The installation worked fine without any problems. Windows XP ran with IDE settings. When I used to copy files it copied at about 1.2 to 2 Mbits/sec. But recently I started facing problems like laptop freezing up , frequent hanging and found it to be running very slow despite having a core 2 duo processor and 2 GB of RAM. The problem was that the IDE settings didn’t allow windows to exploit the full potential of the SATA controller. After enabling the SATA controller drivers, my laptop is running in a pretty normal manner.
This is a step by step HOWTO fix the SATA controller drivers in Windows XP on a dell 1510 laptop. I guess same method should apply to other laptop also.
Before proceeding with any changes to the device drivers. Please make sure that you have created a restore point.
Creating a restore point:
Click start=>Accessories=>System Tools=> System restore
Select create restore point=>
A restore point is created now to check whether the correct version of SATA controllers are installed.
1. Go to device manager(Run command “devmgmt.msc”)
2. Under IDE ATA/ATAPI controller, check if Windows XP has detected the correct version of the SATA Hard Disk Controller. Note down the controller detected by windows XP . If you are not sure continue to the next Step.
3. Insert the Dell driver cd which came along with your laptop and extract the drivers to a folder which you can easily remember and locate or download hard disk drivers for your laptop from dell’s website. The extracted files should have a filename.cab and filename.inf files.
4. Double clicking the installer and doing next-next-next-ok-finish won’t work because your laptop is already working in ATA mode so windows xp is unable to find the SATA drivers.
5. Now reboot your laptop, go to the bios setup by pressing F2
6. In the Advanced setting change the hard disk setting from ATA to ATAPI. If the settings are already ATAPI and windows xp was running you already have working drivers installed on your laptop. The next steps would probably won’t help much. If the hard disk controller is set to ATA then you should proceed with the next steps.
7. This is a tricky issue if you are new to linux. But don’t worry it’s pretty simple. The only way I knew to detect the SATA controller was using linux. You will need Ubuntu live cd/dvd to detect the SATA controller. Insert Ubuntu 9.10 Jaunty Live cd or dvd. I guess older version of ubuntu or any other distro of linux should also work. I have mentioned ubuntu 9.10 because , ubuntu has great support for dell laptop hardware and 9.10 being the latest version was able to detect the SATA controller.
8. Change boot sequence, set cd rom as first boot device.
9. Boot from the ubuntu live cd.
10. Open a terminal and run
sudo lspci | grep –i sata
Or
sudo lspci | grep –i ide
11. The output should give you the name of the SATA controller as detected by ubuntu. Note down the controller.
12. Reboot
13. Go to Bios again by pressing F2 and change the hard disk controller from AHCI to ATA again so windows can boot normally or it will crash with a blue screen.
14. Now boot into windows XP
15. Go to device manager(Run command “devmgmt.msc”)
16. Be careful about the next step you can only revert back by restoring from the previous restore point.
17. Under IDE ATA/ATAPI controller , Right click on AHCI controller => update drivers => Select not at this time=>Next=> Install from a list or specific location=> Don’t search I will choose the driver to install => Have a Disk=> Browse to the location where you have extracted the drivers=>Now select the SATA controller as detected by Ubuntu=>Click Next
18. Now reboot and go to Bios and change the ATA setting to AHCI.
19. Save the bios settings and boot to windows XP , windows should now work with your sata drivers.
