Need help in installing AHCI Driver for GIGABYTE GA-EP35C-DS3R

[Jon-Doy]

I am willing to install windows XP PRO (64bit) to a SSD and I have checked out some guide for installing ACHI Driver for Gigabyte GA-EP35C-DS3R but then I am having the below queries:

1. Under the SATA Raid section there appears to be four drivers and I am not sure which one I have to choose so as to proceed with the installation of xp setup (F6)
2. The other thing I have found is that under the "IDE ATA / ACHI Controllers" there are 2 controllers so which one I have to choose for the update.

So is there anyone who can clear my update before I start the update and get a SSD?

[LavinaD]

I am willing to install windows XP PRO (64bit) to a SSD and I have checked out some guide for installing ACHI Driver for Gigabyte GA-EP35C-DS3R but then I am having the below queries:

1. Under the SATA Raid section there appears to be four drivers and I am not sure which one I have to choose so as to proceed with the installation of xp setup (F6)
2. The other thing I have found is that under the "IDE ATA / ACHI Controllers" there are 2 controllers so which one I have to choose for the update.

So is there anyone who can clear my update before I start the update and get a SSD?

As you have mentioned that there are 2 controllers under "IDE ATA / ACHI Controllers", I just want to take a look at the same so that I can have a better idea of the case you are having , so just mention the 2 controllers or better upload a screenshot of the same so that I can through it and try to help you further with the same.

[Jon-Doy]

This is what I am having in the device manager for IDE ATA / ACHI Controllers, just check it out and see if you could help me out in my case.

[LavinaD]

In that case I will like to inform you that if you are willing to get the Intel based Pre-install SATA drivers for for x64 F6 then you will have to connect the drive to the first Intel SATA Port that is SATA2_0 but then I don’t think that you will be able to update them after installing windows, so here I will suggest you to install Intel RST program as it will automatically install and update the drivers without any issues. When you are done with the windows installation then you can first install the below Chipset INF drivers
Chipset INF drivers
Once you are done with the above installation then you can precede installing Intel RST program from the below link:
Intel RST program
Other thing I wanted to share is that XP is not that ideal for SSD as they do not have the TRIM, if possible then go with Vista or Windows 7 for SSD's.

[Jon-Doy]

Hey thanks for your interest but then I have been using xp so Vista or Windows 7 will be of no use to me, I will try to follow the solution that you have mentioned above for the SSD but as they does not seem to be applicable for 2/3rd gen drives which have decent firmware to carry their job in the absence of TRIM, the main that I am concerned about is enabling ACHI drivers and I think that you are quite right about the driver selection, actually i had got confused as there were gigabyte as well as intel drivers, I had checked out the manual and it seems that the sata controllers are having intel (six) as well as gigabyte (two) connectors, I really don’t have a idea for what reason, I was not able to do much with the same as I am not having a floppy disk, I had checked out the nlite and I was able to slipstream the ACHI driver along with the remaining windows installation but then here I had to extract them from the execute file where as Nlite was not accepting the exe, anyways I will try to perform the same and will post back the response that I get.

[LavinaD]

I agree to you that some newer SSD's are capable of carrying their job at GC and I don’t think that you will be running in any issues further, Before the installation you will just have to align the partition first and if you don’t do so then there are possibilities that you might have to carry out the process manually, the board that you are having has the required ports for connecting drives, so best of luck for the Nlite setup, I hope that it goes smoothly, just make sure that you are use Qflash or DOS and you are not flashing when it is storming.

[Jon-Doy]

I have tried out the same and it does not seems to be working, I don’t know why I am getting blue screen when the windows status bar starts loading even after slipping the ACHI Driver through nlite. I am getting the below error when the windows status bar starts loading.
"Serial Port ACHI bios version.... Only supports Hardrives and cdroms."
Then lists my HDD followed by selecton of Sata/IDE ports. Last line says "ACHI bios Installed."
I have installed the latest chipset as well as bios version F3, is there anything I can do further??

[LavinaD]

I think that you should better refer to a guide for Adding ACHI post windows installation, you can check out for the guide in the Gigabyte FAQ and it should help you out. If that does not work then try using 2003 Server x64 driver and then in bios set "Sata Raid ACHI Mode" in Integrated Perhipheral section to ACHI and then reboot the machine, just try it out and then let me know if you have any further issues with it.