SATA Emulation -> AHCI mode on PC dc5700

[syGPF]

I need to run SATA controller(s) in AHCI mode. According to this document

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&objectID=c00814591

it should be possible to switch SATA emulation between IDE and AHCI. I searched once, twice, three times for SATA emulation in the BIOS settings (version 2.09) but could not find this option anywhere. Any hints/possibilities to get AHCI mode for my HP PC? Many thanks in advance.

Gerry

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Gerry:

According to the setup manual, there is a setting.

http://bizsupport2.austin.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01314835/c01314835.pdf

Please see page 6--SATA Emulation.

Paul

[syGPF]

Hi Paul,

Thank you for your reply, it is exactly what I am looking for, but it does not appear in my BIOS setup. Either its specification for the dc5700 PC has changed, or version 2.09 has a serious bug.

Please verify, thanks!

Regards, Gerry

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Gerry:

If it's not there, I don't know what to tell you. I would have no way of verifying, as I don't own a dc5700.

I know the setting is there on a dc7700, and that is the only PC I have access to that comes close to the dc5700.

I would say there is something wrong with that BIOS version.

Regards,

Paul

[syGPF]

Hi Paul,

Thank you one more time for your reply and your time. I did some research on another dc5700 machine to find out that it is not possible to set any SATA emulation, neither in version 2.09 nor in any other 2.xx versions.

Then I came across this site

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c00819525&lang=en&cc=us&taskI...

and the following statement from HP:

For dc5700 Systems
dc5700 systems have 4 SATA ports numbered 0, 1, 4, and 5.

SATA ports 0 and 1 are set to Legacy Mode IDE emulation and can be accessed from DOS. However, SATA ports 4 and 5 operate in Native Mode IDE and cannot be accessed from DOS. The dc5700 BIOS does not allow changing the SATA Emulation mode.

I will try to connect the SATA drives with the ports which run in native mode and see if and how that works. I let you know as soon as I can.

Regards, Gerry

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, Gerry:

That is very interesting...

So, the setup manual is wrong, and they may have just copied the info from the dc7700's setup guide.

Looking forward to hearing back from you with the results.

Regards,

Paul

[syGPF]

Hi Paul,

I moved my devices from ports SATA0/SATA1 to SATA4/SATA5. So far everything works well, but it seems that, unfortunately, "Native Mode" for the dc5700 does not imply any AHCI functionality.

On a more positive note, performance seems to be much better when running "SATA Native Mode". I guess there is less overhead now than in "Legacy Mode". This is a great benefit and relief for me.

On the other hand I recommend that HP revise documentation(s) for the dc5700 model and state that it is not possible to set AHCI mode, as it took me some hours to find out.

However, thank you for your time!

Regards, Gerry

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome, Gerry.

I'm glad you got it to run better in SATA native mode than legacy IDE.

The transfer rates must be better.

Best regards,

Paul