Hard Drive STUCK in PIO Mode

[Edge21]

Ive got a big problem with my hard drive- and im totally
tearing my hair out trying to resolve it!

I have an Hitachi Deskstar 180GXP 80GB Drive that supports
ATA 100. The problem is- Windows XP only runs the hard
drive in PIO mode no matter what I try and do!

I have tried the hard drive in 3 different computers (all
with Windows XP Installed) and it runs in PIO mode in all
of them as well.

Ive uninstalled the Primary IDE Channel and wait for
Windows to recognise it again- But its still in PIO mode.
The properties for the channel are obviously set to "DMA
If Available"

I have tried a different ATA 100 cable as well but still
no luck. My motherboard BIOS is up to date as are all the
Windows Drivers and Critical Service Packs.

I have no option in my BIOS to change the mode but I
downloaded the "Ftool" utility from Hitachi's website and
ensured the mode is set to ATA 100. ATA 100 is recognised
in DOS- but it isnt in Windows XP!

Someone even recommended editing the registry and deleting
the checksum keys related to the hard drive- but still no
luck! The hard drive just wont go out of PIO Mode!
Its driving me crazy as the performance my PC is terrible!

Ive checked out a couple of Microsoft Knowledge Base
articles but I still cannot resolve the problem! Please
Help! I would be eternally grateful!

I have a ASUS A7N8X Deluxe Motherboard, Athlon 2500XP+,
512mb 2700 DDR RAM and a 64mb GeForce 4. I have Windows XP
Professional installed and EVERY possible driver
I can think of is up to date!

Thanks in advance!

 

[Alvin A Brown]

Hello

I have that same mother brd and no problems at all however
I do have 80gig harddrives but their WD and Maxtor and no
problems. What if you just tried and smaller drive for testiing
like maybe a 40gig or 60gig and see if you get the same problem

Alvin

 

[Peter]

Hi,

Are you using a 40 Pin 80 conductor flat ribbon cable or
an ordinary 40 Pin cable?
First, set the jumper of the harddisk to auto, connection
the harddisk with 40 Pin 80 conductor cable. Boot into
BIOS and load setup default. Check the Primary IDE channel,
your harddisk should be in the primary - master and then
check the DMA mode and it should be UDMA 5. Now save and
exit the bios setting and load windows. go to devcie
manager and check the transfer mode and it shoud be UDMA 5.
Peter

 

[Michael]

If you have tried the hardrive in 3 diff computers and the same thing
happens it might just be the hardrive is deffective. I had to the remove
primary and secondary settings in device manager and then reinstall them. I
did the same thing with the dvd and cd roms and that is what got it all to
work. Try that first and then i would suggest that you download the Xteq
tweak program where they can show you in the registry where to manually
enable the settings there. Mike

 

[Peter]

Hi,

Try go to www.hgst.com to get the support of your Hitachi
harddisk drive.

Peter

 

[Danno]

I tried Xteq 6.3 with latest updates and the only thing the almost addresses
this problem is under Hardware\Hard Disk\Windows 2k/XP UDMA. This does
nothing to address this problem. The only solution is detailed in
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;817472 . This
requires an updated atapi.sys dated 4/23/03, ver 5.1.2600.1211. M$ has
deliberately chosen to withhold this essential update from public download
and forces you to pay for support to get it *&^%$#@!!

Has anyone successfully downloaded this exact version of atapi.sys? If so,
please attach it as a reply.

TIA

 

[YS2100]

Hi,

I've got the same problem with a Seagate HD. So far I didn't have any
luck to find the atapi.sys driver (v5.1.2600.1211).

Is there anyone else out there who happens to have this particular
driver and could send it to me?

Many thanks in advance!

Cheers,
Matt