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AHCI Bios not installed Saturday, March 8, 2008 at 9:51 am Posted by Charlie Hadden (1338 messages posted) AHCI is your Advanced Host Controller Interface. Try the following site for directions. http://forums.pcper.com/showthread.php?t=444831 I think you either installed it with AHCI turned on and then didn't install the software or visa versa. Basically it is what tells you box hot to use SATA and RAID. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: AHCI Bios not installed Saturday, March 8, 2008 at 1:03 pm Posted by abu amna (52 messages posted) no boot up options inBIOS Hi, charlie thank you for your response. But i cannot open windows to download the material in the link you provided. I cannot even access the bios. Pressing f2 or other keys did not help. I would be very happy, if i could reinstall windows. Please help. On Saturday, March 8, 2008 at 7:47 am, abu amna wrote: >It is a DELL desktop with Vista home prem. on switching on I get the message > >AHCI Bios not installed > >so windows does not boot. >I have tried many things, which did not change the situation. >Please help. [Reply or follow-up to this message] AHCI Bios not installed Saturday, March 8, 2008 at 4:33 pm Posted by Charlie Hadden (1338 messages posted) OK that tells us a lot. I hope you have a book or Manual that shows the layout for your motherboard. Turn off the main switch (probably on the back near where the power cord goes in. Open you case and study the picture in the book and note where all the landmark features are. There should only be 2 to 4 screws that hold the cover on. If it is just one flat side (the cover) it should slide a little then lift off. If it is the whole 3 side wrap slide lift wiggle then away at about a 45 deg. angle. SLOWLY watch for wired that might snag as the cover is removed. Find the silver round battery. Just a little smaller than a quarter. Pay very careful attention what side is up/down. take it out. Your book should show a jumper that it describes as a reset for the BIOS/CMOS. move that jumper to that position for 30 seconds, then move it back to its original position. Replace the battery into it's proper orientation. While in there just check for any connectors that might not be fully engaged. Carefully replace the cover, plug in, and turn on. This procedure resets the BIOS when someone has entered something wrong into the options or has tried a little too vigorously to OC the PROC. If this does not succeed we might be in trouble. But don't give up hope yet. AND I doubt that your Windows installation has been ruined. Thats just the first thing people like to blame. Right now you BOX doesn't even know that it is a computer. If you don't have or can't get your hands on the book You might have to fly a littl blind. Don't wory about the jumper at that point just pull the battery leave unplugged and let it sit for a day or two. I only takes a little less than one volt at almost no current to keep the BIOS alive and you have to let it DIE!! evil beast DIE! Hey, ya got ta have a little fun or you will go crazy. [Reply or follow-up to this message] AHCI Bios not installed Saturday, March 8, 2008 at 4:54 pm Posted by Charlie Hadden (1338 messages posted) ############STOP########### Before you ope the cover. With the machine off and unplugged. Touch something that is bare metal on the box and the same once you are inside. It's hard not to do so when you open it up, but just do so to be safe. Static electricity is a KILLER. When I worked at Bell Labs we had ION generators over every work station. Most people think it is a silly concern, but I have seen more than one MOBO need changed because some smarty pants knew more than the Engineer. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: AHCI Bios not installed Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 4:09 am Posted by abu amna (52 messages posted) no boot up options inBIOS Great, great, charlie! it worked. After much histation I followed your steps and the problem was solved. very grateful. On Saturday, March 8, 2008 at 4:54 pm, Charlie Hadden wrote: > >############STOP########### > >Before you ope the cover. With the machine off and unplugged. Touch something that >is bare metal on the box and the same once you are inside. It's hard not to do so >when you open it up, but just do so to be safe. Static electricity is a KILLER. When >I worked at Bell Labs we had ION generators over every work station. Most people >think it is a silly concern, but I have seen more than one MOBO need changed because >some smarty pants knew more than the Engineer. [Reply or follow-up to this message] AHCI Bios not installed Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 8:12 am Posted by Charlie Hadden (1338 messages posted) The worst problem is lack of education and bad advise. If you are told to try something don't be afraid, **BUT** check it out look it up on your browser. See what others are saying. Run like the dickens when you see someone just out there accusing stuff, especially M.S. Or Bill. They are not perfect, but they are not the devil either. Bottom line try stuff, but know that the more you try stuff the more nervous nights you will have fixing stuff. Even more so now that Windows is getting less forgiving. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: AHCI Bios not installed Friday, April 18, 2008 at 2:06 pm Posted by David Brown (1 messages posted) Does this fix also apply to a Win XP box? Here's my problem: Purchased Dell Vostro 400 Windows XP in Feb 2008. Worked fine for two months until yesterday morning when it hung up. Upon reboot, I see the DELL logo but the error below presents and the system then becomes unresponsive. Error message (on black -- not blue -- screen) reads: "ACHI Option Rom BIOS Revision:01.03.50 Date 4-26-2007 Copyright (c) 2006-2008 Phoenix Technologies, LTD ACHI BIOS not installed!!" I went through the various online support self-guided assessments, called Dell Support, and tried online Dell Support via chat session which timed out during the assessment. Therefore, I turned to Google and googled the phrase "ACHI BIOS not installed", and found nothing as specific (and as simple) as your proposed fix -- which, seems relevant, regardless of the OS. Assuming your fix is relevant to an XP box, and I hope it is, I have another question: any idea what could have caused the "sudden out-of-the-blue" error message. No CIOMS / BIOS changes have been made. Thanks in advance. I'd be grateful for any response. Regards, David [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: AHCI Bios not installed Saturday, April 19, 2008 at 6:53 am Posted by Charlie Hadden (1338 messages posted) First, I used to have a friend that we had the exact same name and we designated him as David brown! Now, I would bet a dollar or two that you have the same problem. If you still have warranty, beat those guys over the head first. Even read from the link I sent so they might be educated. BUT please read this entire thread and of course forgive my typos and I would read and read again the information on the link. Print out instructions and have them beside me. Possibly have another machine handy for any possible online resources that might be needed (you might have the kid next door come over with his laptop). Yes try things, but be aware there are no guarantees. When you have a BIOS problem you take the chance of corrupting the whole BIOS. That is fixable too in MOST cases. That in mind D/L the latest BIOS update file and put it on a floppy or somewhere other than the machine you are working on. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: AHCI Bios not installed Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 1:20 pm Posted by mike z (1 messages posted) I ran into this problem as well. To further add to this post, you have to remove and reseat the RAM. Believe it or not, I was able to access the CMOS settings. Before reseating them I was not. However its still not booting to either the boot CD (Windows Vista Home Premium) or to Hard drive either. Thus, this may be a Memory issue (RAM). On Saturday, April 19, 2008 at 6:53 am, Charlie Hadden wrote: > >First, I used to have a friend that we had the exact same name and we designated >him as David brown! Now, I would bet a dollar or two that you have the same problem. >If you still have warranty, beat those guys over the head first. Even read from the >link I sent so they might be educated. BUT please read this entire thread and of >course forgive my typos and I would read and read again the information on the link. >Print out instructions and have them beside me. Possibly have another machine handy >for any possible online resources that might be needed (you might have the kid next >door come over with his laptop). Yes try things, but be aware there are no guarantees. >When you have a BIOS problem you take the chance of corrupting the whole BIOS. That >is fixable too in MOST cases. That in mind D/L the latest BIOS update file and put >it on a floppy or somewhere other than the machine you are working on. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: AHCI Bios not installed Friday, June 19, 2009 at 6:14 am Posted by Charlie Hadden (1338 messages posted) That is possible. Most people are not aware that any PC has to have what is called 'Scratch Pad' memory. This is the computer accessing just enough of your memory to run the BIOS to Begin with. Very old school training, but because it is not taught anymore, most people don't know that it is required. Try swapping your memory around or using just one stick at a time. It used to be a real problem when you had to play with 16~32 individual memory sims on the motherboard. WOW what a hassle. [Reply or follow-up to this message] Tip: Use one of the [Reply or follow-up to this message] links above to add a message to this thread Search this forum Start a new thread on a different subject Report abuse of the forum Return to the Windows Vista Discussion Forum