Ultra ATA problem!

[Anders]

Hi!

I have problems runnings my disk a Maxtor 200 gig Diamond
9 plus 8mb cache in ATA 100/133 i.e Ultra DMA MOde 5...

I have done the following:

My mainboard is Abit IC7-Max3 and I've used a IDE ATA 133-
cable which was included with the mainboard. I've
connected the single end blue connector to the IDE 1 port
on the motherboard and the black connector into the disk
drive. I guess I can't have done anything wrong with the
physical installation..?

I've flashed my bios to the lastest available from april
this year.

In the bios settings, all vital settings are set to auto
and the bios has no problem to identify my drive.

I've got windows XP Sp1 and all updates installed. I've
downloaded the Intel-info-file (ver. 5) to help the Xp to
identify my disk drive at optimal settings.

I've used the native XP drivers and then the drives on
the CD delivered with the motherboard...

When I used a software to measure the speed of my hard
drive. It shows that I only run at ATA 66 which makes my
system a lot slower

I remembered that Intel supplies Intel Application
Accelerator 2.3 but it does not support the 875p-
chipset!! Intel states that they no longer support
development of drivers except for on RAID-systems and
that they think that the Windows XP native drivers are
good enough...!!

Maxtor, the producer of my drive, doesn't provide drivers
only for their Ultra ATA controller card...

Windows update does not provide any newer drivers than
2001-xx-xx or am I wrong? The drivers from my
motherboarddisk are never but it doesn't improve the
speed of my drives...

It felt hopless when I noticed something strange in the
devicemanager! If I expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI-controllers
I find:
2 of INTEL(R)82801EB Ultra ATA Storage controllers
2 of primary IDE-Channel
2 of secondary IDE-channel

Is this normal? Should I have two of these???

If I look at the 82801EB controllers I can't find any
differencies between them!

But if I look at my 2 primary IDE-channels I can find
differencies! In the "Transfer Mode" states: DMA if
Available and "the current setting" is set to "ULTRA DMA
MODE 5"
But on the other primary IDE-channel has a different
configuration!?!?
It states:

In the "Transfer Mode" states: DMA if Available and "the
current setting" is set to "NOT AVAILABLE"

I guess this is part of my problem... I tried to remove
the extra devices but then XP will reinstall them every
time I reboot!

Could anyone help me? I would like to add that I've
searched through the Microsoft knowledge library without
succes.

Best Regards,
Anders

 

[Guest]

http://www.maxtor.com/en/support/downloads/maxblast3.htm

and copy and paste this address and use the support drop
downs if you have not allready

http://maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxto...ort/ATA Hard Drives/Desktop/DiamondMax Plus 9

has all the help for jumper settings and xp etc.

 

[Rick]

Even ATA-133/s run at sustained speed of udma/66. The
100/133 idea is burst speed. My ATA-100 burst at 89 but
maintains 63. Download "HD Tach" from Simpli Software and
use the freeware version to get you burst/sustained speeds.

 

[SteveL]

Hello,

There is a new BIOS update for your PC ver 16 released
5/04:
http://www.abit-usa.com/downloads/bios/bios_revision.php?
categories=1&model=130

When you downloaded the INF file from intel was it from
Abit or Intel? Download the intel 1:
http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scripts-
df/filter_results.asp?strOSs=44&strTypes=DRV%
2CARC&ProductID=816&OSFullName=Windows*+XP+Professional&sub
mit=Go%21

My other sugestion would be to run maxblaster from Maxtor,
I believe it will give you better info. Another thing
would be to try another IDE cable.

Good luck

 

[Guest]

Hi,

thanks for your rely.
as I wrote in my first thread, I have flashed the bios
and yes it was the 1.6 version.

I downloaded from intel, but the drivers were already
installed in the system, when I installed the inf-file.
Maybe that is a mistake, but then again you must have
some sort of drivers installed...

I have downloaded Maxblaster 3 and all seem to be in
order, it says that Ultra dma 5 is available on so on...
But the program doesn't contain any drivers! I think it's
a shame on Maxtor. They only provide drivers if you
bought an ultra ata-card from them, greedy company...
Another thing, Maxblaster 3 doesn't analyse the drivers,
only the the disk drive itself, oder?

Maybe I should try with another cable but it sounds far
away.

Do you know about this:
felt hopless when I noticed something strange in the
devicemanager! If I expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI-controllers
I find:
2 of INTEL(R)82801EB Ultra ATA Storage controllers
2 of primary IDE-Channel
2 of secondary IDE-channel

Is this normal? Should I have two of these???

 

[Guest]

Thanks but it doesn't help me... =(

I think I need som good drivers...

 

[Guest]

I have run the HD TACH 2.7.

My results:
Random access time:
almost 14ms (very bad?!?)
Read burst speed:
the redline says 86.2 MB/S
but then below the program says:
Read speed:
Maximun: 64.9 MB/S
Min: 29.4 MB/S
Average: 47.6 MB/S

what does this indicate? ATA66 I suppose....

 

[Kenny]

this is a hunch....

go to the device manager and DELETE the IDE ATA/ATAPI-controllers and
reboot,
and let xp find the controllers again, they will show up only ONCE now and
lets hope
the problem will be fixed. (you will probably need to reboot again after the
hardware is
detected again)

PS. DO a system restore point before you do this just in case something goes
wrong.

--
--
Hope this helps. Let us know.
_____________
Kenny S
foksot2004 at hotmail.com
www.computerboom.net

 

[Anders]

Thanks for your reply!

I've already done that. When I remove the all the devices
in IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers and reboot, Win XP find all
of the devices again i.e:
2 of INTEL(R)82801EB Ultra ATA Storage controllers
2 of primary IDE-Channel
2 of secondary IDE-channel

But I got another answer from a guy who told me that:
"This is normal - The extra controller and IDE channels
are from the Intel ICH5R SATA Contoller."

This would indicate that it's alright.
The problem is that I can't see any differences except
for the mode the primary IDE-bus is set to. I wrote about
this above:

"If I look at the 82801EB controllers I can't find any
differencies between them!

But if I look at my 2 primary IDE-channels I can find
differencies! Primary ide bus no. 1:
In the "Transfer Mode" states: DMA if Available and "the
current setting" is set to "ULTRA DMA MODE 5"
But on the other primary IDE-channel has a different
configuration!?!?
It states:
In the "Transfer Mode" states: DMA if Available and "the
current setting" is set to "NOT AVAILABLE"

I would like to mention that I haven't installed any SATA-
drivers because I don't use any SATA-disk drive...

 

[SteveL]

Sorry about the BIOS, I read you installed the APRIL ver.
What does Abit suggest? have you tried to contact them? I
am not sure what you are asking in regards to your IDE
controller, if it is in refference to how many controllers
it is 1 primary and 1 secondary which allows you to
install up to 4 drives, your HD must be installed on the
primary controller or IDE 0. Maybe this is the problem you
are experiencing. It says right on the MB get a magnifing
glass and check.

Good Luck

 

[Alex Nichol]

But if I look at my 2 primary IDE-channels I can find
differencies! In the "Transfer Mode" states: DMA if
Available and "the current setting" is set to "ULTRA DMA
MODE 5"

That is the master device on the cable, presumably the hard drive, and
it is running at UDMA 5 as far as the system is concerned.

But on the other primary IDE-channel has a different
configuration!?!?
It states:

In the "Transfer Mode" states: DMA if Available and "the
current setting" is set to "NOT AVAILABLE"

That indicates that there is no drive connected to the other plug on the
cable, as a slave device. Which sounds to be the way you have it set
up. Where you have a three-plug cable, the master device should be at
the end; any slave being on the intermediate socket.

Generally speaking if things are not satisfactory, the drivers drop bak
further than UDMA 66, and tell you in that page of Device Manager. So
what measurement is saying you are only at UDMA 66? I would be inclined
to suspect that. And be aware that this applies to the speed at which
the transfer goes from the drive's cache into RAM: on big files used in
tests the actual transfer from disk into cache may not achieve that,
depending on how much time gets lost to seeks and so on.