drive access slow with A7N8X dlx

[Bitsbucket]

OK,
Here is the deal, I am running the drivers that came with the board, the
ones on the CD they are nForce 2 Ide drivers. I am not using sata. I have a
swcond promise controller card in the machine because I have more than 4 IDE
devices. Here is the hookup
On Board Controller:
Primary, Master is a Maxtor 8meg cache 80 gig
Slave is a 52X CD-Rom drive
Secondary Master is a CD-RW 52X32X52
Slave is a Pioneer slot type DVD player
Promise Controller
Master 80 gig WD with 8 meg cache
Slave 120 gig WD with 8 meg cache

Here are the transfer modes:
On board controller
Primary channel
master is ultra DMA mode 6.............Maxtor HD
slave is Multi-page DMA mode 2....52X CD rom drive
Secondary Channel:
master ultra DMA mode 2
slave Ultra DMA mode 4

I'd have to check at boot to see what the tranfer modes are for the promise
controller but I do know that they are both in ultra DMA mode (no multi word
crap) I think this is my prob????? because drive "C" seems to be the slowest
to open, and display files
Any ideas?
Thanks, Bitsbucket.......OH here is a machine config list.-
Machine Configuration:
A7N8X Deluxe, 2500+ Barton core@200
MHz FSB = 3200+
ATI Radeon AIW 7500
Extra Promise ATA-133 Controller
Lite-On 52X Burner
Pioneer Slot type DVD drive
52X CD-Rom drive
Maxtor 80 Gig w/8meg cache (boot)
WD 80 Gig w/8meg cache
WD 120 Gig w/8meg cache
1 Gig of Komusa PC-3500 memory w/
Copper heatsinks (512 X 2)
Solid Copper CPU heatsink w/7K rpm fan
(can you say LOUD?)
2 exhaust fans in the back of the case, 1
intake fan in front of case
Allied True Power 450 Watt power supply
(AMD Approved list pwr supply)
Antec Aluminum Case
TIA
Bitsbucket

 

[William Barnes]

My suggestions would be: (A) remove your 52X CD-ROM drive - in general, you
shouldn't mix HDs and optical drives on the same IDE channel because it
causes performance problems; and (B) put your extra HDs on separate channels
on your Promise controller (presuming it's a 2-channel card - don't know too
many single-port IDE controller cards). Oh yeah, and make sure you're using
the right IDE cables: 80-wire Ultra ATA cables for the HDs, 40-wire ones for
the optical drives. [The 80-wire cables are more densely packed than the
40-wire ones, so they should be easy to tell apart.]

See if that helps and get back to us.

 

[Bitsbucket]

Hi,
Does it cause problems to use 80 wire cables on optical drives? I think I am
using ALL 80 wire cables.....
and yes I can put the 2 drives on the promise card to masters, (channel 1
and channel 2)
I want to keep the 52X CD, I use it for regular reading of CD's and copying
CD's I have found that using a burner for reading just make it die sooner.
Thanks for the input I will do as suggested, except keep the CD rom drive,
but I'll put it on a channel without hard drives......maybe the slave to the
DVD drive? or the burner?
Thanks
Bitsbucket

My suggestions would be: (A) remove your 52X CD-ROM drive - in general, you
shouldn't mix HDs and optical drives on the same IDE channel because it
causes performance problems; and (B) put your extra HDs on separate channels
on your Promise controller (presuming it's a 2-channel card - don't know too
many single-port IDE controller cards). Oh yeah, and make sure you're using
the right IDE cables: 80-wire Ultra ATA cables for the HDs, 40-wire ones for
the optical drives. [The 80-wire cables are more densely packed than the
40-wire ones, so they should be easy to tell apart.]

See if that helps and get back to us.

OK,
Here is the deal, I am running the drivers that came with the board, the
ones on the CD they are nForce 2 Ide drivers. I am not using sata. I

have

a
swcond promise controller card in the machine because I have more than 4 IDE
devices. Here is the hookup
On Board Controller:
Primary, Master is a Maxtor 8meg cache 80 gig
Slave is a 52X CD-Rom drive
Secondary Master is a CD-RW 52X32X52
Slave is a Pioneer slot type DVD player
Promise Controller
Master 80 gig WD with 8 meg cache
Slave 120 gig WD with 8 meg cache

Here are the transfer modes:
On board controller
Primary channel
master is ultra DMA mode 6.............Maxtor HD
slave is Multi-page DMA mode 2....52X CD rom drive
Secondary Channel:
master ultra DMA mode 2
slave Ultra DMA mode 4

I'd have to check at boot to see what the tranfer modes are for the promise
controller but I do know that they are both in ultra DMA mode (no multi word
crap) I think this is my prob????? because drive "C" seems to be the slowest
to open, and display files
Any ideas?
Thanks, Bitsbucket.......OH here is a machine config list.-
Machine Configuration:
A7N8X Deluxe, 2500+ Barton core@200
MHz FSB = 3200+
ATI Radeon AIW 7500
Extra Promise ATA-133 Controller
Lite-On 52X Burner
Pioneer Slot type DVD drive
52X CD-Rom drive
Maxtor 80 Gig w/8meg cache (boot)
WD 80 Gig w/8meg cache
WD 120 Gig w/8meg cache
1 Gig of Komusa PC-3500 memory w/
Copper heatsinks (512 X 2)
Solid Copper CPU heatsink w/7K rpm fan
(can you say LOUD?)
2 exhaust fans in the back of the case, 1
intake fan in front of case
Allied True Power 450 Watt power supply
(AMD Approved list pwr supply)
Antec Aluminum Case
TIA
Bitsbucket