Question : Problem: SATA running in IDE mode.Can't update drivers.

Hi,

I recently installed MS Vista Home Premium using;
GA-P35-DS3R motherboard,
q6600 cpu,
4 gig memory,
2 x 500 gig WD SATA drives
2 x Pioneer SATA DVD burner 215

Unfortunately, I didn't install the SATA device drivers during install, so everything was installed using IDE compatibility mode. After a bit of stuffing around I can now get the system to boot using AHCI in the BIOS, whereby it loads the drives using an intel SATA driver before loading VISTA. In Vista, I loaded my motherboard drivers (chipset and the like).  

In Device Manager, I now have 4 ATA channels in 'IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers' and an Intel ICH9 4 port SATA AHCI Controller - 2923. In Storage Controllers I have Gigabyte GBB36X controller, and Microsoft iSCSI initiator.

Aren't i supposed to have a SATA controller in Storage Controllers?

Unfortunately my drives are runnng in IDE mode, and very slowly. Also, from time to time, my Optical drives will start up for no reason, as if continually trying to access an empty drive. Restarting actually halted startup as the Optical drives kept getting accessed. I had to disconnect the drives, then manually change the driver in order to get things rolling again.

I tried a VISTA repair trying to load the drivers suggested in my manual (Intel ICH9 SATA Controller) which (after a lot of trial and error and several 'can't install the driver' pop ups') I finally managed to do but it didn't seem to change anything. I actually tried a reinstall (after creating a disk image) and the windows installer wouldn't even allow me to load the driver so I used what was in the system, same problem. I then reinstalled my old disk image.

I downloaded Intel Matrix Storage Manager, which tells me that 'this computer does not meet the minimum requirement for installing the software'. I read from Experts Exchange that this could mean that the ICH storage controller is set to IDE/ Compatibility mode or it is disabled, but I'm afraid I don't know how to check this. If its through Device Driver, then it seems OK.

Also, I downloaded the Intel Chipset Utility, and it tells me;
Detected Chipset:
 Intel(R) G33/G31 Express Chipset
Chipset Components
Memory Controller:
 Intel(R) 82G33/G31 Memory Controller Hub
I/O Controller:
 Intel(R) 82801IB Intel(R) I/O Controller Hub (ICH9B) SATA Controller found in AHCI mode

Which is strange as my motherboard has a P35 Express chipset.

Any ideas what could be going on? Also, after benchmarking I'm getting Drive transfer speeds of between 40 and 60 MB/s. What is normally expected for SATA 300.

Answer : Problem: SATA running in IDE mode.Can't update drivers.

Your speeds of 60-70 MB/sec sound reasonable for normal drives, so I think you fixed the problem.  A disk image would preserve the drivers used, so that would not have worked.