topic Re: intel 320 40GB SSD POST help in Archive

intel 320 40GB SSD POST help

idata — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 22:39:03 GMT

I'll try to explain this the best I can because it might sound a little confusing.

I recently installed a 40GB 320 SSD. Everything seems fine until I boot up my PC. My PC turns on flashes the MOBO setup screen and right after it shows the ctrl-I RAID config prompt, then it flashes back to MOBO setup screen, then it boots into windows just fine. Is this normal? The installation instructions don't mention anything about it so I don't know if I missed a step somewhere but if someone could shed some light on this I would appreciate it.

Thanks in advance

Re: intel 320 40GB SSD POST help

Johnny_Y_Intel — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 01:00:09 GMT

The reason you saw CTRL+I menu because you enable RAID in BIOS, just set it to AHCI if you don't set any RAID volume.

But if your OS is Windows XP, system might not be able to boot because the ATA driver is different...

Re: intel 320 40GB SSD POST help

idata — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 04:38:22 GMT

Okay cool!

As soon as I get a chance I will set SATA mode back to AHCI. Now here is another follow up question only for curiosity sake. Why do the instructions say to enable RAID in BIOS? I guess it assumes your going to be using two HDD's and not as cache setup?

Anyway, thanks for your help I'm just trying to enlighten myself.

Re: intel 320 40GB SSD POST help

Johnny_Y_Intel — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 05:18:33 GMT

yes, if you plan to use SRT (SSD cache), you have to enable RAID in BIOS and no need to set any volume in RAID setup menu (CTRL+I). Looks like this the usage model you use now

Re: intel 320 40GB SSD POST help

idata — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 17:56:55 GMT

A little follow up from last nights configuration.

So I changed SATA mode from RAID to AHCI and upon saving and exiting I got BSOD. Thankfully, all I had to do was revert back to RAID and my system was up and running again. However I'm still getting the Ctrl-I prompt. Is there any way to stop it from appearing? Do I have to configure something?

SSD and RAID is new territory for me so I appreciate your patience.

Re: intel 320 40GB SSD POST help

Johnny_Y_Intel — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 04:28:46 GMT

If you use SRT SSD cache), then you have to enable RAID, and you will see CTRL+I menu during boot; if you just install OS on SSD and use HDD as storage, then no need to enable RAID.

But if your OS is Windows XP or earlier, then you may need to re-install OS since Windows XP does not include RAID/AHCI driver, that's why you see BSOD; If your OS is Windows 7, but your motherboard is 7 series, you may still need to re-install OS since no 7 series RAID/AHCI driver included in Windows 7...

Re: intel 320 40GB SSD POST help

mmokk — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 15:08:47 GMT

vandalmags wrote:

So I changed SATA mode from RAID to AHCI and upon saving and exiting I got BSOD. Thankfully, all I had to do was revert back to RAID and my system was up and running again.

if you're running windows vista/7, boot into windows and open the registry editor. navigate to hklm\system\currentcontrolset\services\msahci and set the value of 'start' to 0. restart and change to ahci in the bios. windows should boot.

if you're running xp, it is also possible to change to ahci mode without reinstallation, but it's more complicated.