Enabling AHCI for SATA on HP Pavilion t775.uk

[BalmforthK]

I have installed a Samsung 850 EVO SSD on my HP Pavilion t775.uk. It's working and I've cloned the OS to it but Samsung Magician tells me that AHCI is not enabled for this disk. However, I cannot find the option to enable AHCI in the BIOS.

I'm guessing that enabling AHCI may not be an option on my system.

Please can anyone tell me if it is and, if so, how to enable it?

Thanks,

Kevin

[mdklassen]

> Samsung Magician tells me that ACHI is not enabled for this disk.

Within BIOS SETUP, look for AHCI - A(dvanced) H(ost) C(onfiguration) I(nterface).

[BalmforthK]

Hi,

    Thanks but as I said in my original post, I've looked but I cannot find the option to enable AHCI. Anyone know where it is, if it exists please?

    Thanks,

[mdklassen]

Your computer: HP Pavilion Desktop PCs - Motherboard Overview and Specifications for All Series with Windows XP Pre...

was originally shipped with Windows XP -- making it quite an "antique" system, which probably pre-dates AHCI support on the motherboard.

I think that it is time for you to purchase a "modern" motherboard.

[BalmforthK]

Hi,

     Thanks, I've amended it to AHCI.

     Yes, I know it's an old system, hence the question. I thought it might not be AHCI enabled because of its age, I was just after confirmation,

    Regards,

    Kevin

[mdklassen]

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[Paul_Tikkanen · Accepted solution]

Hi, @BalmforthK

mdklassen is correct.   But it is not probably, it is definitely.

The Intel i915P chipset your PC's motherboard has, predates AHCI.

If there is a RAID setting (which there probably isn't), that would be better than IDE.   RAID did exist at the time.

If there is no drive controller setting to change, then it is stuck on IDE.

A few desktop and notebook PC's with the next Intel chipset generation after the 915--the 945, can have support for AHCI.

I have a HP nc6400 business-class notebook with the mobile intel 945 chipset and it does have an AHCI setting (it's called sata native mode in the BIOS).

I have a dell dimension notebook with the mobile version intel 915 chipset, and there are no drive controller settings to change.  Like your desktop chipset version, it is stuck on IDE.

[Big_Dave]

It's the old Puffer motherboard.  I am not sure why you would want to run a SATA III SSD on this motherboard. However, you will see some speed improvement.  SSD "trim" is not supported but modern SSDs do use "garbage collection".

[BalmforthK]

Thanks to all for your replies.

My PC was getting to the stage where it was unusable so I needed some improvement. I added 1Gb of memory, at a cost of £15, to take it to 3Gb but I thought changing the disk would make the biggest improvement.

And so it proved. My system is now usable again. As you say, there has been a speed improvement. And cheaper than buying a whole new PC. I usually use my work PC for most things but need my PC to be usable when I need it.

Obviously I can always move the SSD to a new system if and when I buy one.

Presumably putting an SSD in a new system would have a bigger effect than putting it in my old PC, would it?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

Yes, you can always move the SSD to a newer PC, and if it has a SATA III drive controller, you will get the most out of it.

But as you have observed in your current PC, the SSD has improved the performance, even though the drive controller is only SATA I (1.5 GBPS) transfer rate. 

No doubt you have subjectively observed that the PC boots up faster, and the drive has faster seek times than with the old hard drive.

I was able to get a 120 GB Intel 535 SSD for something like $60 USD a couple of years ago, and I installed it in my HP nc6400 business-class notebook.

Even though the sata controller in that notebook is also only sata I, the notebook boots up much faster and the drive has faster seek times than with the old mechanical notebook hard drive it came with.

I had the same thought you did...when I no longer want the notebook, or it dies on me, I'll put the SSD in a different PC.