remove ide controller

[Anne]

When I upgraded my WinME computer to XP Pro, the hard drives (both on
primary channel) and DVD drives (both on secondary channel) would revert to
PIO mode after coming out of standby. If I deleted the secondary channel
and rebooted, the HDs would go to DMA5 and the DVDs to DMA2, and would
remain that way unless I went into standby instead of shutting down. MS
indicated that SP2 would fix the atapi.sys file, so I installed SP2. Now
both DVDs retain DMA Status after a standby, but not the hard drives. I can
still return them to DMA by deleting the secondary channel and rebooting,
but it's a pain.

This is an annoyance I would like to resolve. After Googling for a few
days, I see recommendations to not only remove the secondary channel on the
IDE controller, but the whole controller itself and then rebooting.

My question is how to do this. Must I boot into safe mode? I don't
understand how the computer will know what to do if the IDE controller (and
hence the hard drive) is removed from the Device Manager. I would
appreciate any pointers or links I can follow.

Thanks,
Anne

 

[Jerry]

You reboot into Safe Mode, open Device Manager, remove all instances of the
IDE controllers you see, reboot and let Windows re-detect everything. The
fact you removed them does not preclude Windows from finding them on the
next boot. It does that by reading the BIOS to see what is installed and
reacts accordingly.

You could also need an update for the chipset drivers on your motherboard.
Check the manufacturer's web site.

 

[Anne]

Thanks, Jerry. I followed your directions and rebooted twice, hoping a new
install of the ide controller would help. As usual, UDMA was set for both
channels and remained that way after repeated reboots. However, the primary
channel still reverts to PIO if I put the machine in standby or hibernate.
Think I'll just have to live without using standby or hibernate. At least I
now know how to remove the whole ide controller.
Anne

 

[Richard Urban]

Obtain and install the latest M/B drivers for your particular M/B. Are you
using an Asus board by any chance. Doing as I instructed is especially
necessary for the Asus A7N8X series of their boards. It solves all the IDE
problems.

--
Regards:

Richard Urban


aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

 

[Math1]

Thanks. It's an Intel EastonD815EEA in a Dell Dimension 4100. I'm pretty
sure the drivers are up to date, but will check on the Intel site tomorrow.
I know there is nothing on the Dell site for the motherboard except the
bios, which is the latest available. All is well, unless I try standby or
hibernate.
Anne

 

[Nathan McNulty]

Also, Dell is most likely behind on the drivers. Here are the latest
drivers for your chipset:
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=817

 

[Math1]

Thank you Nathan. I downloaded the file but I think I'm over my head here.
After I clicked on the file, it expanded to a directory containing a
setup.exe file among others. When I ran that, nothing appeared to happen
except that a readme file was installed in c:\program files\intel\infinst.
I then reran setup.exe with the /a extension.

This time 9 subdirectories were also installed. Only 4 (ich2, ich2-m,
ich3-m, ich3-s) contained an XP subdirectory with 815 mentioned. I could
not figure out which of the 4 directories to use and then which of the files
in that directory to put on a floppy in order to update drivers. I thought
about putting them all on the floppy, but then didn't know which of the
items in Device Manager to update.

I appreciate your taking the time to find the file for me. However, I'm
afraid I'll just have to stop here since I can't figure out how to proceed.