Bluescreen when installing Win7 in AHCI mode

My setup: Abit IP35 motherboard (Intel P35 chipset), Sandisk Extreme 120GB SSD with 201 firmware.

When I install Windows 7 x64 SP1 in AHCI mode, it goes through to the part where the computer is first rebooted and then saying “Completing installation”. After a short while, I’m presented with a BSOD “STOP: 0x000000F4 (0x0000000000000003, …)”. I have tried installing ICH9 AHCI drivers (iaStor) at Win7 installation startup, but that did not help.

If I switch over to IDE mode instead, everything works.

Any ideas how I get my SSD working in AHCI mode?

I’m also getting the exact same issue. BSOD on Windows 7 install on a brand new 240GB SSD Extreme.

After Windows 7 boots it’s crashes almost immediately with a F4 stop blue screen of death. This is occuring on both a DELL Latitude E6410 and E6400 laptop. 

I have verified that the SATA AHCI mode is enabled in the BIOS for this device.

R201 firmware is loaded on the SSD.

I’ve opened a ticket with Support.

@squrppi wrote:

My setup: Abit IP35 motherboard (Intel P35 chipset), Sandisk Extreme 120GB SSD with 201 firmware.

 

When I install Windows 7 x64 SP1 in AHCI mode, it goes through to the part where the computer is first rebooted and then saying “Completing installation”. After a short while, I’m presented with a BSOD “STOP: 0x000000F4 (0x0000000000000003, …)”. I have tried installing ICH9 AHCI drivers (iaStor) at Win7 installation startup, but that did not help.

 

If I switch over to IDE mode instead, everything works.

 

Any ideas how I get my SSD working in AHCI mode?

 

The first thing you should do it try different SATA cales and SATA ports. Try again and see if you have the same issue. 

If the issue is persitant we need to know if the BSOD is hapening during installation or after reboot. If it happens during installation it could be a memeory issue. To test for that you can search for MEMTEST 86 and test the memory. If after restart it could be a storage issue. 

In the case the BSOD happens after reboot we should try a secure erase and reinstall. you can search for HDD erase and use that to secure erase the drive. Once erased reinstall and see if the issue continues.

@damienoh wrote:

I’m also getting the exact same issue. BSOD on Windows 7 install on a brand new 240GB SSD Extreme.

After Windows 7 boots it’s crashes almost immediately with a F4 stop blue screen of death. This is occurring on both a DELL Latitude E6410 and E6400 laptop. 

I have verified that the SATA AHCI mode is enabled in the BIOS for this device.

R201 firmware is loaded on the SSD.

 

I’ve opened a ticket with Support.

This may not be the same issue so you will need to start a new thread. 

Some questions that will need to be answered in your new thread. 

Are you doing a fresh install or clone?

If clone what cloning software are you using?

If this is a standard Dell image it will have a restore partition. This can cause issues cloning occasionally. You may want to clone a clean image.

IF fresh install you can try secure erase as well. HDD erase is a free download. Use it to erase the drive and try reinstall.

Ok, I’m all sorted folks. worked with the support team they had me switch the BIOS SATA operation setting from AHCI to ATA.

I re-installed Windows and I’m up and running. This worked for me… sorted! 

@drlucky wrote:

The first thing you should do it try different SATA cables and SATA ports. Try again and see if you have the same issue. 

 

If the issue is persitant we need to know if the BSOD is hapening during installation or after reboot. If it happens during installation it could be a memeory issue. To test for that you can search for MEMTEST 86 and test the memory. If after restart it could be a storage issue. 

 

In the case the BSOD happens after reboot we should try a secure erase and reinstall. you can search for HDD erase and use that to secure erase the drive. Once erased reinstall and see if the issue continues.

 

I have tried SATA ports 6 and 1 with the same results with different data cables. No memory issues (tested 8 gigs).

The BSOD flow:

  1. start Windows 7 Pro x64 SP1 installation from DVD in AHCI mode
  2. wait for the installation to proceed until the very first reboot is required
  3. reboot the computer as requested, no problem here
  4. Win7 installation continues with message “Completing installation …” in “Install Windows screen”
  5. after a short while there is BSOD as described.

If I use IDE mode, I can pass this phase. It appears that the BSOD happens as device initialization phase, as the HDD led flashes once per second and in IDE mode my screens get swapped that does not happen in the BSOD flow.

By googling this issue I found MS Fixit 50470 that will turn on msahci after Win7 installation in IDE mode. I ran it, changed to AHCI in BIOS and it works now. Thus I assume that secure erase would not make any change.

Now when the computer goes to sleep by itself and I start it up again, I’m presented with the same F4 0x00…03 BSOD every time. Once I even was able to log in to desktop (took ~5 seconds) before it happened. If you need memory dumps or such, I can provide those. My system is not fully setup yet, so I can reproduce the issue if needed.

Can you send the dumps. we might be able to find the cause there. 

@Damienoh:  Yikes!  Did you benchmark your drive?  While putting the drive into ATA mode worked, isn’t that kind of a performance drag?  I think I would have returned the drive and gotten another brand that supported the advanced features.  Just my 2 cents.

@squrppi wrote:

I have tried SATA ports 6 and 1 with the same results with different data cables. No memory issues (tested 8 gigs).

 

The BSOD flow:

  1. start Windows 7 Pro x64 SP1 installation from DVD in AHCI mode
  2. wait for the installation to proceed until the very first reboot is required
  3. reboot the computer as requested, no problem here
  4. Win7 installation continues with message “Completing installation …” in “Install Windows screen”
  5. after a short while there is BSOD as described.

If I use IDE mode, I can pass this phase. It appears that the BSOD happens as device initialization phase, as the HDD led flashes once per second and in IDE mode my screens get swapped that does not happen in the BSOD flow.

 

By googling this issue I found MS Fixit 50470 that will turn on msahci after Win7 installation in IDE mode. I ran it, changed to AHCI in BIOS and it works now. Thus I assume that secure erase would not make any change.

 

Now when the computer goes to sleep by itself and I start it up again, I’m presented with the same F4 0x00…03 BSOD every time. Once I even was able to log in to desktop (took ~5 seconds) before it happened. If you need memory dumps or such, I can provide those. My system is not fully setup yet, so I can reproduce the issue if needed.

 

There are some systems that may have compatibility issues with HIPM. By default Windows 7 has HIPM enabled. Trydisabeling HIPM. Here is a quick link on how to.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/177819-ahci-link-power-management-enable-hipm-dipm.html

@bgood wrote:

@damienoh:  Yikes!  Did you benchmark your drive?  While putting the drive into ATA mode worked, isn’t that kind of a performance drag?  I think I would have returned the drive and gotten another brand that supported the advanced features.  Just my 2 cents.

I did a fast performance comparison with Windows Experience Index, but not with a real benchmarking tool. In IDE mode I got 7.6 and in AHCI mode 7.8 (max being 7.9). Note that I don’t have SATA3 connectors on my old-ish motherboard. Another notable thingy is that when Win7 boots up, the “flying lights” do not get to form the Windows logo before I’m requested for account password. Never seen that before… :slight_smile:

For comparison, my brand new office laptop (Dell E6420) that has Lite-On OEM SSD with sata3 connectivity with mobo has “only” 7.7 as experience index.

Being a tech guy, returning a drive is not my first option – especially given the specs of the Extreme compared to others in the same price group.

Update to my case:

I upgraded my motherboard from P35/ICH9 into P45/ICH10. I did not do any additional installation routines, hardware or drivers; just replace the motherboard and hope for the best that the OS stays operational. It did. Now after a few days of testing, it seems that the BSOD has disappeared. I have been able to put my computer into sleep and hibernation without errors.

About performance:

Running the Extreme 120 in AHCI mode gives 25% performance boost over to IDE mode. This is visible when running the same routines but just changing the IDE/AHCI mode. For comparison, SSD/ACHI gives 300% performance boost over to HDD/AHCI (WD 1,5TB drive). Tested with Atto disk benchmark on Win7 x64. There was no difference between Microsoft Win7 provided AHCI driver and Intel RST AHCI driver.

Hey guys,

I had this when i first installed my OS on my 120GB Extreme under IDE Mode.

I first installed the AHCI fixit as one of the guys described on here- http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

During the restart following the Fixit I changed the BIOS over to AHCI from IDE.

I noticed during benchmarking that the 4k reads doubled, I think writen even did also

Sequential reads went up by 25%.

I used CrystalDiskMark to test.

Definitely worth doing. Also i’m not 100% sure if TRIM is supported on IDE? i haven’t bothered researching too much now on AHCI.

One thing to note, after i installed the patch/fix, i did still occasionally get a BSOD. 

I ended up reinstalling Win7 natively on AHCI mode (I also had a netframework issue so it was worth doing)

No more BSOD.

Goof luck

Rich

You are correct TRIM only works if AHCI is enabled. 

I have had similar problems (bluescreens after choosing AHCI mode)  when installing Windows 7 (64-bit) on a SanDisk Extreme 240 GB. After much experimentation (also trying the built in Windows 7 AHCI driver), I succeeded by choosing AHCI mode in the BIOS and supplying the AHCI driver for the Intel controller (http://intel-r-ich9m-e-m-sata-ahci-controller.drivers.informer.com/)) in my laptop during installation of Windows 7 on a USB stick.