Hello, I'd appreciate any answers to these questions about installing SATA drives on my Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3LR v1.0 (BIOS vF8 and ICH10R storage controller) motherboard, for running Win7-64 (I'm actually trying out Win7-64RC at the moment).Q1) I assume that Win7 automatically installs the ICH10R AHCI / RAID driver during windows setup, however when I try to install the latest 64bit driver (v8.9.0.1023) from the Gigabyte website the installer fails. Any ideas why?Q2a) What SATA mode BIOS setting is best for installing Win7 and for running FSX, PATA, AHCI, or RAID mode? I do not intend to setup a RAID array but from posts I've read it appears most flexible to install the OS in SATA RAID mode, however are there any SATA features available in AHCI or RAID mode that would actually benefit FSX... e.g. from posts I've read NCQ is not good for FSX.Q2b) If I install the OS in SATA RAID mode and then set the controller to PATA mode after install, would there be any kind of system resources impact because AHCI / RAID modes are available but not being used, e.g. memory allocated unnecessarily?Q3) My BIOS offers a "SATA Native Mode", when disabled the controller uses "dedicated IRQ's" - not sure what that means... would this Native Mode be good for Win7 and FSX? It is disabled by default.

Hello, I'd appreciate any answers to these questions about installing SATA drives on my Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3LR v1.0 (BIOS vF8 and ICH10R storage controller) motherboard, for running Win7-64 (I'm actually trying out Win7-64RC at the moment).Q1) I assume that Win7 automatically installs the ICH10R AHCI / RAID driver during windows setup, however when I try to install the latest 64bit driver (v8.9.0.1023) from the Gigabyte website the installer fails. Any ideas why?Q2a) What SATA mode BIOS setting is best for installing Win7 and for running FSX, PATA, AHCI, or RAID mode? I do not intend to setup a RAID array but from posts I've read it appears most flexible to install the OS in SATA RAID mode, however are there any SATA features available in AHCI or RAID mode that would actually benefit FSX... e.g. from posts I've read NCQ is not good for FSX.Q2b) If I install the OS in SATA RAID mode and then set the controller to PATA mode after install, would there be any kind of system resources impact because AHCI / RAID modes are available but not being used, e.g. memory allocated unnecessarily?Q3) My BIOS offers a "SATA Native Mode", when disabled the controller uses "dedicated IRQ's" - not sure what that means... would this Native Mode be good for Win7 and FSX? It is disabled by default.

I just went through the same agony a few months ago that you are going through now. I have the same motherboard except a UD3L(no raid) and was installing Windows 7 64 bit professional. The driver disc that came with the motherboard wouldn't work because it was pressed before windows 7 was released. I got so frustrated with the lack of instructions in the manual and on the website that I just set the bios to the "safe defaults", installed the OS, and then ran windows update. I know this isn't the way you are supposed to load an OS, but I didn't have any other options. To my amazement windows 7 and FSX run just fine. I can't believe it when I read about the problems others are having. I guess I got lucky this time. Gigabyte may make good motherboards, but my next one will be purchased from a manufacturer that has a support forum.

1- Win7 will install WHQL drivers they may or may not be gigibyte drivers. AHCI is not typically enabled there is a registry entry you will need to change BEFORE you enable AHCI in you bios ( if you have already installed your OS ).. AHCI will basically enable the option to Safely remove a SATA drive from your running OS so you could remove it physically.2- Depends on if you have setup raid in your bios or not... most likely ...2a- PATA - parallel ATA usually associated with IDE drive interfaces2b- Why would you want to do that as before PATA is for IDE drive types NOT for SATA or Serial ATA. AHCI is used for hard drives you may wish to add / remove while the OS is up and running such as a removable SATA hard drive bay. Enabling RAID in bios doesn't mean you have to use it, but if your not using RAID why enable it. Generally it is not a good idea to change RAID settings after you have installed your OS.3- IRQ is Interrupt Request the processor uses interrupts to preempt or prioritize hardware for the hardware to signal the processor that something needs to be done.Dedicated IRQ's are assigned by the BIOS of the system board, non dedicated are assigned by the Operating System

Hello, I'd appreciate any answers to these questions about installing SATA drives on my Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3LR v1.0 (BIOS vF8 and ICH10R storage controller) motherboard, for running Win7-64 (I'm actually trying out Win7-64RC at the moment).Q1) I assume that Win7 automatically installs the ICH10R AHCI / RAID driver during windows setup, however when I try to install the latest 64bit driver (v8.9.0.1023) from the Gigabyte website the installer fails. Any ideas why?Q2a) What SATA mode BIOS setting is best for installing Win7 and for running FSX, PATA, AHCI, or RAID mode? I do not intend to setup a RAID array but from posts I've read it appears most flexible to install the OS in SATA RAID mode, however are there any SATA features available in AHCI or RAID mode that would actually benefit FSX... e.g. from posts I've read NCQ is not good for FSX.Q2b) If I install the OS in SATA RAID mode and then set the controller to PATA mode after install, would there be any kind of system resources impact because AHCI / RAID modes are available but not being used, e.g. memory allocated unnecessarily?Q3) My BIOS offers a "SATA Native Mode", when disabled the controller uses "dedicated IRQ's" - not sure what that means... would this Native Mode be good for Win7 and FSX? It is disabled by default.

I have an EP45-UD3L, two of them in fact, both running Win 7 Ultimate x64. No trouble during install for me. I just use standard ATA mode, no AHCI. The driver that came with Win 7 worked just fine.

Thanks for your replies.

2b- Why would you want to do that as before PATA is for IDE drive types NOT for SATA or Serial ATA.

Well mainly because I don't want to enable NCQ, and I'd like to avoid using system resources to support SATA features like hot plug etc that are not going to improve overall storage performance as far as running FSX is concerned.

3- IRQ is Interrupt Request the processor uses interrupts to preempt or prioritize hardware for the hardware to signal the processor that something needs to be done.Dedicated IRQ's are assigned by the BIOS of the system board, non dedicated are assigned by the Operating System

Q5) So there are no disadvantages to enabling Native Mode for Win7, or do I need to be in AHCI / RAID modes for Native Mode to make any difference? Once again I don't want to waste system resources unnecessarily.

Another point I wanted to share... on my MB I have six SATA ports, 0 to5. SATA Native Mode is available for ports 0 to 3 only, and when I set the SATA controller to PATA mode I assume that the controller emulates connected devices in a master/slave relationship. So...Q6) Should I connect my SATA DVD drive to SATA ports 4 or 5 only when the SATA controller is emulating master/slave devices on SATA ports 0 to 3? I'm thinking of the scenario with IDE drives, e.g. you would not connect a CDROM drive as a slave device with a hard drive as the master.Also can someone confirm this...Q5) So there are no disadvantages to enabling Native Mode for Win7, or do I need to be in AHCI / RAID modes for Native Mode to make any difference? Once again I don't want to waste system resources unnecessarily.

Let me try and get this thread going again... the default settings on my MB were PATA and Native Mode disabled, so I hope I'm not splitting hairs, but also I don't want to end up with my drives running in some dodgy compatibility mode. I read an article that said it was the Native Mode that enabled advanced SATA features not the selection of AHCI or RAID... I'm confused!Q5) Are there no disadvantages to enabling Native Mode for Win7, or do I need to be in AHCI / RAID modes for Native Mode to make any difference? Once again I don't want to waste system resources unnecessarily.Q6) On my MB I have six SATA ports, 0 to5. SATA Native mode is available for ports 0 to 3 only, and when I set the controller to PATA operation I assume that the controller emulates connected devices in a master/slave relationship. So, should I connect my SATA DVD drive to SATA ports 4 or 5 only when the SATA controller is emulating master/slave devices on SATA ports 0 to 3? I'm thinking of the scenario with IDE drives, e.g. you would not connect a CDROM drive as a slave device with a hard drive as the master.Q7) If I set my controller to PATA *must* I also disable SATA Native Mode (this would be the default setting)?

OK people lets try and get this thread going again. I'm rebuilding my PC and this SATA Native Mode issue has come up again. I have two 7200 SATA drives (one for Win7-64 and one for FSX) as well as a SATA DVD drive. In BIOS I have the following settings which I set as follows: ICH SATA Control Mode = IDE (alternatives are AHCI or RAID)SATA Port0-3 Native Mode = Enable (alternative is Disabled) The default settings are IDE and Disabled respectively. Does it make sense to enable Native Mode when in IDE Control Mode?