Desperate for help - slooow hard drives, any ideas please?

[RMC]

x-posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt, comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage

Hello All

My Abit BD7-II motherboard stopped working recently, so I have upgraded to
an Abit AI7 motherboard (socket 478Intel).

The IBM hard drive (contains my XP SP2 OS) that used to run at UDMA5 speeds
on the BD7II mobo will only run at Multiword DMA2 speeds - 16 MB/s whereas
the sustained speed should be at least twice that. The drive is noticeably
slower when transferring jpegs or larger files - I should be able to run
UDMA5 which is 4-5 times faster, but I can't.

Have any other users seen UDMA5 capable hard drives that refuse to be seen
as such under Windows XP Sp2?

Is there a workaround to this problem that anybody knows of?

I'm using Windows XP SP2 and in device manager I can see the onboard Intel
82801EB unltra ATA controller with the atapi.sys, pciide.sys and pciidex.sys
drivers.

I can also see the primary IDE driver details, saying that the transfer mode
should be DMA if available, and the current mode is Multi-word DMA mode 2.

The drive is an IBM Deskstar 120GXP IC35L100AVVA07 100GB IDE Hard Drive -
there are no other IDE devices on that channel (the DVD burner lives on the
secondary channel).

There aren't any BIOS settings that I can adjust to force the drive mode -
they have various settings such as LBA or Large or auto (I use auto).

I have tried different 80 way IDE cables to no avail. I have edited parts
of the XP registry to FORCE UDMA5 on the drive - it didn't work and MWDMA 2
got reasserted again.

I have tried two other hard drives (Seagate Barracuda 160GB and a Maxtor)
both of which are DMA capable, the Segate is a UDMA5 ATA100 drive and the
MAxtor is a UDMA2 drive - these also get identified as MWMDA mode 2 only.

Not only have I used XP, but I have also used Longhorn - they all say MWDMA
mode 2. So then I used Spinrite to check the specs of the drive - all drives
are identified as being *capable* of UDMA 2 or UDMA5, but are reported as
being MWDMA 2 only. I used ahard drive utility to interrogate the IBM drive
too - it also says it should be able to do UDMA5.

It is as if the chipset on my new motherboard is forcing the MWDMA mode 2 on
the drives.

The only thing left for me to try is to put my drives in someone else's
machine to see how they get identified there. I don't have access to
abnother machine at the moment.

I have posted to the Abit motherboard NG and also three or four MS NGs, but
nobody has been able to put their finger on the problem for me.

As a final note - the original setup using the BD7-II motherboard gave me
full UDMA mode 5 access to the IBM drive and also to the Segate (and the
MAxtor).

Can anyone think of anything further that I should be trying please? Any
pointers would be gratefully received!

Cheers

RMC, ENgland

 

[Little TeaPot]

Defrag them ?

Go into the windows hardware section and select the drives and turn on
UDMA 4,5,6 ?

Windows had mine as Multword 2 DMA or somthing, stupid &@&@&ing thing
wondering why it was slow

 

[RMC]

Defrag them ?

Go into the windows hardware section and select the drives and turn on
UDMA 4,5,6 ?

Windows had mine as Multword 2 DMA or somthing, stupid &@&@&ing thing
wondering why it was slow

They are defragged - the problem is that the reported mode is not what it
should be and there is no area in windows XP that I'm aware of where I can
force it to UDMA 4,5 or 6 - I only see options to set it to "DMA mode if
available", and that's in Device Manager/IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers/Primary
IDE channel. Do you know where else I can set modes?

Yes, multiword DMA 2 is only 16.67 megabytes per second, whereas UDMA5 is a
lot faster - typically five to six times faster !

Sounds like you may have the same problem as me - or some part of that
problem anyway.

Cheers LittleTeapot

RMC, England

 

[BigJIm]

did you do a clean install of xp when you changed the motherboards?

 

[Shailesh Humbad]

did you do a clean install of xp when you changed the motherboards?

It sounds like a driver issue. Maybe simpler would be to uninstall
and replace the IDE controller(s) from device manager with the
standard IDE controller. Then reboot and allow XP to detect
everything again. You can also try downloading the latest IDE
controller drivers for you motherboard.

 

[RMC]

BigJim

No, I just transferred the hard drive to the new mobo. I reasoned that the
new Abit board would be sufficiently similar to the old Abit board for XP to
sort itself out, which it did (it found almost everything aprt from a USB
channel and an onboard firewire port).

I appreciate that a reinstall of the OS might help somewhat but my concern
is that the DOS based utilities, which boot the machine from a floppy disk
and thus are completely independnt of the XP OS installation, also report
the various drives as MWDMA mode 2 enabled (but UDMA 2 or UDMA5 capable).

It is as if the drives *could* work at the higher datarates, but the mobo is
forcing the lower rate on them. What do you reckon? Do you have some ideas
that I could try out?

RMC, ENgland

 

[RMC]

It sounds like a driver issue. Maybe simpler would be to uninstall
and replace the IDE controller(s) from device manager with the standard
IDE controller. Then reboot and allow XP to detect everything again. You
can also try downloading the latest IDE controller drivers for you
motherboard.

Well, I have tried uninstalling the IDE controller and allowing XP to
re-assert it upon reboot, but each of the several times I have tried this it
reverts back to MWDMA 2. I have indeed tried downloading a specific driver
set from Abit but that hasn't helped ( in fact, it has hindered a bit - I
now have two lots of IDE primary channel and secondary channel!

RMC, ENgland

 

[MsOsWin]

"RMC" <[email protected]> in

I appreciate that a reinstall of the OS might help somewhat but my
concern is that the DOS based utilities, which boot the machine from a
floppy disk and thus are completely independnt of the XP OS
installation, also report the various drives as MWDMA mode 2 enabled
(but UDMA 2 or UDMA5 capable).

It is as if the drives *could* work at the higher datarates, but the
mobo is forcing the lower rate on them. What do you reckon? Do you
have some ideas that I could try out?

DOs ,etc,,,
you've tested thoroughly.

i'd next trade the board for another (same model)

 

[RMC]

DOs ,etc,,,

you've tested thoroughly.

i'd next trade the board for another (same model)

I thought as much - thanks for confirming this suspicion. I'll get onto the
supplier tomorrow.

Cheers

RMC, England

 

[BigJIm]

well I will tell you this, I am running 2 dvd drives and one I could not get
to switch from the PIO mode to dma. I had to do a reinstall after sp2 bugger
my system up. After the install
all drives were now in the dma mode.
I would recommend a reinstall of windows xp.

 

[RMC]

well I will tell you this, I am running 2 dvd drives and one I could not
get to switch from the PIO mode to dma. I had to do a reinstall after sp2
bugger my system up. After the install
all drives were now in the dma mode.
I would recommend a reinstall of windows xp.

I'm in the middle of exactly that right now! Of course, *that too* has gone
pear-shaped ...I have a BSOD entitled "internal_power_error" which I'm
having to work round.

But, after\ afew more dozen hours of buggering about, I'll get to the bottom
of this. I refuse to give in. Resistance *isn't* futile.

8¬)

RMC,England

 

[David Maynard]

x-posted to alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt, comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage

Hello All

My Abit BD7-II motherboard stopped working recently, so I have upgraded to
an Abit AI7 motherboard (socket 478Intel).

The IBM hard drive (contains my XP SP2 OS) that used to run at UDMA5 speeds
on the BD7II mobo will only run at Multiword DMA2 speeds - 16 MB/s whereas
the sustained speed should be at least twice that. The drive is noticeably
slower when transferring jpegs or larger files - I should be able to run
UDMA5 which is 4-5 times faster, but I can't.

Have any other users seen UDMA5 capable hard drives that refuse to be seen
as such under Windows XP Sp2?

As you tested it 6 ways to sunday outside of XP, with the same results,
it's not an XP or SP2 issue.

Is there a workaround to this problem that anybody knows of?

I'm using Windows XP SP2 and in device manager I can see the onboard Intel
82801EB unltra ATA controller with the atapi.sys, pciide.sys and pciidex.sys
drivers.

I can also see the primary IDE driver details, saying that the transfer mode
should be DMA if available, and the current mode is Multi-word DMA mode 2.

The drive is an IBM Deskstar 120GXP IC35L100AVVA07 100GB IDE Hard Drive -
there are no other IDE devices on that channel (the DVD burner lives on the
secondary channel).

There aren't any BIOS settings that I can adjust to force the drive mode -
they have various settings such as LBA or Large or auto (I use auto).

You're looking in the wrong place in the BIOS. Go to your internal devices,
or peripherals, or whatever that board calls it, section and look at the
IDE channel settings (enabled, PIO mode, UDMA enable). Odds are you've got
UDMA disabled for some reason, 'safe settings' perhaps, so that it's being
forced to use PIO modes only (MWDMA 2 is a PIO mode).

I have tried different 80 way IDE cables to no avail. I have edited parts
of the XP registry to FORCE UDMA5 on the drive - it didn't work and MWDMA 2
got reasserted again.

I have tried two other hard drives (Seagate Barracuda 160GB and a Maxtor)
both of which are DMA capable, the Segate is a UDMA5 ATA100 drive and the
MAxtor is a UDMA2 drive - these also get identified as MWMDA mode 2 only.

Which indicates the IDE channel itself is being told to disable UDMA (see
above) and not anything drive or O.S. related.

<snip>

 

[BigJIm]

hang in there

I'm in the middle of exactly that right now! Of course, *that too* has
gone pear-shaped ...I have a BSOD entitled "internal_power_error" which
I'm having to work round.

But, after\ afew more dozen hours of buggering about, I'll get to the
bottom of this. I refuse to give in. Resistance *isn't* futile.

8¬)

RMC,England

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

'Refuse to be seen' is when they have been setup to report lower modes than they
in reality can support. Like you said, that is not the case.

As you tested it 6 ways to sunday outside of XP, with the same results,
it's not an XP or SP2 issue.

Like you say, that is BIOS settings, not device setup.
Strange how you know about "Multiword DMA2 speeds - 16 MB/s" and "UDMA5
which is 4-5 times faster" but don't know your way around in Bios Setup.

You're looking in the wrong place in the BIOS.
Setup.

Go to your internal devices,
or peripherals, or whatever that board calls it, section and look at the
IDE channel settings (enabled, PIO mode, UDMA enable). Odds are you've got
UDMA disabled for some reason, 'safe settings' perhaps,

so that it's being forced to use PIO modes only (MWDMA 2 is a PIO mode).

(Well, obviously not, or there wouldn't be different names for it)
Only if you think of PIO in terms of clock rates.

Which indicates the IDE channel itself is being told to

disable UDMA

To not (let it) setup/negotiate to any UDMA mode.

(see above) and not anything drive

or O.S. related.

Actually, it is when the driver is using the setup mode instead of negotiating it's own.

 

[JAD]

why are you people relating BIOS problems to XP sp2? The OS has no
effect on how the bios sees anything. Check your ribbons make sure
that the drives are not set to CS. Using 80 pin ribbons?

 

[David Maynard]

'Refuse to be seen' is when they have been setup to report lower modes than they
in reality can support. Like you said, that is not the case.




Like you say, that is BIOS settings, not device setup.
Strange how you know about "Multiword DMA2 speeds - 16 MB/s" and "UDMA5
which is 4-5 times faster" but don't know your way around in Bios Setup.




(Well, obviously not, or there wouldn't be different names for it)
Only if you think of PIO in terms of clock rates.




To not (let it) setup/negotiate to any UDMA mode.




Actually, it is when the driver is using the setup mode instead of negotiating it's own.

I wish you wouldn't shake and bake text from two different posters and then
leave my name at the top as if I wrote it.

 

[RMC]

It's now working at UDMA 5 speeds now, as verified in XP's devicemanager and
using a DOS boot disk to run Spinrite...want to know how? Read on !

My Abit BD7-II motherboard stopped working recently, so I have upgraded to
an Abit AI7 motherboard (socket 478Intel).

The IBM hard drive (contains my XP SP2 OS) that used to run at UDMA5
speeds on the BD7II mobo will only run at Multiword DMA2 speeds - 16 MB/s
whereas the sustained speed should be at least twice that.

Just to reiterate, I could ONLY get MWDMA mode 2 on any hard drive,
irrespective of IDE channel or cable or whether I used XP or a DOS based
utility.

I fixed it by re-installing Windows XP , including SP2. Thaks BigJim, your
idea worked but I don't know why it did. Evidence from my tests suggested
that that wouldn't have helped but it did. Great!

As soon as I did so, I rebooted the machine and booted up into a floppy-disk
based DOS environment. I ran Spinrite and also an IBM DOS utility - they
both confirmed UDMA5 available AND active, and showed MWDMA 2 as available
but greyed out.

I tried some benchmarking - and got about 53 MB/s instead of about 6 MB/s
which is all I could get when I started this thread with my MWDMA 2
problems.

I rebooted and went back up to the XP desktop - I went into device manager
and it too confirmed UDMA 5 working!

So, I now have the problem cured, but what was the cause?

It seems to me (I'm no expert) that the original XP OS forced amode onto the
drive or onto the mobo which even DOS couldn't re-set to a different
version. I understand that there's comms between BIOS and an OS at some
stage during boot up (and maybe when the desktop has been reached i.e.
normal running). Is it the case that some flash ROM area of the motherboard
can be set or cleared by a high level OS, so that machine-level modes can be
established?

Just to recap,
I did carry out very thorough testing and retesting
I did experience the problems in DOS as well as in XP
I did try different hardware where appropriate
I did try all of the relevant BIOS setup combinations available (can't
remember some of the details right now, but I do know my way round the BIOS
pages thankyou Folkert Rienstra - so perhaps this satisfies your curiosity).

If anyone can explain what has happened, I'd be very interested to hear. I
look forward to being educated by someone more knowledgeable. There's lots
of you here!

Again, many thanks for the help - all is now well (apart from the dozen or
so applications that I now need to reestablish due to the reinstall... oh
well)

RMC, England

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

why are you people relating BIOS problems to XP sp2?

The OS has no effect on how the bios sees anything.

Sounds like you have just been proven different.

Check your ribbons

make sure that the drives are not set to CS.

Clueless troll.

Using 80 pin ribbons?

[snip]

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

It's now working at UDMA 5 speeds now, as verified in XP's devicemanager and
using a DOS boot disk to run Spinrite...want to know how? Read on !


Just to reiterate, I could ONLY get MWDMA mode 2 on any hard drive,
irrespective of IDE channel or cable or whether I used XP or a DOS based
utility.

I fixed it by re-installing Windows XP , including SP2. Thaks BigJim, your
idea worked but I don't know why it did. Evidence from my tests suggested
that that wouldn't have helped but it did. Great!

As soon as I did so, I rebooted the machine and booted up into a floppy-disk
based DOS environment. I ran Spinrite and also an IBM DOS utility - they
both confirmed UDMA5 available AND active, and showed MWDMA 2 as
available but greyed out.

I tried some benchmarking - and got about 53 MB/s instead of about 6 MB/s
which is all I could get when I started this thread with my MWDMA 2 problems.

I rebooted and went back up to the XP desktop - I went into device manager
and it too confirmed UDMA 5 working!

So, I now have the problem cured, but what was the cause?

It seems to me (I'm no expert) that the original XP OS forced amode onto
the drive or onto the mobo which even DOS couldn't re-set to a different
version. I understand that there's comms between BIOS and an OS at some
stage during boot up (and maybe when the desktop has been reached i.e.
normal running). Is it the case that some flash ROM area of the motherboard
can be set or cleared by a high level OS, so that machine-level modes can be
established?

Just to recap,
I did carry out very thorough testing and retesting
I did experience the problems in DOS as well as in XP
I did try different hardware where appropriate

I did try all of the relevant BIOS setup combinations available

But you failed to mention that/make that clear.

(can't remember some of the details right now,

There you go again ....

but I do know my way round the BIOS
pages thankyou Folkert Rienstra - so perhaps this satisfies your curiosity).

Mentioning the include in BIOS page but not the device setup page suggested different.

If anyone can explain what has happened, I'd be very interested to hear.

It probably was a registry setting that was affecting CMOS.
It would have been interesting to know what would have happened if you had cleared
CMOS and then checked from DOS.

I look forward to being educated by someone more knowledgeable.

Alexander Grigoriev Re: Corrupted Files -- Is This Possible?
did a few suggestions although I don't think it covered your case.

There's lots of you here!

Again, many thanks for the help - all is now well (apart from the dozen or
so applications that I now need to reestablish due to the reinstall... oh
well)

And all that to get rid of few lines in the registry, probably.

 

[JAD]

stupid, first I am far from a troll

second the OS has no effect on the bios. period

why are you people relating BIOS problems to XP sp2?

The OS has no effect on how the bios sees anything.

Sounds like you have just been proven different.

Check your ribbons

make sure that the drives are not set to CS.

Clueless troll.

Using 80 pin ribbons?

[snip]