Hello everyone.

You guys and gals are my last hope.

One fine day my PC started responding very slow. Even menus would take
seconds before poping up. Soon I realised that it was my hard drive.

I have checked the IDE ATA/ATAPI controler and it's correctly stating that
it's using the Intel's appropriate driver which I installed myself when I
assembled the PC.

When checking the Primary and IDE channels I see that device 0 (which is my
primary HD) is set to "DMA if available" yet the current mode is "PIO Mode".
Device 1 (my DVD Drive) is also set to "DMA if available" and its current
mode is "UDMA 2".

The Secondary IDE Channels are also set to "DMA if available" and device 0
(my DVD Recorder) uses PIO Mode while device 1 (my old HD) uses "UDMA 4".

I have checked my BIOS setup and everything is set to auto and according to
its manual it should use UDMA if available.

I have bought brand new cables and I replaced the old ones but my main hard
disk is still very slow.
I have downloaded all kinds of checking utilities including those from the
HD vendor and they are reporting that both my HDs are in good working
condition.

I am getting a little dissappointed because I have tried everything I could
think off. I have even uninstalled almost everything I could, cleaned the
registry, defragmented the HDs and ran Scandisk. I have checked for viri and
malware (dialers/cookies/younameit). Nothing.

From a vendor's site (I believe it was MS knowledge base but I honestly
dont' remember) I remember reading that if there is over a number of CRC
errors (6 I think) Windows will downgrade the HD mode. Whatever the case my
main HD is running in PIO mode when DMA is available.

Any ideas why is that? What can I do make my main HD run in UDMA mode as it
should?

Best Regards
Nick

PS
I have also checked the jumper settings (slave/master etc etc)

PS2
Are there any programs which check what transfer modes are available to a
PCs devices?

There are two possible reasons that I can think of. First, double check
your BIOS settings to make sure there is not a cutom setting that is
limiting the drive. Second, try using different/older/newer drivers for
your *chipset*. You mentioned Intel, but you may want to double check
who makes the chipset/motherboard, and try updating those drivers.
Also, you can always try updating your BIOS which may be causing the
problem as well

-----
Nathan McNulty
Swap gmail with name for email

Nick Zaglanikis wrote:
> Hello everyone.
>
> You guys and gals are my last hope.
>
> One fine day my PC started responding very slow. Even menus would take
> seconds before poping up. Soon I realised that it was my hard drive.
>
> I have checked the IDE ATA/ATAPI controler and it's correctly stating that
> it's using the Intel's appropriate driver which I installed myself when I
> assembled the PC.
>
> When checking the Primary and IDE channels I see that device 0 (which is my
> primary HD) is set to "DMA if available" yet the current mode is "PIO Mode".
> Device 1 (my DVD Drive) is also set to "DMA if available" and its current
> mode is "UDMA 2".
>
> The Secondary IDE Channels are also set to "DMA if available" and device 0
> (my DVD Recorder) uses PIO Mode while device 1 (my old HD) uses "UDMA 4".
>
> I have checked my BIOS setup and everything is set to auto and according to
> its manual it should use UDMA if available.
>
> I have bought brand new cables and I replaced the old ones but my main hard
> disk is still very slow.
> I have downloaded all kinds of checking utilities including those from the
> HD vendor and they are reporting that both my HDs are in good working
> condition.
>
> I am getting a little dissappointed because I have tried everything I could
> think off. I have even uninstalled almost everything I could, cleaned the
> registry, defragmented the HDs and ran Scandisk. I have checked for viri and
> malware (dialers/cookies/younameit). Nothing.
>
> From a vendor's site (I believe it was MS knowledge base but I honestly
> dont' remember) I remember reading that if there is over a number of CRC
> errors (6 I think) Windows will downgrade the HD mode. Whatever the case my
> main HD is running in PIO mode when DMA is available.
>
> Any ideas why is that? What can I do make my main HD run in UDMA mode as it
> should?
>
> Best Regards
> Nick
>
> PS
> I have also checked the jumper settings (slave/master etc etc)
>
> PS2
> Are there any programs which check what transfer modes are available to a
> PCs devices?
>
>