that works.


----------



## hat (Aug 7, 2010)

I'm not even using SATA 5/6. I origionally tried that, but they must only become active once Windows boots or something, cause stuff didn't show up in the BIOS when I tried putting it there. I put my OS drive there once and it wasn't even detected.

There's a discrepency somewhere with my SATA 5/6 ports. In the BIOS, it says there' for AHCI -OR- RAID only, but in the manual, it says it's for AHCI+RAID mode only.


----------



## hat (Aug 7, 2010)

Model number is GSA-H73N... version B103


----------



## francis511 (Aug 7, 2010)

As a last resort reinstall on ide mode. I had a quirky sata optical drive once - was rly useless !!!


----------



## n-ster (Aug 7, 2010)

Hey, to switch beween IDE and AHCI, you have to to a tiny reg edit before switching...

google it...

EDIT:


1. Open regedit.exe (enter regedit.exe into search field)

2. Uncollapse the registry keys: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci

3. Modify the key “Start” to “0″

Alternatively, you can download our registry tweak or insert the following text into a notepad, save it as a .reg file and start it:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci]
“Start”=dword:00000000

Thats from IDE to AHCI, now to do the oppposite, I'm guessing its 1 but idk I'm looking for you  AHCI to IDE seems to be a bit different but can't find it yet, gimme 2 sec... nvm, tired and can't search properly so I'll let you  do the research on your own





BTW my optical drive is on AHCI on SATA 6 and it works awesome


----------



## 95Viper (Aug 7, 2010)

hat said:


> Model number is GSA-H73N... version B103



Here is the latest bios:HLDS GSA-H73N HH DVD+/-RW 16X SATA.  Seems Dell kept up firmware updates better than LG\Hitachi, as they have no firmware updates on the LG or Hitachi sites.
They have fixed a lot of issues, since your version.

Specs on that drive:Specifications: HLDS GSA-H73N DVD±RW Drive



n-ster said:


> Hey, to switch beween IDE and AHCI, you have to to a tiny reg edit before switching...
> 
> google it...
> 
> ...



Different MB and bios.


----------



## hat (Aug 8, 2010)

I tried that firmware update, and it looks like it bricked my drive. The PC started doing all kinds of goofy shit and it was pretty much unusable until I unplugged the drive.


----------



## hat (Aug 8, 2010)

After the firmware update, all seems to be well. I used the DOS version this time.


----------



## 95Viper (Aug 8, 2010)

So, the drive is ok?
And, does it work as it is suppose to?
Can you boot to it?
Windows recognizes it ok?

Answer to these questions and more at 8...  A little humor.


----------



## hat (Aug 8, 2010)

Yeah, I burned a audio cd with Windows Media Player, and I managed to get it to boot to my memtest disc.

Just wanted to share this with you guys...






Bye Bye ^.^


----------



## 95Viper (Aug 8, 2010)

hat said:


> Yeah, I burned a audio cd with Windows Media Player, and I managed to get it to boot to my memtest disc.
> 
> Just wanted to share this with you guys...
> http://img.techpowerup.org/100808/002.jpg
> ...



Great...

You like that Bye Bye ^.^, huh.


----------

