AHCI drivers for Windows XP on HP EliteBook 8770w?

[Teoalida]

I bought a laptop HP EliteBook 8770w from used market to use beside my desktop, I choose this model purposely because is the most powerful laptop that supports Windows XP. My favorite game (The Sims 2) have problems on newer Windows (read more http://www.modthesims.info/showthread.php?p=5416473 )

Is well known that Windows XP does not have AHCI support so I had to go in BIOS and change SATA Device Mode to IDE in order to install Windows XP. After this I installed Windows 10 too in dual boot. Every time I turn on computer, the hard disk runs extremely slow unless I go to BIOS and change to AHCI then back to IDE, which is a bit annoying. Installing Windows 10 in AHCI works fine, but this makes difficult to boot Windows XP.

I read that would be possible to add AHCI drivers in Windows XP installation CD or even switch from IDE to AHCI after Windows XP is installed, but where do I find the right driver for this particular laptop and Windows XP Home 32-bit SP3, and what is the correct procedure to do this?

I installed CPU-Z: Mainboard 176C, Processor i7-3740QM 2.7 GHz, Southbridge QM77, Memory 16 GB, Nvidia Quadro K4000M, SSD + HDD, if does matter.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

I have zipped up and attached below, the XP 32 bit SATA AHCI driver for the chipset your PC has.

Unzip the file to its folder.

Assuming you are in XP and in IDE mode...

Go to Start>>Run>>devmgmt.msc>>IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers device manager category.

Click on the Intel named serial ata storage controller.

Click on the driver tab, click on update driver. Do the manual update (install from a specific location)
with "have a disk" option

Select the Intel(R) 7 Series Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller from the list.
Windows will complain but ignore the warning, and install the driver.

Reboot the computer, tap the F10 key to get into the BIOS and change the drive controller in the BIOS to AHCI mode.

Save the settings, Restart the PC, and boot to your XP OS.

Windows XP will load some more drivers and ask you to restart the PC again.

Restart the PC as instructed, and now both OS's will run in AHCI mode.

[Teoalida]

Thanks for fast reply, but where is Intel named serial ata storage controller? Under IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers I see 6 things, clicking any of them > Update driver > Install from specific location > select the folder where I unzipped your attachment, it says Cannot Continue the Hardware Update Wizard. Or did you attached wrong driver?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

I assumed you had installed all of the drivers, and you just needed to change the drive controller setting.

You need to first install the Intel chipset installation utility and restart the PC, then you should see an Intel storage controller device.

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp59001-59500/sp59259.exe

[Teoalida]

Do I need to install ALL dozens drivers from https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-elitebook-8770w-mobile-workstation/5257511 ? So far I installed the must-have ones, such as graphics, audio, wireless, etc.

I installed Intel Chipset Installation Utility and Driver, restarted computer and tried again to install AHCI driver without success.

I also tried to install Intel Rapid Storage Technology Driver but I get "This computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing the software."

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're good now.

It should be the 4 port controller you want to install the driver to.

And select the Intel series 7/C216 SATA AHCI driver from the list, not the first one I told you to use.

[Teoalida]

I tried BOTH 2 port and 4 port as well as Primary / Secondary IDE before replying here, I always get error that cannot install.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Yes, but did you select this driver instead of the first one I told you to do?

Intel(R) 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller

And you are running XP 32 bit, correct?

If you are running XP X64, I have to give you the 64 bit drivers instead.

[Teoalida]

WHERE is this "Intel(R) 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller" ? You can see in my screenshot 2 rows with similar name but not the same.

I use Windows XP Home 32-bit SP3. 64-bit XP only have SP1 and I tried it some time ago, but there are many software that require SP3 so don't work on it so I had to put 32-bit one even if it do not see whole RAM. But I don't need much RAM for old games. I use Windows 10 for RAM-intensive applications.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

OK...

Let me see if I can explain this better for you.

You need to force install the Intel(R) 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller driver on the Intel Series 7/C216 Chipset Family 4 Port Serial ATA storage controller.

So you click on the Intel Series 7/C216 Chipset Family 4 Port Serial ATA storage controller.   Click on the driver tab.

Click on Update driver.  Select the search from a specific location. Browse to the sata ahci driver folder, click on Have Disk and select the Intel(R) 7 Series/C216 Chipset Family SATA AHCI Controller from the list.

Then windows should tell you that you are installing the wrong driver, or words to that effect.

Ignore the warning, install the driver, reboot the PC.

Go into the BIOS, change the storage controller setting to AHCI, save the changes, restart the PC and then the sata AHCI driver installation should complete.   Again, it will load some more files and ask you to restart one more time.