TCQ didn't need any controller support, it was just data packets sent over the bus. It wasn't widely supported either, only IBM deskstar drives use it, AFAIR. And only parallel ATA as well.
AMD SB600 AHCI exploration
- Thread starter swaaye
- Start date
TCQ is also on some SATA drives, and it seems to be controller and drive dependent. Some of the old ice-in-a-blender 36/74gb Raptors have TCQ support. Davros says he has another WD with it too but he might just be crazy. 
http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers...-and/or-tcq-on-wd-sata-3gb/s-(sata-ii)-drives
http://www.wdc.com/en/library/sata/2579-001076.pdf
http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers...-and/or-tcq-on-wd-sata-3gb/s-(sata-ii)-drives
http://www.wdc.com/en/library/sata/2579-001076.pdf
That's interesting! Do you know if certain Intel drivers do the same? I've got a notebook with an ACHI capable Intel southbridge, but the BIOS has it set to disabled.
I don't know. You can try manually installing the Intel RAID driver on the IDE controller and see what happens. But it might make Windows unbootable...
You might also want to try booting a random Linux distribution and see what its storage driver does with the controller. Look in dmesg for a mention of "NCQ (depth 31/32)" near the detected drive info.
I think the fix is adding something to the registry
edit :
http://bourlas.alloenablog.com/2011...-mode-for-windows-7-and-vista-without-format/
edit :
http://bourlas.alloenablog.com/2011...-mode-for-windows-7-and-vista-without-format/
ok I could have been clearer: there's no bios option to enable it, because my thinkpad comes with a SATA-PATA bridge which probably needs the southbridge to enable in non-AHCI mode.
However, you can manually desolder/cut the bridge chip, and use SATA directly. There's where the AHCI comes in as it greatly reduces power consumption on many SDD. I can't test this, as I haven't removed the PATA bridge chip on my thinkipad (yet?).
Digging threads: some questions
swaaye, qould you ansswer me these questions th..five, please?
1. Did you have to slipstream the drivers, or did it work when you forced them on after windows installation?
2. AMD lists two driver sets here: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownlo...pe=2.7&product=2.7.3.3.1&lang=us&rev=&ostype=
Should I try with the first set (containing an amdsata.sys and related files) or the second (containing ahcix86.sys and friends)? Both show up in a W7 folder, which is what I need (W7x86). Your screenshot shows RAID management software, so I figured the second, maybe?
3. Is PCI/VEN=1002&DEV=4380&CC=1010 and PCI/VEN=1002&DEV=438C&CC=1010
familiar to you? Those are the devices the computer in question has installed, and from some obscure sources I found a driver that actually started, but the folder it was stored in in the driver package said something like MINI-IDE. It installed the devices as AMD IDE controller and AMD SATA controller (IDE Mode) respectively.
4.Can I assume that the first one should not start anyway with any of the drivers and I should do my testing always on the second controller (which has the system drive, sadly)?
5. Or should I just assume Dell has done some nifty thing to hard disable the option?
For background: W7x86, Dell D531, and want to get AHCI working to preserve the already meager life of the TLC SSD I just bought for my SO-s computer (nevermind the fact that getting below 7000 read IOPS from an SSD itches in ways I wouldn't have imagined).
swaaye, qould you ansswer me these questions th..five, please?
1. Did you have to slipstream the drivers, or did it work when you forced them on after windows installation?
2. AMD lists two driver sets here: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownlo...pe=2.7&product=2.7.3.3.1&lang=us&rev=&ostype=
Should I try with the first set (containing an amdsata.sys and related files) or the second (containing ahcix86.sys and friends)? Both show up in a W7 folder, which is what I need (W7x86). Your screenshot shows RAID management software, so I figured the second, maybe?
3. Is PCI/VEN=1002&DEV=4380&CC=1010 and PCI/VEN=1002&DEV=438C&CC=1010
familiar to you? Those are the devices the computer in question has installed, and from some obscure sources I found a driver that actually started, but the folder it was stored in in the driver package said something like MINI-IDE. It installed the devices as AMD IDE controller and AMD SATA controller (IDE Mode) respectively.
4.Can I assume that the first one should not start anyway with any of the drivers and I should do my testing always on the second controller (which has the system drive, sadly)?
5. Or should I just assume Dell has done some nifty thing to hard disable the option?
For background: W7x86, Dell D531, and want to get AHCI working to preserve the already meager life of the TLC SSD I just bought for my SO-s computer (nevermind the fact that getting below 7000 read IOPS from an SSD itches in ways I wouldn't have imagined).
I force-installed the AMD SB600 AHCI/RAID driver manually in device manager. One controller is PATA and the other is SATA, and I don't think there's risk of installing the wrong driver. Unfortunately I've sold that notebook since and my memory is foggy on this now.
One thing I suggest is booting some Linux distro and seeing what it does with the SATA initialization. You should see NCQ enabled on the SATA drive in the dmesg/messages log. If there's no NCQ with Linux then maybe Dell has done something.
One thing I suggest is booting some Linux distro and seeing what it does with the SATA initialization. You should see NCQ enabled on the SATA drive in the dmesg/messages log. If there's no NCQ with Linux then maybe Dell has done something.
