Problems with PIO, Maxtor 160Gb and A7A266 with Ali chipset

[panther]

Hi,
I'm an unhappy owner of a Maxtor 160Gb hard drive (6L160P0). I'm
unhappy because I'm not able to make it use the UltraDMA mode, but only
the slow PIO4 mode. I have WinXP Pro sp2.
My motherboard is an Asus A7A266 with Alimagik1 chipset (North bridge
Ali M1647, South bridge Ali M1535D+) with the latest BIOS (1013 beta).
I also have a Samsung 40Gb hard disk that works perfectly in UDMA5.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling IDE channels from device manager,
but I still have PIO4.
I checked BIOS, setting either "Auto" or "Manual" in HD configuration
(manual udma6, udma5 etc...). No way.

I downloaded Ali/Uli integrated drivers v2.096, then I enabled mini-IDE
driver (v1.5.10) modifying the "install.ini" file and installed it. No
success, hd still uses PIO.
Now in device manager under the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers I have "Ali
M5229 PCI Bus Master IDE Controller".
I tried forcing UDMA changing "MasterDeviceTimingModeAllowed" and
"MasterDeviceTimingMode" keys in registry (ffffffff and 10010), nothing
to do.

I tried downloading and installing the old Ali UltraIDE driver
v4.0.0.8, which simulates SCSI drives using IDE units. IT WORKS! But:
standby/hibernate function doesn't work anymore and my DVD unit cannot
read disks (it returns I/O errors). Plus I read from other people that
there are many problems with CD/DVD recording.

Hardware is OK, cables are 80 pin, all settings are perfect.

I think I'm not the only one who has these problems, I'd like to know
if there is a solution to this. Will Ali distribute new drivers to
solve this problem? And when? I purchased this Maxtor HD to work with
video, but in PIO mode there's no way to do it. It's almost useless!!!

Thanks all.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

IDE ATA and ATAPI disks use PIO mode after multiple time-out or CRC errors occur
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;817472

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

Get Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Advanced Security Technologies:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/protect/windowsxp/choose.mspx

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| Hi,
| I'm an unhappy owner of a Maxtor 160Gb hard drive (6L160P0). I'm
| unhappy because I'm not able to make it use the UltraDMA mode, but only
| the slow PIO4 mode. I have WinXP Pro sp2.
| My motherboard is an Asus A7A266 with Alimagik1 chipset (North bridge
| Ali M1647, South bridge Ali M1535D+) with the latest BIOS (1013 beta).
| I also have a Samsung 40Gb hard disk that works perfectly in UDMA5.
|
| I tried uninstalling and reinstalling IDE channels from device manager,
| but I still have PIO4.
| I checked BIOS, setting either "Auto" or "Manual" in HD configuration
| (manual udma6, udma5 etc...). No way.
|
| I downloaded Ali/Uli integrated drivers v2.096, then I enabled mini-IDE
| driver (v1.5.10) modifying the "install.ini" file and installed it. No
| success, hd still uses PIO.
| Now in device manager under the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers I have "Ali
| M5229 PCI Bus Master IDE Controller".
| I tried forcing UDMA changing "MasterDeviceTimingModeAllowed" and
| "MasterDeviceTimingMode" keys in registry (ffffffff and 10010), nothing
| to do.
|
| I tried downloading and installing the old Ali UltraIDE driver
| v4.0.0.8, which simulates SCSI drives using IDE units. IT WORKS! But:
| standby/hibernate function doesn't work anymore and my DVD unit cannot
| read disks (it returns I/O errors). Plus I read from other people that
| there are many problems with CD/DVD recording.
|
| Hardware is OK, cables are 80 pin, all settings are perfect.
|
| I think I'm not the only one who has these problems, I'd like to know
| if there is a solution to this. Will Ali distribute new drivers to
| solve this problem? And when? I purchased this Maxtor HD to work with
| video, but in PIO mode there's no way to do it. It's almost useless!!!
|
| Thanks all.

 

[Guest]

Hi,

I would think the 160GB Maxtor HDD is connected as slave and the small Hdd
is the master.
Make sure both Hdds are set to cable select and ensure you are using a 40
Pin 80 wires IDE cable. If in doubt, buy a new IDE cable as it is very cheap.
Ensure DMA mode are enabled in BIOS for both IDE channels.

 

[Richard Urban]

Do you have "all" of the M/B drivers installed - the latest version of each?

--
Regards,

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[panther]

IDE ATA and ATAPI disks use PIO mode after multiple time-out or CRC errors
occur
http://support.microsoft.com/d­efault.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;8174­72

Thanks, but I already know this. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling
ide port with no success. Thanks anyway!

Peter wrote:
I would think the 160GB Maxtor HDD is connected as slave and the small Hdd
is the master.
Make sure both Hdds are set to cable select and ensure you are using a 40
Pin 80 wires IDE cable. If in doubt, buy a new IDE cable as it is very cheap.
Ensure DMA mode are enabled in BIOS for both IDE channels.

Maxtor 160Gb is connected as master, I removed the slave but nothing
changes.
I use a 80 wires ide cable (the same i use for the 40Gb hd that uses
UDMA5).
Dma modes are enabled in bios for both channels. Your suggestions are
appreciated.

Richard Urban wrote:
Do you have "all" of the M/B drivers installed - the latest version of each?

I installed the latest Ali integrated drivers (which are v2.0.96). As
far as I know there aren't newer drivers. I'm waiting for them, because
I think it's a driver problem; in fact, as I wrote, there are old Ali
drivers (ultraIDE v4.0.0.8) which make the HD run at UDMA speed, but
cause many many problems to the system. So I think cables are ok,
config is ok, only driver is not ok. sigh.
Thanks for your suggestion.

 

[Kerry Brown]

Hi,
I'm an unhappy owner of a Maxtor 160Gb hard drive (6L160P0). I'm
unhappy because I'm not able to make it use the UltraDMA mode, but only
the slow PIO4 mode. I have WinXP Pro sp2.
My motherboard is an Asus A7A266 with Alimagik1 chipset (North bridge
Ali M1647, South bridge Ali M1535D+) with the latest BIOS (1013 beta).
I also have a Samsung 40Gb hard disk that works perfectly in UDMA5.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling IDE channels from device manager,
but I still have PIO4.
I checked BIOS, setting either "Auto" or "Manual" in HD configuration
(manual udma6, udma5 etc...). No way.

I downloaded Ali/Uli integrated drivers v2.096, then I enabled mini-IDE
driver (v1.5.10) modifying the "install.ini" file and installed it. No
success, hd still uses PIO.
Now in device manager under the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers I have "Ali
M5229 PCI Bus Master IDE Controller".
I tried forcing UDMA changing "MasterDeviceTimingModeAllowed" and
"MasterDeviceTimingMode" keys in registry (ffffffff and 10010), nothing
to do.

I tried downloading and installing the old Ali UltraIDE driver
v4.0.0.8, which simulates SCSI drives using IDE units. IT WORKS! But:
standby/hibernate function doesn't work anymore and my DVD unit cannot
read disks (it returns I/O errors). Plus I read from other people that
there are many problems with CD/DVD recording.

Hardware is OK, cables are 80 pin, all settings are perfect.

I think I'm not the only one who has these problems, I'd like to know
if there is a solution to this. Will Ali distribute new drivers to
solve this problem? And when? I purchased this Maxtor HD to work with
video, but in PIO mode there's no way to do it. It's almost useless!!!

Thanks all.

Download the Powermax diagnostic utility from www.maxtor.com and test the
drive. The drive may be defective or the smart data may be corrupted. In any
case you will find out if the drive is good or not. If it is defective get
it replaced on warranty. If it's good then check with whomever you purchased
the motherboard from for support. Another thing to try is a different cable
and plugging the drive into the secondary IDE port instead of the primary
port.

Kerry

 

[Jetro]

Add UserMasterDeviceTimingModeAllowed 0xFFFFFFFF and
UserSlaveDeviceTimingModeAllowed 0xFFFFFFFF.

If the drive performance is unstable, OS locks it in one of the lower DMA
modes or in the PIO mode at all. The values "User...ModeAllowed" should
overcome this default behaviour.

Uninstall ALi IDE controller, clean the registry and disk from ALi remnants,
and reboot.

 

[panther]

Download the Powermax diagnostic utility from www.maxtor.com and test the
drive. The drive may be defective or the smart data may be corrupted. In any
case you will find out if the drive is good or not. If it is defective get
it replaced on warranty. If it's good then check with whomever you purchased
the motherboard from for support. Another thing to try is a different cable
and plugging the drive into the secondary IDE port instead of the primary
port.

I already checked the disk and it works perfectly.
I have two IDE ports, but only the first supports UDMA transfer, so I
think that connecting to the second port would have no effect. Thanks

Jetro wrote:
Add UserMasterDeviceTimingModeAllo­wed 0xFFFFFFFF and
UserSlaveDeviceTimingModeAllow­ed 0xFFFFFFFF.
If the drive performance is unstable, OS locks it in one of the lower DMA
modes or in the PIO mode at all. The values "User...ModeAllowed" should
overcome this default behaviour.
Uninstall ALi IDE controller, clean the registry and disk from ALi remnants,
and reboot.

I formatted and reinstalled WinXP at least 15 times. Changing these
registry keys had no effects (the system restores them to 0000001f).

Now I'm using Ali UltraIDE v4.0.0.8, the problem with the DVD reader is
partially solved (I set DMA transfer for this unit). Hibernation and
standby are still unusable, but my HD works at 133Mb speed (udma6)
simulating a SCSI unit. I have to try to record a CD, if this work I'll
be quite happy.
I hope that Ali will soon release new drivers.....

Thanks for your help!

 

[Kerry Brown]

I already checked the disk and it works perfectly.

I have two IDE ports, but only the first supports UDMA transfer, so I
think that connecting to the second port would have no effect. Thanks

Both ports support UDMA with that motherboard. If they don't something is
wrong with the motherboard.

Kerry

 

[Jetro]

Does native Windows driver support UDMA properly? BTW, how does BIOS report
about the mode?

;************ALI IDE Controller ******************************
PCI\VEN_10B9&DEV_5215=%SystemRoot%\inf\Mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_10B9&DEV_5219=%SystemRoot%\inf\Mshdc.inf
PCI\VEN_10B9&DEV_5229=%SystemRoot%\inf\Mshdc.inf
;****************************************************************

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_10b9&dev_5215]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_10b9&dev_5219]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\pci#ven_10b9&dev_5229]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="pciide"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\PCIIde]
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"Group"="System Bus Extender"
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Tag"=dword:00000003
"Type"=dword:00000001
"ImagePath"=hex(2):53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,44,00,\
52,00,49,00,56,00,45,00,52,00,53,00,5c,00,70,00,63,00,69,00,69,00,64,00,65,\
00,2e,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,00,00

 

[panther]

Thanks all for your help.
Finally I managed how to solve my problem.

To activate Hibernation/Standby functions with UltraIDE v4.0.0.8
driver, I changed the following key NAME in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services/alihdd/Parameters/PnpInterface/5

The NAME of this value must be changed from "5" to "1" and hibernation
works again!

 

[Spannerman]

Thanks all for your help.
Finally I managed how to solve my problem.

To activate Hibernation/Standby functions with UltraIDE
v4.0.0.8
driver, I changed the following key NAME in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SYSTEM/CurrentControlSet/Services/alihdd/Pa
rameters/PnpInterface/5

The NAME of this value must be changed from "5" to "1" and
hibernation
works again!

I would just like to say that I have the same motherboard and hard
drive combination, and have experienced exactly the same problem with
being forced into PIO mode. The problem is with service packs 1 and 2.
If you run xp with out the service packs the transfer mode uses UDMA
as it should. I know this is an issue caused by the service packs as I
am also running Windows 2000 service pack 4 on another partition of
the same hard drive and that is fine!
However, I have downloaded the driver that can be obtained from the
update section from the link given by fsm103 and my drive is now
running as a SCSI drive and SP2 isn’t slow anymore.

 

[cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)]

On 20 Jun 2005 15:35:41 -0400, Spannerman

I would just like to say that I have the same motherboard and hard
drive combination, and have experienced exactly the same problem with
being forced into PIO mode. The problem is with service packs 1 and 2.

Be careful what you wish for.

XP can fallback from UDMA to PIO in response to errors that indicate a
risk of data loss, and having done so, it won't fall forward again.
If this protective behaviour was added in a SP, it won't be there on
older versions; you'd just start losing data instead.

Check out these things that can affect data transfer quality:
- 80-pin UIDE cable, correctly connected and jumpered
- not using HD brackets or data cable extensions
- motherboard capacitors not bulging/leaking
- system RAM and CPU speed OK
- HD surface and SMART OK
- not overclocking the PCI

------------ ----- ---- --- -- - - - -

Our senses are our UI to reality

 

[P12]

Hi,
I'm an unhappy owner of a Maxtor 160Gb hard drive (6L160P0). I'm
unhappy because I'm not able to make it use the UltraDMA mode, but only
the slow PIO4 mode. I have WinXP Pro sp2.
My motherboard is an Asus A7A266 with Alimagik1 chipset (North bridge
Ali M1647, South bridge Ali M1535D+) with the latest BIOS (1013 beta).
I also have a Samsung 40Gb hard disk that works perfectly in UDMA5.

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling IDE channels from device manager,
but I still have PIO4.
I checked BIOS, setting either "Auto" or "Manual" in HD configuration
(manual udma6, udma5 etc...). No way.

I downloaded Ali/Uli integrated drivers v2.096, then I enabled mini-IDE
driver (v1.5.10) modifying the "install.ini" file and installed it. No
success, hd still uses PIO.
Now in device manager under the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers I have "Ali
M5229 PCI Bus Master IDE Controller".
I tried forcing UDMA changing "MasterDeviceTimingModeAllowed" and
"MasterDeviceTimingMode" keys in registry (ffffffff and 10010), nothing
to do.

I tried downloading and installing the old Ali UltraIDE driver
v4.0.0.8, which simulates SCSI drives using IDE units. IT WORKS! But:
standby/hibernate function doesn't work anymore and my DVD unit cannot
read disks (it returns I/O errors). Plus I read from other people that
there are many problems with CD/DVD recording.

Hardware is OK, cables are 80 pin, all settings are perfect.

I think I'm not the only one who has these problems, I'd like to know
if there is a solution to this. Will Ali distribute new drivers to
solve this problem? And when? I purchased this Maxtor HD to work with
video, but in PIO mode there's no way to do it. It's almost useless!!!

Thanks all.

Hey I have the same problem as you. I still haven't found a resolve
after much troubleshooting.

I have and A7A266 with a 200GB drive running in PIO mode. I have a
second Maxtor 40GB drive which runs in DMA5 without any problems.

Some things I learned along the way. The Asus drivers provided by ALI
are pretty crappy. They recognize the devices as SCSI and I could
not burn CD's no matter what I tried. The ALI web site says to just
use the default XP drivers. These install as M5229 but do work even
though my IDE is M1535D+. The ASUS supplied drivers are bitch to
uninstall though. I had to alternate my hard drive and remove the
unoccupied devices before I could do an uninstall without my system
hanging.

I tracked my problem to the Event log which says this at bootup five
times:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: atapi
Event Category: None
Event ID: 9
Description:
The device, \Device\Ide\IdePort0, did not respond within the timeout
period.

Then concludes with this error:
Event Type: Error
Event Source: atapi
Event Category: None
Event ID: 11
Description:
The driver detected a controller error on \Device\Ide\IdePort0.

I looked those up and they point to stuff like failing controller or
bad cables. Except in my case I can use the same controller and cable
from my second working hard drive and I still end up in PIO mode.

The issue here is there are 6 errors at bootup so XP falls back to PIO
mode and will stay there until you edit this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\
Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0001x

And remove one of these depending on whether your x is 1(primary) or
2(secondary).
* MasterIdDataChecksum
* SlaveIdDataChecksum

In PIO mode the errors don't show up in the event log. Once I delete
those keys my system then tries to run in DMA mode again and the
errors call the fallback. I am at a loss as to what might be causing
this. I tried setting my bios to DMA2 but even that didn't work. I
am going to ask MS or Maxtor what is going on but probably won't here
back until after the holidays. MS has a patch to stop the fallback
behavior upon request. But that won't help if there really is a
hardware issue. On the other hand I suspect a replacement hard drive
won't fix the problem either.

 

[Guest]

UDMA mode 5 for HD's is pretty common as is UDMA mode 2 for optical devices..
In the bios the drives should be set to auto configure and should have worked
on the same IDE channel showing UDMA mode 5 for both drives. If you manually
set them to UDMA mode 6, there en lies the problem..
j;-j

 

[Guest]

After checking with my motherboards (Intel Silver Reef D845PESV)
manual it seems to support UDMA mode 5 (ATA100) only..Sorry for my
confusion.. Aida32 reports both Maxtor drives ATA Device Properties as:
Model ID Maxtor 6Y200P0
Serial Number Y64EN41E
Revision YAR41BW0
Parameters 395136 cylinders, 16 heads, 63 sectors per track, 512 bytes per
sector
LBA Sectors 398297088
Buffer 7936 KB (Dual Ported, Read Ahead)
Multiple Sectors 16
ECC Bytes 57
Max. PIO Transfer Mode PIO 4
Max. UDMA Transfer Mode UDMA 6 (ATA-133)
Active UDMA Transfer Mode UDMA 5 (ATA-100)
Unformatted Capacity 194481 MB

ATA Device Features
SMART Supported
Security Mode Supported
Power Management Supported
Advanced Power Management Supported
Write Cache Supported
Host Protected Area Supported
Power-Up In Standby Not Supported
Automatic Acoustic Management Supported
48-bit LBA Supported
Device Configuration Overlay Supported

ATA Device Physical Info
Manufacturer Maxtor
Hard Disk Family DiamondMax Plus 9
Form Factor 3.5"
Formatted Capacity 200 GB
Disks 3
Recording Surfaces 5
Physical Dimensions 146.1 x 101.6 x 26.1 mm
Max. Weight 630 g
Average Rotational Latency 4.17 ms
Rotational Speed 7200 RPM
Interface Ultra-ATA/133
Buffer-to-Host Data Rate 133 MB/s
Buffer Size 8 MB

ATA Device Manufacturer
Company Name Maxtor Corporation
Product Information http://www.maxtor.com/en/products/

Model ID Maxtor 6B250R0
Serial Number B60FP6RH
Revision BAH41B10
Parameters 486344 cylinders, 16 heads, 63 sectors per track, 512 bytes per
sector
LBA Sectors 490234752
Buffer 16 MB (Dual Ported, Read Ahead)
Multiple Sectors 16
ECC Bytes 57
Max. PIO Transfer Mode PIO 4
Max. UDMA Transfer Mode UDMA 6 (ATA-133)
Active UDMA Transfer Mode UDMA 5 (ATA-100)
Unformatted Capacity 239372 MB

ATA Device Features
SMART Supported
Security Mode Supported
Power Management Supported
Advanced Power Management Supported
Write Cache Supported
Host Protected Area Supported
Power-Up In Standby Not Supported
Automatic Acoustic Management Supported
48-bit LBA Supported
Device Configuration Overlay Supported

ATA Device Manufacturer
Company Name Maxtor Corporation
Product Information http://www.maxtor.com/en/products/
Check it out here..
http://aumha.net/downloads/aida32.zip
If this is your mainboard it only supports UDMA/33/66/100 PIO 3/4 support??
http://www.ocworkbench.com/hardware/asus/a7a266/a7a266reviewp2.htm
j;-/

 

[TinManR]

Hey,

I'm now suffering from the same thing. I have an A7A266 and a new
WD3200JB that didn't work fine. I had the symptoms described at:
http://wwwcsif.cs.ucdavis.edu/~leeey/a7a266/.
I followed the steps (well, some of them). Flashed my BIOS, updated
to ALi's UltraIDE Controller. I already have SP2 installed.
My problem is described in your second bulletin: "running any HD
benchmark utility I see that, doing the Read test, from MB 131072, the
computer slows down and transfer rate goes down to 2.5mb/s (exactly the
same conditions that when using PIO mode)."

The problem disturbs me as I suffer from "jumps" when watching
movies.

Did you have any progress with the issue?
Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

[ntl]

I cant thank you enough
see new extra hdd boots in pio mode
It works for me too, although mine worked with bios update 1012.

the item under update 6 did it for me


once again Thanks