GA-MA78GM-S2H AHCI Problem

[thedva]

OK, I think I have done something really stupid. Just bought all the gear for another VMC & installed Vista Ulimate without a hitch, run all the updates and just got the guide working. Perfect, I was happy.
Then I noticed during boot up it came up with a screen saying something like 'drive running in IDE, do you want to run as SATA AHCI Yes or No?' Well I hit yes and now it wont boot and even the old BIOS has disappeared and has been replaced with ACHI BIOS and it now doesnt boot into windows, just comes up with the options to start in safe mode etc. Doesn't matter what I select it just reset and reboots. So I can't hit the DEL key to get into the BIOS, so I am totally stuffed.
Any ideas on how I can fix?

Cheers,

Dev.

PS. While I'm at it, I could get sound through my HMDI connection. Is this possible or do I just have to connect through the line out connection?

[logifuse]

You've gotta get in to the main BIOS - start hitting the del key as soon as the boot starts. Once in, change the SATA controller back to native/IDE & Windows will boot. If you then want to go ahead & try AHCI, then you'll need to enable the MS AHCI driver as per http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

Once you enable that, reboot, go back in to the BIOS & change back to AHCI, it should boot & then you'll need to load the AMD/ATI AHCI drivers in Windows (for best performance).

Justin

[thedva]

Thanks Justin, worked a treat. Can't believe I didnt at least try that.
Do you think AHCI makes much difference and is worth doing?

Dev

[logifuse]

Originally Posted by thedva

Thanks Justin, worked a treat. Can't believe I didnt at least try that.
Do you think AHCI makes much difference and is worth doing?

Dev

No worries. No, there really isn't much (any) of a performance boost. It's something I've played with on Nvidia chipsets, but I couldn't really see any benefits (& it can actually cause problems).

Justin

[logifuse]

Also, for HDMI audio, you need to make sure it's enabled in the BIOS & then it needs to be the default sound device in Control Panel. If you're connecting to a TV, disable Dolby Digital & DTS output, if you're connecting to a receiver, enable them. Once that's set, find the speaker setup wizard in VMC to get the correct output.

Justin

[thedva]

Hmmm, didn't work.
Set the BIOS to D-SUB / HDMI as per the manual, but when I go into Control panel, the HDMI option is still greyed out sayimg its not plugged in, so I can't select it as default.
Have I missed something?

Edit: Don't worry. I put the PC to sleep, and when I woke it up t works. Go figure. Thanks for your help Justin.

Dev

[Percul8or]

Hey Justin,

I have just gone the GA-MA78GM-S2H / Vista Home Premium route

The mobo is the newer ver 1.1

I also am having trouble with HDMI sound. I need it as this rig is for my brother and he has a 1080P LCD and will get a receiver in the near future.

Using Vista sound drivers, set control panel to o/p sound via HDMI. My screen (LG LCD 1080P) sound works fine when running internal tuner.

Sound also works fine with SPDIF to my receiver.

Running latest bios & chipset driver. HDMI picture fine. One interesting thing though is that in bios when I try and set video to from RGB/DVI to RGB/HDMI computer just hangs and yet HDMI video works fine with the RGB/DVI setting

Any ideas?

Thanks

[logifuse]

Originally Posted by Percul8or

Running latest bios & chipset driver. HDMI picture fine. One interesting thing though is that in bios when I try and set video to from RGB/DVI to RGB/HDMI computer just hangs and yet HDMI video works fine with the RGB/DVI setting

Sounds like that's the issue - when it's set to DVI, it probably doesn't output HDMI audio. Don't know why it be hanging though. Maybe there is something else in the BIOS that needs to be set when HDMI is selected?

Justin