Intel DG965RY and Samsung Spinpoint F1

[dbrook007]

I have an Intel DG965RY motherboard & chipset and would like to know if this fully supports SATA-II?

I recently purchased a Samsung Spinpoint F1 HD103JU as my primary drive.

However, I can only seem to get the interface/drive to work at 1.5Gb/s, not the SATA-II standard of 3.0Gb/s.

So, I was wondering if I needed to do anything to get this to work.

I read on the Intel site that the chipset is supposed to support speeds of upto 3.0Gb/s, but there was no mention in the motherboard specs and docs of SATA-II.

Also, would it make any difference if the setting in the Bios was IDE or AHCI for the drive?

What I need to know is, should the drive work with the motherboard I have on SATA-II at 3.0Gb/s.

If not, is that because the motherboard will not support SATA-II, or because the drive I have simply won't work with my motherboard?

Any help appreciated.

Thanks,
Darren

[DMB2000uk]

SATA I at 1.5Gbps is actually 187.5MBps, and even your hard drive doesn't max out that bandwidth, so you'll be fine even if you can't enable that.

Dan

[dbrook007]

That's good to know that thanks. Been a few years since I did anything with any hardware!

I would like to find out if possible, though, if this is will be an issue with any SATA-II hard drive, or just the Samsung one I have bought. If I would face the same problem with any drive, I will just keep the Samsung. However, as I have just bought the Samsung, if an alternative, similarly priced SATA-II drive would work at 3.0GB/s, I might as well return the Samsung and get that...

I don't really know what the difference in real terms would be between having the drive working SATA-II or just SATA??

I also didn't know whether I should have the setting in the BIOS as native IDE or AHCI?

And to top this off, I've just seen a "Sata-II Cable" on a website... so would that make a difference?

It is turning into a nightmare!!

Thanks,
Darren

[DMB2000uk]

I don't think there is anything physically different between SATA I and SATA II, just the controllers and speeds behind it allowing for faster theoretical transfers.

So, there's nothing that you need to upgrade hardware wise.

I'd stick with the Spinpoint even if you can't get 3Gbps working, as those are very nice drives in both capacity and read/write speed, and as I said before, you aren't losing out on any performance by not being able to run it at the full 3.0Gbps.

Dan

[dbrook007]

Do I need AHCI enabled in the BIOS to get 3GB/s, or should it work with IDE?

THanks - Darren

[DMB2000uk]

Try it.

Dan

[dbrook007]

Hi,

I have tried it but it caused a problem with Windows Vista. This wasn't the bsod - I made the required change to the registry before rebooting and changing the BIOS setting.

My understanding (and it may be wrong), is that the IDE "mode" is not actually SATA mode but a sort of compatibility mode. AHCI is, from what I've read, SATA mode.

I also read that it should work UDMA8, whereas mine is not.

I've actually test another smaller SATA2 drive and I can't get that to work at 3Gb/s.

Am I doing something wrong or missing a step? Is there something I need to change or do or install for the chipset etc?? How can I tell if the AHCI controller is working!??

I am struggling to get any further now...

Any advice is welcome!

Thanks - Darren

[vbironchef]

Once your OS is installed you can't change the setting in the bios. Intel recommends that you make changes before you load your OS. They also recommend that you set it to RAID just in case you want to upgrade later. It will still work with one SATA drive.

[dbrook007]

Is that the case still with Vista?

The only options in the BIOS are IDE or AHCI. I don't know if it means anything that those are the only two. ?

Thanks - Darren

[vbironchef]

Don't know about Vista. If it blue screens an/or reboots then it's the same as XP. If no option for RAID then for SATA it should be set for AHCI. I made the same mistake and I am to lazy to reinstall windows again.

[dbrook007]

I got the AHCI driver installed but this was post-vista-installation. However, I'm not convinced it's working correctly. The drive is slower and the Intel Desktop Utilities software reports odd results for the hard disk.

This is a real headache. I'm starting to think that re-installing under the IDE compatibility BIOS option would be easier... it worked and the drive was faster.

How would anyone else normally test if the interface was working at 3.0Gb/s ?

How would I install the AHCI Controller driver before installing Vista?

ANy help welcome!!!

Thanks - Darren

[martini161]

i know my old samsung spinpoint had a jumper you had to change to use 1.5gps mode...

[vbironchef]

I have a intel badaxe2 motherboard and I had to use a floppy drive to install drivers for RAID. As far as doing it without windows, you should see a splash screen and hit f2 to change any settings. You have to be quick or you will miss it. Good Luck

[dbrook007]

Hi,

here's where i'm stuck:

I have an Intel DG965RY motherboard & chipset and am having major problems trying to install Vista (32 bit) with AHCI for my SATA-II drive.

I can install Vista and the drive fine using the BIOS SATA IDE Setting (though the UDMA does not seem to be what I expected) but whenever I change the BIOS setting to AHCI, I get problems upon installing.

I am using Vista 32-bit, and it's my understanding that I do not use the F6 method for installation, but merely Select the "Load Driver" button during the Vista installation.

I downloaded the files as per the Intel site and have put them onto a floppy.

However, when I click on "Load Driver", the only way I can see any items is to unselect the "only show compatible drivers for your hardware" checkbox.

So my first question is why are there no "compatible" items shown in the first place?

According to the Intel site, the DG965RY chipset supports transfer rates of up to 3Gb/s and AHCI. In addition, the AHCI option appears in the BIOS (though there is no RAID option).

So, based on this information, I would have expected to be able to take advantage of AHCI.

So this is as far as I have been able to get.

Do I need to do something else? Have I missed something? Between the mobo, the BIOS, Vista, Drivers and the AHCI Controller, I'm lost and have no idea what to do or try next.

I am out of ideas!

Any help appreciated.

Thanks,
Darren