New M17x R3 blue screens when in AHCI mode

So I brought my new R3 home today and booted it up.



What I noticed was the intel raid utility screen which was odd since I ordered it with the single 256Gb SSD But. It came out of the box with the sata set to "raid mode".

So I went in to the bios and switched it to AHCI. However the computer boots then blue screens. If i switch back to raid mode it boots to windows fine?

I switched back to AHCI and reloaded the alienspawn image and same results.

After one hour on the phone with tech support they have no clue ;-7

And their parting comment is it will run more stable this way LOL

Anyone seen this before on a M17X R3? This was to expensive to be having this happening right out of the box.

Config:

M17X R3
A09 Bios
Core i7 2670QM
Radeon HD 6870m
1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED
256Gb SSD (Samsung PM810)
Slot-Loading Dual Layer Blu-ray Reader (BR-ROM, DVD+-RW, CD-RW)

 

try going to windows first with raid in bios:

Msahci driver requires Atapi.sys miniport to be loaded during boot as well. So you need to change theStart value to 0 for both of the following entries in your registry. You can use regedit.exe utility.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\msahci
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi

Or you can also simply run the below command lines in an elevated window.

REG ADD HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\msahci /v Start /d 0 /f /t REG_DWORD
REG ADD HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi /v Start /d 0 /f /t REG_DWORD

Reboot to Bios, and change it to AHCI

 

For best results, you need to reinstall Windows (with full format) with SATA mode set to AHCI.

There is also a registry hack that allows you to use the existing installation. Load Regedit and navigate to the following keys:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\pciide, and
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi

Change the value of each to 0. Then reboot, but enter the BIOS (F2 at the boot screen) and change the SATA setting to AHCI. Save and exit the BIOS. It should boot cleanly using AHCI.

Edit: Sorry, Volkly, didn't see your post until after posting.

 

no apologies need at all, we are all just trying to help! hope it helps the OP and resolve his issue

 

Could be your AHCI mode is flaky? My R2 couldn't install anything in IDE mode, plus POST was super slow. My E6410 would have random BSOD in AHCI or RAID mode, I had to RMA it to Dell for a refund.

 

I really don't understand why so many folks feel compelled to take the BIOS out of RAID0 and put it into AHCI mode. Perhaps only to not see the Ctrl+I screen for 1 or 2 seconds during post? There must be a good reason Dell/Alienware uses RAID0 from the factory as the default setting on all systems, including those with a single drive configuration.

The nice thing about having Windows installed with the BIOS set to RAID0 is the ability to add a matching drive later and create a RAID0 setup within Windows using Intel RST. If you install Windows in AHCI mode you'll inevitably need to do a clean install. It also allows you to make a more versatile drive image that can be installed on a single drive and/or used to create a RAID0 setup later on.

 

Mr Fox

That is exactly my point and the question I could not get an answer on from Alienware.

It strikes me as odd that Alienware configures a single (SSD) drive config for Raid in the bios. Unless there is a (stability) or some other problem they can not fix when running in AHCI mode?

As for the Ctrl+I screen I have no problem seeing it for the 1-2 seconds.

I just would like the question answered by a competent tech at Alienware.

 

That's an oxymoron. The techs are pretty incompetent most of the time. I reckon that at the factory, they just install the drive and then windows without touching the bios. It is a matter of ease nothing else.

You can keep asking but chances are you will never get a straight answer. Just do the fixes people have posted above and you will be rocking AHCI no problems.

 

Intel themselves recommends Raid in all cases, they claim that Raid is the same as AHCI in terms of performance and features, you just also have the option of using Raid features as well. Generally you have to modify or re-install windows to change these settings, so it makes sense to send the machines out with Raid enabled so it can do anything without needing to be modified.

This is normal, every machine is always set to Raid, and changing to AHCI always causes issues without modification or a reinstall. Dell does it because Intel tells them to do it. If you check under the Intel utility in Windows you will see that all AHCI features (like Native Command, etc) are enabled in Raid mode.

 

I found my single SSD faster (half a second - second) under a RAID controller... But that screen on boot up annoyed me.

Someone should do some before and after benchmarks.