[HOWTO] Boot Macs with Intel Chipset in AHCI Win7 Vista XP Linux

[Slapy]

99.9% sure that it will not change the mode to AHCI for the 2009 MacPro.

This is because the system is set to legacy mode before booting when you are not using the modified booting procedure.

The update issued by Apple is only applied inside Windows. Sorry.

 

 

 

Hey L,

 

I've spent the past two days reading and considering the threads on this matter.

 

 

This is my rig....

 

 

Model Name: Mac Pro

Model Identifier: MacPro1,1

Processor Name: Dual-Core Intel Xeon

Processor Speed: 3 GHz

Number Of Processors: 2

Total Number Of Cores: 4

L2 Cache (per processor): 4 MB

Memory: 6 GB

Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz

 

 

 

This is my SATA junk --- a single LG BD-RE BH08

 

Intel ESB2 AHCI:

 

Vendor: Intel

Product: ESB2 AHCI

Speed: 3 Gigabit

Description: AHCI Version 1.10 Supported

 

HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH08LS20:

 

Model: HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH08LS20

Revision: 1.00

Serial Number: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Native Command Queuing: No

Detachable Drive: No

Power Off: No

Async Notification: No

 

 

Apple lied about supporting my machine being able to support 64-bit. I phoned Apple 'care' a week ago and they confirmed their betrayal. I think I'll sue them... but that's another matter. Lawsuits are, after all, the Apple Way.

 

 

So, my machine only allowed an install of Vista Ult 32 bit 'thanks' to Apple's weird EFI restriction.

 

 

 

From what I've read, there is no sure-thing install for the two extra SATA ports other than just losing one of the four HD SATA ports with a 10 dollar cable. I just want to play BD movies. All the solutions presented by members are hopelessly complicated, confusing, contradictory and daunting.

 

 

I can't deal with any of it.

 

 

I hope you can help me. I hope the solution could be very simple and Mac-like.

 

 

 

I hope to see a very elegant, simple solution to this issue once and for all.

 

 

thanks

[ludacrisvp]

Please read the beginning of my first post on the topic the part in the beginning is what you need to do.

Just follow the intructions using Johnsock's script.

You have the first generation Mac Pro according to the information you posted... this means that the

modified MBR script code will work perfectly for you.

 

Basically you will pop open the side of the case and remove a hidden screw that will allow you to remove the fans from the front to make it

easier to access the 2 SATA ports that are under the fans. You don't have to remove this if you don't want to, I didn't remove it myself but others have.

You will want a long SATA cable to make it easier for you to do, and a short IDE to SATA power adapter cable (most likely included with the drive)

Move the original IDE drive to the lower bay to make installing windows again in the future easier on you.

Install the SATA BD drive in the top bay.

Plug in the SATA cable

Plug in the Power cable

Close the case.

 

Power up

 

Boot to Windows

 

Change Registry settings

 

Vista 32/64 Windows 7 32/64

- Run Regedit

- Navigate to "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\msahci"

- edit the "Start" key and change the value from what it is to "0"

- this will tell Vista to check for AHCI on next boot and install the AHCI driver if it is in AHCI mode

- after running script and if it detects that you are in AHCI mode then this installs the generic AHCI Microsoft driver and it is really a poor driver for your hardware and you will need the Intel ones to get full performance.

 

Reboot to OSX

 

Open TERMINAL

Run script using the SUDO command

ludacrisvps-mac-pro:~ ludacrisvp$ sudo -s
Password:
bash-3.2# /Users/ludacrisvp/Downloads/ahci.sh
AHCI Master Boot Record Patch 1.0
Type /Users/ludacrisvp/Downloads/ahci.sh -h for command line options.

Scanning drives...
Windows partition found on /dev/disk4
Do you want to use this drive? (Y/N)n
Enter drive to use: /dev/disk1
Backing up MBR from /dev/disk1 to ./backup.mbr
MBR backup complete.

Detected Windows Vista Master Boot Record.

Are you ABSOLUTELY sure you want to write the modified MBR to /dev/disk1? (Y/N)y

Modified MBR written to /dev/disk1

 

If it fails to autodetect you can follow this below to manually choose your drive.

Open "Disk Utility"

Find the drive that has the OS you have installed the AHCI device drivers too.

Right click or Command click on the part of the drive that says how large it is and choose "Information"

This will tell you what drive to use when running the script.

Disk order can and does change randomly with each boot.

 

You will see DISK0 or 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 or 6 depending on how many drives you have.

 

Reboot to Windows

 

Drivers will auto install for new hardware detected (it found your AHCI SATA controller and the 2 extra SATA ports)

 

Download and install the updated Intel Matrix Storage Manager drivers (this will give the proper performance for full SATA 3.0Gbps)

 

Reboot to Windows again, and you should be good to go.

[nh3ave]

Hello everybody,

 

i have completed the modification on my Mac Pro 1,1 as described in this thread.

AHCI under Windows 7 works now. Thanks for this!

But now i encounter the problem that i cannot choose the start volume anymore. Neither in OSX (doesnt find any other patition besides the OSX partition) setting nor with the Boot Camp tool (error when starting it) under Windows.

 

Did anyone have this issue yet? How could i set my second HDD as the start volume so that Windows is started automatically again?

 

edit: Problem bypassed by using rEFIt. -> Solved!

[Paisaverde]

Hi,

 

Thanks to Pipomolo42 (macrumors), Ludacrisvp, Johnsock, and everybody who has contributed.

 

I have a MacPro 1,1. Running: Snow Leopard, Vista 32, and Windows 7

 

I was able to follow the ludacrisvp procedure (outlined on March 27, 2010) and succeeded booting Vista in AHCI (have not done Windows 7 yet).

 

But:

 

Have not been able to install the updated Intel Matrix Storage Manager drivers (now called Rapid Storage Technology). I have tried versions 8.8, 8.9, 9.6 (latest), and receive the following message:

 

"This computer does not meet the minimum requirements for installing the software"

 

Device Manager shows (view Devices by Type):

 

ATA Channel 0

ATA Channel 0

ATA Channel 1

ATA Channel 1

ATA Channel 2

ATA Channel 3

ATA Channel 4

ATA Channel 5

Intel® 631xESB/6321ESB Ultra ATA Storage Controller - 269E

Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller

 

=============================================

 

Device Manager shows (view Devices by Connection):

 

Intel® 631xESB/6321ESB Ultra ATA Storage Controller - 269E

ATA Channel 0

SONY DVD RW DW-D150A ATA Device

ATA Channel 1

 

Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller

ATA Channel 0

Western Digital 250GB ... ATA Device

ATA Channel 1

Maxtor 500GB ... ATA Device

ATA Channel 2

Maxtor 500GB ... ATA Device

ATA Channel 3

ATA Channel 4

ATA Channel 5

Hitachi 2TB ... ATA Device

 

=============================================

 

Any suggestions on why I cannot install the Intel drivers? Will it make a noticeable difference?

 

I copied a 4.2GB file from one of the internal Maxtor disks to the external Hitachi 2TB disk. Vista reported max transfer of 60.2 MB/sec, and it took about 80 seconds.

 

Also, it takes about 2-3 minutes to go FROM chooosing windows logo in rEfit, TO Windows Boot Menu (1. Vista 2. Windows 7)! It used to take about 10 seconds.

 

Any help is appreciated.

[cayblood]

I would love to hear if anyone has had success cloning a multiple-boot setup after creating it. What software do you recommend for it? Is there a way to make a single image of the entire drive or is it necessary to make one of each partition? Any advice you guys have would be much appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Carl Youngblood

[StormEffect]

Hi! This guide helped me enable AHCI on my Macbook Pro 2007 model.

 

After setting the appropriate registry key, I ran the script in OSX.

 

I rebooted and Windows successfully detected and installed the Generic Microsoft AHCI driver.

 

I rebooted after that installation.

 

At this point I went to Intel's Website to download the Intel Storage Matrix Manager (I think it's at version 89, version 85 is linked in post 1). I downloaded the Windows 7 English version and it installed successfully. It then prompts me to reboot.

 

On reboot, Windows loads for several seconds and then immediately bluescreens. I think the error is an 0x7B error.

 

After this, I have to run a system restore to the point before I installed the Intel driver to get windows to boot again.

 

I tried going BACK into OSX and redoing the script, but it states that "It appears as though the MBR has already been modified".

 

Any ideas? I'm already pretty happy that I finally get AHCI, but it'd be great to install the Intel driver because you guys say it performs better.

[joevt]

The steps for Windows XP driver installation could use a little more explanation. There's a lot of buttons to click to perform the steps:

- Update the driver for 2680 with one labeled 2681 (ESB2 SATA AHCI Controller)

- You will need to uncheck the box that limits you to only known supported drivers for your hardware

It's not clear what buttons to push (we're talking about Windows here) and the link for the Intel Matrix Storage Manager is out of date. I think we need an unmodified Windows XP to write down the exact steps.

 

Anyway, the reason you get a blue screen when you restart windows without having johnsock's AHCI MBR patch properly applied is because the device is still running as _2680 (IDE) but the_2681 (AHCI) driver is assigned to it. It's also possible that some utilities like bootsect.exe or bootrec.exe or EasyBCD may overwrite the MBR fix causing you to boot in _2680 mode again.

 

So what you need to do after booting with _2681 is restore the driver for _2680 back to the _2680 driver. Do the following:

1) Create a .bat file on your deskop with the following commands:

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
start devmgmt.msc

2) Double click the .bat file to run it. The Device Manager will appear. The "Show hidden devices" menu option can now be used to show all hidden devices and not just network controllers.

3) Find the disconnected _2680 device under "IDE ATA/ATAPI controller". It might have the name given by the _2681 driver "Intel ® ESB2 SATA AHCI Controller" so double check the Device Instance Id in the properties.

4) Update the driver. It should find the _2680 driver and assign it to the _2680 device and the device will now be named "Intel® 631xESB/6321ESB Chipset Serial ATA Storage Controller - 2680".

5) The currently connected _2681 device and driver should remain intact.

 

Now you can boot with the AHCI MBR or a normal MBR as long as your drive is not connected to the 2 extra SATA ports.

 

What we need is a method of installing the drivers without having to mess with the current device driver.

http://www.insanelymac.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=38998 talks about a utility called DPInst.exe. The latest version (supports all Windows up to Windows 7) is available in the WDK a 650MB download... Just install the Tools part.

 

Steps:

1) Download the Intel Matrix Storage Manager, run the setup in a cmd window with the -a option to extract the drivers. The driver files iaAHCI.cat, iaAHCI.inf, iaStor.cat, iaStor.inf, and IaStor.sys will end up in a folder in \Program Files\Intel

2) Copy DPInst.exe to that folder.

3) Run DPInst.exe. It will install the 2 driver inf files, iaAHCI for device _2681 and iaStor for device _2682 (RAID).

4) Boot into Mac OS X and apply johnsock's AHCI MBR patch.

5) Boot back into Windows. You should be running with AHCI mode. I haven't tested this step myself because I've already modified my Windows XP partitions and Vista partitions with the older steps.

 

These steps should work with XP or Vista or Windows 7 (not verified). Just make sure to use the correct version of the drivers and DPInst.exe.

 

I wrote a script (attached - just change the extension to .sh) to keep track of MBR's, VBR's, active partitions, Windows partitions etc. on all my disks and partitions because getting stuff to boot in Windows is a pain. The MBR type needs to match the VBR type which needs to match the boot loader. rEFIt is nice that it sets the active flag of the selected partition. The problem though is that it doesn't clear the active flag on the other disks so that the Mac's legacy boot loader may still use an MBR on a different disk than the one you selected so I have to use the reinit command in fdisk to clear the active flags of disks I don't want to boot. EasyBCD is a nice utility but it will reinit all MBR's on all disks (even Apple Partition Map disks!) and it may write on HFS+ partitions if they're in the MBR so I just use it for editing BCD stores for the Vista/Windows 7 boot loader and use bootsect.exe for other tasks.

 

I've added some hashes for some custom MBR's. Basically, I have a different MBR for each disk with a different "Missing operating system" message for each to identify which disk the legacy boot loader is starting from if it fails. If you have a hash not in the list, then add it yourself to more easily detect if something overwrites the MBR or VBRs of your disks.

dumpvols.txt

[jev1313]

I just got a brand new mid 2010 macbook pro. i tried these instructions and they did not enable AHCI in windows. I do not know alot about what the mods of the MBR do on a very technical level but it would seem they only work on one type of controller, the intel 2681. Is there any way that support could be added for the new intel controllers in the new macbook pros?

[danroliver]

I just wanted to give thanks to johnsock, ludacrisvp, and pipomolo42 for putting this all together. You guys are awesome! Without a doubt, you are lifesavers. I just had to create an account to express my gratitude. Keep up the good work.

[ludacrisvp]

I just got a brand new mid 2010 macbook pro. i tried these instructions and they did not enable AHCI in windows. I do not know alot about what the mods of the MBR do on a very technical level but it would seem they only work on one type of controller, the intel 2681. Is there any way that support could be added for the new intel controllers in the new macbook pros?

Well after looking into the data sheets for both the controllers (the ESB2 controller from MacPro 3,1 and the latest intel 5 series/3400 series chipset family 4 port serial ata storage controller that comes with the mid 2010 MacBook Pro) to compare how each controllers are written to the PCI configuration space there is one difference that concerns me but I have tried to verify that it will work without an issue... the MP3,1 uses a 8-bit register for the AHCI selection mode and the MBP uses a 16-bit register.

 

I have modified johns script to write the new data to the register.

I HAVE NO MBP OF MY OWN TO TEST THIS ON FIRST SO I WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE IF IT CAUSES ANY ISSUES.

Both machines write to the same PCI configuration space according to the datasheets

Basically a code written to offset 0x90h with a value of:

0x80 will enable RAID on MP3,1 but it doesnt work properly

0x40 will enable AHCI on MP3,1 and it functions normally

 

0x60 Should enable AHCI on MBP mid 2010 - This is what this new script is set for ----It will not work on a Mac Pro----

0xA0 Should enable RAID on MBP mid 2010 - most likely would not work properly nor be needed on a laptop

 

One more reminder this is not for the MAC PRO it should only work on the MAC BOOK PRO

 

This link should be the proper drivers for this chipset according to intel for the i5 3400 series chipset

 

Intel Rapid Storage v 9.6 This is the latest version of the AHCI drivers and storage manager console that replaced the Intel Matrix Storage Manager - Installing this in Win7 or Vista will confirm without a doubt that you are using AHCI, it will refuse to install on an IDE system.

 

Intel i5 - 3400 series drivers This is most likely a Generic Version of the Apple "Boot Camp Drivers" I would suggest testing these before using them on your main install

 

EDIT: SCRIPT REMOVED PLEASE SEE UPDATED POST #137 FOR FINAL RELEASE (WORKING VERSION) OF SCRIPT

[summerayu]

Well after looking into the data sheets for both the controllers (the ESB2 controller from MacPro 3,1 and the latest intel 5 series/3400 series chipset family 4 port serial ata storage controller that comes with the mid 2010 MacBook Pro) to compare how each controllers are written to the PCI configuration space there is one difference that concerns me but I have tried to verify that it will work without an issue... the MP3,1 uses a 8-bit register for the AHCI selection mode and the MBP uses a 16-bit register.

 

I have modified johns script to write the new data to the register.

I HAVE NO MBP OF MY OWN TO TEST THIS ON FIRST SO I WILL NOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE IF IT CAUSES ANY ISSUES.

Both machines write to the same PCI configuration space according to the datasheets

Basically a code written to offset 0x90h with a value of:

0x80 will enable RAID on MP3,1 but it doesnt work properly

0x40 will enable AHCI on MP3,1 and it functions normally

 

0x60 Should enable AHCI on MBP mid 2010 - This is what this new script is set for ----It will not work on a Mac Pro----

0xA0 Should enable RAID on MBP mid 2010 - most likely would not work properly nor be needed on a laptop

 

One more reminder this is not for the MAC PRO it should only work on the MAC BOOK PRO

 

This link should be the proper drivers for this chipset according to intel for the i5 3400 series chipset

 

Intel Rapid Storage v 9.6 This is the latest version of the AHCI drivers and storage manager console that replaced the Intel Matrix Storage Manager - Installing this in Win7 or Vista will confirm without a doubt that you are using AHCI, it will refuse to install on an IDE system.

 

Intel i5 - 3400 series drivers This is most likely a Generic Version of the Apple "Boot Camp Drivers" I would suggest testing these before using them on your main install

 

I tried this script on my new 2010 macbook pro 13 inch with nvidia mcp89 chipset and it doesn't work. I didn't see any change when i applied this patch in MACOS and rebooted into windows. I don't know if there is any way to make AHCI work on my new macbook pro

[ludacrisvp]

An update to the following post:

0x60 Should enable AHCI on MBP mid 2010 - This is what this new script is set for

 

This link should be the proper drivers for this chipset according to intel for the i5 3400 series chipset

 

Intel Rapid Storage v 9.6 This is the latest version of the AHCI drivers and storage manager console that replaced the Intel Matrix Storage Manager - Installing this in Win7 or Vista will confirm without a doubt that you are using AHCI, it will refuse to install on an IDE system.

 

Intel i5 - 3400 series drivers This is most likely a Generic Version of the Apple "Boot Camp Drivers" I would suggest testing these before using them on your main install

Successfully implemented on a Mac Book Pro 6,2 (mid 2010) using the Intel i5 chipset and also confirmed to work on the i7 version as well.

 

Testing provided by Jay V. Thanks for being willing to risk your brand new machine!

 

Will not work on 13 inch Mac Book Pro (mid 2010) with Nvidia chipset Intel Core 2 Duo.

Will not work on Mac Mini (mid 2010) with Nvidia Chipset Intel Core 2 Duo - the latest generation as of this post.

 

I have overhauled the script to provide you with basic instructions on how to get it done quick and easy using Windows 7 and Windows Vista

ahci_MBP_i5.sh.zip

I tried this script on my new 2010 macbook pro 13 inch with nvidia mcp89 chipset and it doesn't work. I didn't see any change when i applied this patch in MACOS and rebooted into windows. I don't know if there is any way to make AHCI work on my new macbook pro

Sorry this will only work on Macs that use an Intel chipset for the northbridge/southbrige.

So any Mac using Nvidia chipsets such as the 13 inch MBP and new Mac Mini will not be able to use this because they are using Nvidia MCP89/MCP99.

The reason for this would be that Nvidia has not released any datasheets for their chipsets to the public, unlike Intel that has full disclosure of all commercially available chipsets.

[runebinder]

An update to the following post:

 

Successfully implemented on a Mac Book Pro 6,2 (mid 2010) using the Intel i5 chipset

 

Testing provided by Jay V. Thanks for being willing to risk your brand new machine!

 

Will not work on 13 inch Mac Book Pro (mid 2010) with Nvidia chipset Intel Core 2 Duo.

Will not work on Mac Mini (mid 2010) with Nvidia Chipset Intel Core 2 Duo - the latest generation as of this post.

 

I have overhauled the script to provide you with basic instructions on how to get it done quick and easy using Windows 7 and Windows Vista

ahci_MBP_i5.sh.zip

 

Sorry this will only work on Macs that use an Intel chipset for the northbridge/southbrige.

So any Mac using Nvidia chipsets such as the 13 inch MBP and new Mac Mini will not be able to use this because they are using Nvidia MCP89/MCP99.

The reason for this would be that Nvidia has not released any datasheets for their chipsets to the public, unlike Intel that has full disclosure of all commercially available chipsets.

 

Hi there, was trying to follow the old instructions with the original script, as it didn't work stumbled across this thread. I have an i7 MBP, I take it the Intel chipset for it is the same as the i5?

 

Edit: Tried it anyway and happy to say it works. Thank you ludacrisvp.

[ludacrisvp]

Hi there, was trying to follow the old instructions with the original script, as it didn't work stumbled across this thread. I have an i7 MBP, I take it the Intel chipset for it is the same as the i5?

 

Edit: Tried it anyway and happy to say it works. Thank you ludacrisvp.

 

That's good. I was hoping / assuming that it would work since it wouldnt be cost effective to have the i7 as an option if it didnt also work on the i5 board.

[qreed]

Hi there, was trying to follow the old instructions with the original script, as it didn't work stumbled across this thread. I have an i7 MBP, I take it the Intel chipset for it is the same as the i5?

 

Edit: Tried it anyway and happy to say it works. Thank you ludacrisvp.

 

Same for me (i7 MBP); the script of the first post didn't work for me. Had to restore the backup mbr and did it again with the i5 script. Works!

 

Thanks!!

 

Any ideas why Apple doesn't support this out of the box?

Also is there a way to enable the Intel IGP this way? (Sorry if this sounds noobish, but I'm completely lost why AHCI has to be enabled in the mbr instead of the bios in the first place)

[ludacrisvp]

Any ideas why Apple doesn't support this out of the box?

Also is there a way to enable the Intel IGP this way? (Sorry if this sounds noobish, but I'm completely lost why AHCI has to be enabled in the mbr instead of the bios in the first place)

Ideas? Yes, there are a couple reasons.

1. Apple wants you to use OSX not Windows.

2. Apple is using EFI that emulates a BIOS that cannot be modified by the end user (us).

3. To guarantee support for older windows os like xp they had to use legacy mode for the controller, because xp did not have native ahci support and there is no floppy drive anymore for the F6 boot option to allow you to add a driver.

4. In the end it's simpler for apple, falls in to the "it just works" category, it does however sacrifice performance and battery life using the legacy modes in windows but OSX works great.

 

So we enable it in the MBR by sending a command to the SATA controller to enable ahci.

This command comes after the efi emulated bios said to disable it, but also before windows has started.

 

As far as enabling the intel igp goes...

I would venture to say that it's not feasible.

The emulated bios may not support 2 graphics cards.

There is no way to know how to disable the nvidia card since they keep all technical data sheets private.

And there is no more room in the mbr.

Johnsock had to re-write the beginning of the mbr to make room for the one command, and as far as I could tell there isn't any more room in the small mbr for another command.

Last but not least I wouldn't want to ruin someones laptop by guessing on enabling the igp.

[qreed]

Thanks, that clarifies a lot for me.

 

Does this mean that booting Windows 7 (x64) natively via EFI give access to AHCI and both display adapters?

[ludacrisvp]

Thanks, that clarifies a lot for me.

 

Does this mean that booting Windows 7 (x64) natively via EFI give access to AHCI and both display adapters?

 

If you could natively boot windows in EFI then I would assume that it would give AHCI and both display adapters.

 

However Apple uses an older version of EFI that is not compatible with the UEFI bootloader for windows 7 so basically Apple uses EFI 1.x and windows needs UEFI 2.x in order to boot from EFI.

 

We are unable to boot via efi because of the old efi firmware used by Apple Macs.

[Zr40]

I've got a 15" MacBook Pro, mid 2009 (MacBookPro5,3) with the Nvidia MCP79. Just wanted to report success using the following method:

 

1. In Device Manager, find the Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller.

2. Choose 'Update Driver Software', 'browse ...', 'let me pick ...'.

3. Uncheck 'Show compatible hardware'.

4. Choose 'Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller' in the manufacturer list, and the same for model (should be the only model)

 

Finally, in the registry, check that in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\msahci Start is set to 0.

 

Note: only do this with a MCP79! Normally, forcing a driver on hardware it doesn't expect is dangerous. However, in this case, it appears to be safe. I've found that Linux can use AHCI on MCP79 in legacy IDE mode, and this is why: http://fixunix.com/kernel/258426-patch-ahc...ler-ahci-c.html

[Gregorydf]

Hi

 

Thanks for all theses instructions. I finally tried the procedure today (I was wainting since a year to do it), and ... it failed.

 

So, i'm now stuck with windows that doesn't want to start "error reading disk, press ctrl alt del" or a thing like this.

I tried with Parallel desktop and it loads until a BSOD, so no luck

 

Then, I tried to restore the backup mbr but, here's the thing, I don't know how to do it.

I tried

sudo fdisk -y -u -f ./path/to/backup.mbr /dev/rdisk1

but the thing is I have no idea was the path to backup is, nor where I can find them...

 

I saw that I may have to change the last 6 bytes of the mbr, but I don't know where I can do that.

 

Can you help me?

 

Thanks

 

Edit : My Mac Pro is a 2,1 from 2007

 

All I did was boot from OSX, (The registry key was already on 0), launch the script, at first I launched it on disk 4 as it was the one automatically detected, but then disk1 as it was the one with windows 7.

But anyway, no luck to restart it then, even if I took the other disk (with no OS installed on it) from the mac pro.

 

Edit 2 : I think I found the 2 files. AHCI.MBRahci.mbr.zip and backup.mbr backup.mbr.zip

 

Now what can I do to make it work?

 

Edit 3 : Ok, so now it's worse... I understand that to restore, I just had to use the path ./backup.mbr

So; it worked, but... with the wrong backup.mbr... As I did this on 2 disks, it happened that the last one was the one I use for backup.

So, I use the windows repair tool on the setup disk, and I was able to go to windows. But, when I logged on, it takes like 5 minutes and it told me that my copy of windows is not genuine and that I'm on a temporary session.

I open explorer.exe and saw that my old system disk (E) was now Z (my backup disk), and vice versa...

 

So now, I cannot log into windows because it is looking on the wrong disk because of the drive letter change.

 

I'll try some things, I'll told you if there is improvement. (But by the way, I was not able to see my Bluray Drive when I restarted, so the AHCI change didn't work

[Gregorydf]

Hi again,

 

finally it's ok now. I couldn't get my old windows installation to work again so I backup my files, formated and reinstalled it all. I then reapply the patch, this time paying much more attention to the fact that it overwrite mbr files without warning and... it all went good

 

So thanks, I just played a bluray, it's really great to finally have it working without having to have this usb to sata converter inside my Mac Pro.

 

Thanks

[djdeluxe76]

So I will have to run johnsock's script for every partition that I use under Windows?

 

I have a rev. 3,1 MacPro (2008) with Vista x64 - has this combination been tested with the script?

 

Oh and thanks to all involved for all the hard work. I always wondered why the drive where I keep my games on would work and make noise like crazy when playing a game under Windows but run butter smooth when copying large files under Mac OS X.

[johnsock]

Hello all,

 

I apologize for being gone from the forums for so long. I'm back in the country now and have a reliable connection so I should be able to keep up with everything here again.

 

I've spent the last week working on a new program for enabling AHCI mode on our computers and I will have it available in the next couple of weeks. It is a native OS X application, not a shell script, and makes the backup/restore process much easier as well as auto-detects the chipset so the correct AHCI code can be placed in the MBR.

 

There is still some testing I have to do before this is ready for prime-time, but it will be posted here first, as soon as it's ready for a larger audience. If you need a solution in the mean time, Ludacrisvp has made a modified script that works on the latest MacBook Pro models. The new program is designed to work with all compatible models, but unfortunately there is still no solution for the nVidia chipsets. I've tried to address many of the problems you guys have had with the shell scripts, and it's going pretty well so far. One thing that still needs work is support for multiple Windows partitions on different physical disks. This is a configuration that many of you seem to have, but I haven't been able to do any testing on that setup due to my personal hardware limitations. I assure you that addressing the multiple Windows install issue will be on the top of my list once I am certain that my new program is stable and working for the simpler configurations.

 

I'll post updates here as I have them. Thank you all for keeping up with everything in my absence.

[qreed]

So I will have to run johnsock's script for every partition that I use under Windows?

 

Only on the disk that contains the MBR to boot Windows.

 

I have a rev. 3,1 MacPro (2008) with Vista x64 - has this combination been tested with the script?

 

No idea ... but if you've made a backup you're always safe (the script makes a backup of the MBR which you can restore)

[ludacrisvp]

So I will have to run johnsock's script for every partition that I use under Windows?

 

I have a rev. 3,1 MacPro (2008) with Vista x64 - has this combination been tested with the script?

Yes, it should work without problems. That was the original setup I was using when we were testing the script.

MBR mod needed for each partition that is a boot partition for Windows.