Zephyrus M GU502GV - issues in "AHCI" bios mode

[luongdv3]

Hello,
I'm the owner of a ROG Zephyrus GU502GV laptop which has been working quite well. However, it seems to suffer from a very nasty "bug/feature" related to AHCI mode in the bios. When i change "SATA Configuration" on Bios (v309 newest) to "AHCI" (the default was "INTEL RST PREMIUM..."), the laptop would "hang" (there would be the ROG logo, without the cycling dots that indicates Windows is loading).
Question: does someone experience the same issues? In this cas, Is there a way to make the "AHCI" mode usable?
Thanks a lot for your feedback!

Zephyrus M GU502GV
i7-9750H
RTX 2060
32GB RAM
1 TB SSD

[Arno Boun]

From my experience, the issue has to do with Intel Optane Memory and Storage Management. In order for Intel Optane Technology to work properly, "INTEL RST PREMIUM" must be enabled. Changing the SATA Configuration from "INTEL RST PREMIUM" to "AHCI" without disabling Intel Optane Memory will cause issues during boot. If you want to be able to boot Windows under "AHCI" mode, try the following steps:

Assuming that your SATA Configuration is set to "INTEL RST PREMIUM" and Windows manages to boot successfully, you need to disable Intel Optane Memory. You can disable it by using Intel's software. Once it is disabled, reboot your computer. Log into Windows and check the status of Intel Optane Memory with Intel's software. Once you've verified that Intel Optane Memory has been disabled, you can go ahead and change the SATA Configuration from "INTEL RST PREMIUM" to "AHCI" mode under BIOS. After saving the configuration and rebooting the computer, Windows should be able to load properly.

If I recall, you can also disable Intel Optane Memory under BIOS. I've never tried this method so I am unsure if it's the same thing as disabling Intel Optane Memory under Windows.

Hope this helps!

[luongdv3]

From my experience, the issue has to do with Intel Optane Memory and Storage Management. In order for Intel Optane Technology to work properly, "INTEL RST PREMIUM" must be enabled. Changing the SATA Configuration from "INTEL RST PREMIUM" to "AHCI" without disabling Intel Optane Memory will cause issues during boot. If you want to be able to boot Windows under "AHCI" mode, try the following steps:

Assuming that your SATA Configuration is set to "INTEL RST PREMIUM" and Windows manages to boot successfully, you need to disable Intel Optane Memory. You can disable it by using Intel's software. Once it is disabled, reboot your computer. Log into Windows and check the status of Intel Optane Memory with Intel's software. Once you've verified that Intel Optane Memory has been disabled, you can go ahead and change the SATA Configuration from "INTEL RST PREMIUM" to "AHCI" mode under BIOS. After saving the configuration and rebooting the computer, Windows should be able to load properly.

If I recall, you can also disable Intel Optane Memory under BIOS. I've never tried this method so I am unsure if it's the same thing as disabling Intel Optane Memory under Windows.

Hope this helps!

Thank you for the information!