LKBEN10645: STOP 0x0000007B INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE after changing SATA to AHCI Mode
LKB | Created: 02/04/2020 | Version: 0 | Language: EN | Rating: 0 | Outdated: False | Marked for deletion: False
Author: Wim Peeters - Keskon GmbH & Co. KG
Symptom
After enabling AHCI Mode in BIOS, Windows Vista will not start with Stop error 7B
Cause
By default, unused drivers will be disabled in Vista. Enabling AHCI Mode in BIOS demands new driver (msahci.sys)
Solution
STOP 0x0000007B INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE after changing SATA mode of boot drive in Windows Vista or XP
Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) is a special hardware mechanism for use in Serial ATA (SATA) Harddisk controllers which offers features like higher speeds, hot-pluging and native command queuing (NCQ), sometimes in conjunction with RAID support.
However, enbling AHCI in system BIOS might cause your Operating System (OS) like Windows XP or Vista not to load upon startup, causing a Blue Screen with Stop error "0x0000007B INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE".
Make sure to install the appropriate motherboard or host-adapter drivers prior to switching the mode in your BIOS.
Additionally, in Windows Vista, you might need to enable the AHCI driver (MSAHCI.SYS) by editing the following key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Msahci
set "start" to a value of "0".
About the Author
Wim Peeters is electronics engineer with an additional master in IT and over 30 years of experience, including time spent in support, development, consulting, training and database administration. Wim has worked with SQL Server since version 6.5. He has developed in C/C++, Java and C# on Windows and Linux. He writes knowledge base articles to solve IT problems and publishes them on the Lubby Knowledge Platform.