Is my MB compatible with HD?

[holdem9ball]

Hi,

I have a PCChips M758LMR motherboard that only support
UltraDMA 33/66 and i got a Western Digital (hardrive) WD800JB that is
ATA/100. I don't know a lot about computer so i ask the seller if this
one fit on this board and he told me yes. I then installed Windows XP
(my CPu is a 866Mhz and around 400 RAM) and windows now looks slower
then with my other hardisk that wasn't ata/100(before he died). I
wanted to know if i should return the HD because the board can't
support it or will it work fine and i only need to fix something in the
bios like enabling ata 33/66 or flash my bios.(i bought a ata100 ide
cable too).

Thanks a lot in advance!

John

 

[Vanguard]

Hi,

I have a PCChips M758LMR motherboard that only support
UltraDMA 33/66 and i got a Western Digital (hardrive) WD800JB that is
ATA/100. I don't know a lot about computer so i ask the seller if this
one fit on this board and he told me yes. I then installed Windows XP
(my CPu is a 866Mhz and around 400 RAM) and windows now looks slower
then with my other hardisk that wasn't ata/100(before he died). I
wanted to know if i should return the HD because the board can't
support it or will it work fine and i only need to fix something in
the
bios like enabling ata 33/66 or flash my bios.(i bought a ata100 ide
cable too).

Thanks a lot in advance!

John

ATA-100 drives support all speeds up to that spec so, yes, it will run
on a slower controller, like you ATA-33. The drive might be slower
because you are using a slower transfer mode. Go into Device Manager
and check the controller's properties to ensure it is using the highest
DMA mode that your controller supports (i.e., probably DMA mode 3).

 

[holdem9ball]

Thanks! Well i did what you said and in the principal IDE controler i
go to advanded parameter and on part 0 :
Transfert mode = DMA if available
Active Transfert mode= PIO mode

Why isn't DMA 3 or DMA 4 instead of PIO and how can i fix this or
change it to DMA and not pio?

Thanks!

 

[Vanguard]

Thanks! Well i did what you said and in the principal IDE controler i
go to advanded parameter and on part 0 :
Transfert mode = DMA if available
Active Transfert mode= PIO mode

Why isn't DMA 3 or DMA 4 instead of PIO and how can i fix this or
change it to DMA and not pio?

Thanks!

PIO gets used (reverted to) if there are lots of errors on the drive.
You might want to hunt around for a utility that will read the SMART
data from your hard drive. SpeedFan will do it as well as maybe the WD
diagnostics and AIDA-32 (now called Everest Home).

 

[holdem9ball]

Sorry but i'm not sure i understood because my english is bad.

Did you say that the harddisk has error and that is the reason why it
is written PIO mode? Because if so i don't think so because the
harddrive is brand new.... ( So don't you know how to get Ultra DMA
3 or 4 instead of PIO?

Thanks a lot!

John

 

[Vanguard]

Sorry but i'm not sure i understood because my english is bad.

Did you say that the harddisk has error and that is the reason why it
is written PIO mode? Because if so i don't think so because the
harddrive is brand new.... ( So don't you know how to get Ultra
DMA
3 or 4 instead of PIO?

Thanks a lot!

John

Yep, that's what I said. If the hard drive has lots of errors, the
controller will backoff to a slower transfer mode (i.e., it will go from
DMA to PIO). Doesn't matter if it is new. A drive that is producing
errors will force the controller to revert to a slower transfer mode.

Is the hard drive the ONLY device connected to the IDE port?

 

[kony]

Sorry but i'm not sure i understood because my english is bad.

Did you say that the harddisk has error and that is the reason why it
is written PIO mode? Because if so i don't think so because the
harddrive is brand new.... ( So don't you know how to get Ultra DMA
3 or 4 instead of PIO?

Thanks a lot!

John

It seems that your motherboard has Sis 630 chipset.
It has very poor IDE support and I've seen other boards go
into PIO mode with modern drives.

While a bad HDD could cause a problem, I suspect it is the
motherboard. You could try updating the BIOS and try a
newer SIS IDE driver.

You might also see if Western Digital has a utility to force
the drive down to ATA66 mode.

The easiest solution would be to buy an ATA100 or ATA133 PCI
controller card.

 

[holdem9ball]

Ok, thanks! And is a pci Controller as faster as a controller on a
motherboard or is there any difference? I'll try what you said thanks
guys! By the way, if you can find any driver on the PCChips M758LMR
motherboard i'll appreciate because i went to the www.pcchips.com.tw
and i what to be sure to download the good bios but the name of my
board isn't there there's plus beside the name, is that for any kind of
board with the begining of the model name like my botherboard is a
M758LMR and one of the closer match would be M758L+ so if you can give
me your opinion on which one is the good one for me, i would really
appreciate because bad bios isn't good right? Or if you know good
website with free driver download please let me know.

Have a good weekend guys!

John

 

[Vanguard]

Ok, thanks! And is a pci Controller as faster as a controller on a
motherboard or is there any difference? I'll try what you said thanks
guys! By the way, if you can find any driver on the PCChips M758LMR
motherboard i'll appreciate because i went to the www.pcchips.com.tw
and i what to be sure to download the good bios but the name of my
board isn't there there's plus beside the name, is that for any kind
of
board with the begining of the model name like my botherboard is a
M758LMR and one of the closer match would be M758L+ so if you can give
me your opinion on which one is the good one for me, i would really
appreciate because bad bios isn't good right? Or if you know good
website with free driver download please let me know.

I haven't scanned around the motherboard maker's web site. I looked at
www.driverguide.com, logged in (use a disposable account or e-mail
alias), and looked under the BIOS/motherboard section, under PC Chips,
and they don't list anything for M758LMR (actually I just searched on
"758" and nothing matched). Not looking good.

For awhile on eBay, there were lots of users that were selling off the
Promise Ultra100 controller cards that came with their new
WesternDigital drives because they didn't need them (i.e., their mobo's
IDE controller already provided support for the larger capacity hard
drives). I got one for $10 plus something like $4 for USPS shipping.
They're now selling for $5 on eBay (be sure to check what the seller
wants for shipping since some will try to rake the buyer that way).

You can see if SiS has a newer IDE driver at
http://www.sis.com/download/ (select Chipset, then IDE Driver, and then
your operating system). Read the list of supported chipsets to make
sure yours is listed. Before this, save a drive image to ensure you
don't lose your setup or, at least, do a backup of all your data.

 

[kony]

Ok, thanks! And is a pci Controller as faster as a controller on a
motherboard or is there any difference?

No in general it's slower. "General" is just that, though,
there are good and bad motherboard chipsets.

Your motherboard has horrendous performance, beyond the IDE
issue. Sis 630 (and 620 too for that matter) is inferior to
there chipsets of the era like Via 694, Intel BX, Intel
810/815/820.

I'll try what you said thanks
guys! By the way, if you can find any driver on the PCChips M758LMR
motherboard i'll appreciate because i went to the www.pcchips.com.tw
and i what to be sure to download the good bios but the name of my
board isn't there there's plus beside the name, is that for any kind of
board with the begining of the model name like my botherboard is a
M758LMR and one of the closer match would be M758L+ so if you can give
me your opinion on which one is the good one for me, i would really
appreciate because bad bios isn't good right? Or if you know good
website with free driver download please let me know.

The letters at the end of an old PCChips board name usually
indicate the features on the board. "MR" means modem riser.
If you don't use a modem riser the bios you found might
work, BUT I can't guarantee it- it might prevent the board
from working.

Part of the problem is this poor support from PCChips, even
with same board models they did change revisions like a 1.x
series to a 2.x series then specifying a different bios for
each series.

The following page might have the bios, but I dont' know if
it's newer, nor if it's even the right bios.

http://www.rd-computer.de/pc-chips/bios.htm

I still suggest using a PCI controller card if you MUST use
that motherboard - but you'd be better off using a different
motherboard if possible.