# SATA - AHCI vs compatibility mode



## Gswiss (Nov 10, 2004)

I installed XP in dual boot mode with Vista pre-installed on a Toshiba Satellite L350-20J notebook.

Since I couldn't find the appropriate files for the F6 process in the Matrix Storage Manager (in the L350 Toshiba driver section for XP, you get an EXE file) to use at xp install time, in the BIOS I switched the SATA AHCI parameter to "compatibility". The XP installation went fine.

Once XP was installed, when I tried to run the Matrix Storage Manager driver, I got the message "This computer does not meet minimum requirements for installing the software". On the other hand, the chipset utility was installed without a hitch.

When I switched back the "compatibilty" parameter to AHCI in the BIOS, the system would not boot properly. It would direct me to multiple choice screen for Safe mode, etc.

Furthermore, EasyBCD gets stuck when I try to define Vista in the Add/Remove entries section.

How can I get into SATA mode at this stage?


----------



## atavist (Jul 2, 2009)

do a repair install and make sure you hit F6 to install the RAID/AHCI drivers.


----------



## Gswiss (Nov 10, 2004)

atavist said:


> do a repair install and make sure you hit F6 to install the RAID/AHCI drivers.


That's just the point. I don't have the RAID/AHCI drivers. Instead I get an EXE file which is supposed to install the drivers. That's why I changed the BIOS parameter.


----------



## deleted010511 (Apr 29, 2009)

So, if the drive has "booted", that means you installed correctly and can boot into Windows and all is good now. If the drive "boots" then you don't need the driver. compatibility mode should have taken care of it for you.


----------



## Gswiss (Nov 10, 2004)

I'm not sure that in this compatibility mode I'm getting top performance on the disks.

Furthermore, I'm a bit worried about EasyBCD (which I used dozens of times in the past) not letting me define the dual boot environment when I go into Add/Remove Entries.


----------



## atavist (Jul 2, 2009)

i'm not familiar with EasyBCD, so i got nothing there.

when i try to find Satellite L350-20J on toshiba's website, i can't find it.

is there another model number, probably on the bottom of the laptop?


----------



## Gswiss (Nov 10, 2004)

The submodel is PSLD8E for the Satellite L350


----------



## deleted010511 (Apr 29, 2009)

Compatibility mode is designed for hard drives that are not Toshiba specified. Allowing you to use different manufacturers hard drives and not just those that Toshiba has blessed.


----------



## atavist (Jul 2, 2009)

here is what i see when i try to find your laptop, maybe you can provide me with a link.


----------



## Gswiss (Nov 10, 2004)

Here's the driver download site. Attached is a snapshot of the page.

http://uk.computers.toshiba-europe.com/innovation/download_drivers_bios.jsp?service=UK


----------



## atavist (Jul 2, 2009)

hey gswiss, sorry, i'm not getting it.

the only thing i can think is that toshiba has the ahci driver slipstreamed into the install disk, or the system is designed for vista, which has the ahci drivers built in. that's just a guess.

stick with compatability mode would be my suggestion.


----------



## Gswiss (Nov 10, 2004)

I believe I've gotten to the bottom of this. First of all, I managed to obtain the required Matrix Storage Manager modules. But, they cannot be used in the F6 process at XP install time with Toshiba L300 and L350 notebooks if the BIOS parameter for the disk is AHCI mode. You must switch to compatibility mode.

Once XP is installed, there's a procedure which I will be trying out soon to switch back from compatibility to AHCI in order to get the full potential of the SATA disk performance.

I'm surprised about Toshiba acting like this as they've been honest so far as is Lenovo. I've already installed several dual boot Toshiba's. They give you all the drivers you need to install XP. On the other hand, the dishonest assemblers such as HP, ACER, Dell, Packard Bell do not supply the drivers (you can find them yourself by going to the device supplier's site) and go so far as to tattoo your pc to prevent you from adding another OS to coexist with Vista. This is absolutely illegal and there is a workaround.


----------



## atavist (Jul 2, 2009)

good on you.

let me know how it turns out.


----------



## Gswiss (Nov 10, 2004)

atavist said:


> i'm not familiar with EasyBCD, so i got nothing there.


EasyBCD is a superb freeware which allows you to reinstate the Vista Boot Manager which was clobbered when XP was installed. It also allows you to define the OS's you want to use in a multiboot environment.

It runs under XP, Vista and Windows 7.


----------



## Gswiss (Nov 10, 2004)

My friend is so happy to run under XP that he doesn't want me to improve performance by switching back to AHCI mode. He's satisfied as things are.

Anyhow, although I haven't had the chance to test this out myself, the way to proceed is to update the Disk Controler drivers under XP with those provided by Matrix Storage Manager. Then reboot. During this reboot, run BIOS setup and switch back from compatibility to AHCI.

Apparently, two fellows were successful with this procedure.


----------



## pallepr (Jul 11, 2009)

spike2me said:


> Compatibility mode is designed for hard drives that are not Toshiba specified. Allowing you to use different manufacturers hard drives and not just those that Toshiba has blessed.


Compatibility mode is so the software can talk to the controller just like it was an old IDE/ATA controller. That way you don't need a special SATA driver.


----------



## chaaster (Oct 24, 2010)

Dear GSwiss,

Did you ever solve this problem?

I am in the same position with a Satellite A-350 and using BCD to boot into Vista and XP. I must change the bios to compatibility mode to boot into XPSP3 and back to AHCI to boot into vista.

This is *only *since I replaced the original drive with a 500gb 7200 RPM WD Scorpio hard drive. I never had any problems booting to either xp or vista with the original drive and it took me a week to figure out the AHCI/Compatibility mode switch in the bios. I thought I could use the Fujitsu original 400 gb/4800 rpm drive as a second drive, but alas, you can't use a second drive in this computer. The problem seemed to start when I updated the bios.

Anyway, if you found the answer to this please post your solution so I won't have to switch the bios.

Thanks!


----------



## Janet Quist (Oct 24, 2010)

chaaster said:


> Dear GSwiss,
> 
> Did you ever solve this problem?


This thread is a year and a half old. The OP may never come back. You should start your own thread, provide basic information regarding your system, and what the problem is, etc...

FYI, you can turn off "AHCI" in BIOS, and run it in "the other" mode. I say "the other" because different BIOS's call it different things. Usually it's IDE, but whatever it is, its the other one.


----------



## Coolfreak (May 27, 2008)

Closed due to no response from OP.


----------

