install standard sata ahci controller driver during boot

The driver should be called “Intel Matrix Storage Manager (OS Pre-Install Driver Only)” or something close to that Download the correct AHCI driver from website.Below are the detailed instructions on how to install the AHCI driver once you have Windows installed by changing the SATA controller to ATA mode. By selecting the ATA mode you can use the drivers already supplied by default on the Windows XP CD, once you get it installed you can use the Windows Device Manager to update the drivers to the AHCI ones. You should see options for ATA mode / AHCI mode and RAID mode.

Well with these newer Dells you have the option to go in to the BIOS and change in what mode the SATA controller operates. And since most computers don’t ship with a floppy and won’t recognize a flash driver when installing XP your only option is to slipstream the driver on to the Windows XP CD to make it boot the PC. Vista has drivers to use the controller in this mode, however Windows XP doesn’t. Coming from the factory most PCs will come with Vista on it and be have the SATA controller in AHCI mode. Since it looks like Windows XP will still be hanging around for at least a few more months, I thought I should share one of the cool tricks that I have found when installing it to theses newer Dell computers that have difference mode SATA controllers.

Install standard sata ahci controller driver during boot