New HD - XP refuses to recognise UDMA, dma 2 only

[Cheffy]

recently purchased a diamondmax ultra 16 250 gb hd, and installed it
as a second HD as a master on the secondary ide channel (it's not the
boot drive) using the cable provided (80 wire) and the maxblast
software. The drive works, but responds only in multi-word dma 2 mode.

My boot drive, a 20 gb maxtor fireball, functions fine in UDMA 5. I
have a 1.5 GHz P4, SiS motherboard, running win XP pro. My AMI bios
sets the 250 gb hd to UDMA 6, but windows only allows multi-word dma 2,

despite the other HD set as UDMA 5. It would appear that a
miscommunication between the bios and XP is occurring. Contacting
maxtor gave no useful info.

I've tried uninstalling the secondary channel and letting windows
reinstall it, updating my IDE drivers, altering registry values to
force it into UDMA and under device manager dma if available is
selected. NO dice. I have AMI bios that autoselects for UDMA so it
cannot be manually adjusted, but udma is recognised.


The 20 gb drive under the primary ide channel as a master, and the 250
gb drive as the secondary master. Changing the 250 gb drive to the
primary slave still keeps the multi-word dma 2 mode. Changing cables
makes no difference.


I tested the HD using the powerblast software, no problems, used other
freeware, no problems noted. But the transfer rate remains
consistently low at 16.4 mb/s, no ups, no downs. It's obvious that the

restriction in performance is due to it's inability to use UDMA instead

of multi-word dma 2.


I don't want to do a clean install of XP because of the time involved
with updates and making configuration changes. I've read in forums the

problem may be linked to the ESCD and that clearing it may solve the
problem, but I'm not certain about doing this. Would installing an
additional IDE controller card and forcing a new channel help?


I am out of ideas. PLease help!


Jason

 

[Robert Gault]

recently purchased a diamondmax ultra 16 250 gb hd, and installed it
as a second HD as a master on the secondary ide channel (it's not the
boot drive) using the cable provided (80 wire) and the maxblast
software. The drive works, but responds only in multi-word dma 2 mode.

My boot drive, a 20 gb maxtor fireball, functions fine in UDMA 5. I
have a 1.5 GHz P4, SiS motherboard, running win XP pro. My AMI bios
sets the 250 gb hd to UDMA 6, but windows only allows multi-word dma 2,

despite the other HD set as UDMA 5. It would appear that a
miscommunication between the bios and XP is occurring. Contacting
maxtor gave no useful info.

I've tried uninstalling the secondary channel and letting windows
reinstall it, updating my IDE drivers, altering registry values to
force it into UDMA and under device manager dma if available is
selected. NO dice. I have AMI bios that autoselects for UDMA so it
cannot be manually adjusted, but udma is recognised.


The 20 gb drive under the primary ide channel as a master, and the 250
gb drive as the secondary master. Changing the 250 gb drive to the
primary slave still keeps the multi-word dma 2 mode. Changing cables
makes no difference.


I tested the HD using the powerblast software, no problems, used other
freeware, no problems noted. But the transfer rate remains
consistently low at 16.4 mb/s, no ups, no downs. It's obvious that the

restriction in performance is due to it's inability to use UDMA instead

of multi-word dma 2.


I don't want to do a clean install of XP because of the time involved
with updates and making configuration changes. I've read in forums the

problem may be linked to the ESCD and that clearing it may solve the
problem, but I'm not certain about doing this. Would installing an
additional IDE controller card and forcing a new channel help?


I am out of ideas. PLease help!


Jason

It is not WinXP as on my system one hard drive is UDMA5 and the other
UDMA6. You have not said how you know the second drive is UDMA2. Was it
by looking at IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers in device manager?

Does your SiS motherboard have a driver package similar to VIA? If so do
you have the latest motherboard drivers installed?

 

[Cheffy]

Problem is It's stuck in plain old MW DMA-2 mode, not udma mode. Win
XP won't recognise it as a UDMA-6 device in device manager. My SiS
driver has a little program that shows the drive info and notes it is
UDMA capable, but only running as DMA-2. SiSoft Sandra confirms the
same thing. So I've seen three programs that tell me what mode it is
in. Plus, I've run HDtach3 which noted it achieve a maximum (and
constant) speed of 16.7 mb/s, exactly the upper limit of DMA-2.

My AMIBIOS notes it in UDMA 6 mode. But since it auto-detects this,
it's not clear if it only sees it as UDMA capable or actually makes it
UDMA 6.

I haven't updated my bios because i'm not 100% sure of my my mobo brand
- very obscure, bios readers note it as a ECS M930LR - ECS doesn't list
that model. But PCCHIPS lists a M930L, and looks <nearly> identical.
I might update the bios eventually, but until someone confirms this I
won't. Probably end up buying a new IDE controller unless I can find
another way. Not sure the controller would help anyway.

 

[Robert Gault]

My guess is that you have not installed the needed SiS drivers that
permit the motherboard to talk to the WinXP software. You could try
File Name ide204a.zip
Version v2.04a
Release Date 2003-11-18
Support Products
SiS964L, SiS964, SiS963L, SiS963, SiS962L, SiS962, SiS961, SiS630ST,
SiS730SE, SiS540, SiS730S, SiS735, SiS630, SiS630E, SiS630ET, SiS630S,
SiS635,
File Size 5,432KB
Support OS Windows 95, Windows ME, Windows 98, Windows 98 SE, Windows
2000, Windows XP

The above is available from the SiS download web page.

With the BIOS reporting UDMA6, the drive is set for that. If WinXP can't
see that, WinXP needs help talking to the BIOS/motherboard. My guess is
the ide driver is missing but you can check to make sure the other
drivers are up to date.

 

[Cheffy]

Thanks for the prompt reply!

Well, I figured something similar, and I downloaded those drivers the
other day but it didn't seem to help. I just tried something to see
what would happen - I removed the primary and secondary channels in
device manager as well as the ide controller. I then shut the computer
down, and cleared the cmos. I figured this should clear the bios and
windows of hardware info, and start everything fresh. Well, I
reconfigured my bios, reloaded windows, and winxp reloaded all the
hardware and my SiS drivers. I tried loading them manually, but
windows says the current driver are already updated. Now after loading
this hardware win xp wanted to restart. Before that, I took a peek at
the devices on the channels. For the primary channel with my boot
drive it noted DMA enabled, but did not list a current transfer mode
and showed "Not Applicable". But for my 250 gb drive it showed
"Multi-word DMA-2"! As always. It's as though it is hard wired in,
simply bizarre.

I did try the drive on another (older) system, but it was using win
2000. It showed the transfer mode for both the boot drive and my
drive as "Udma Mode". No listing of UDMA type. The mobo probably only
supported UDMA-66 anyways. Not sure what to make of this.

BTW, my IDE drive version is:

5.1.1039.2041

The one from that package. The drivers for the primary and secondary
channels are from microsoft \system32, version:
date: 01/07/2001
ver:5.1.2600.2180

I'm assuming that this is for the channels themselves.

My next step is that I'm installing winxp temporarily on the new drive.
I will remove my current boot drive and set up the 250 gb as the
master. Then I will install WinXP (with SP2) and see if the drive is
recognised as UDMA-5 or 6. If it still says DMA-2, I plan to return
the drive. Might just be my hardware, but I'm not taking any chances.
Besides, the drive is supposed to be "whisper quiet", but when under
heavy use makes a racket compared to my older 20 gb. Probably nothing,
but better safe than sorry.

What do you think?

 

[Robert Gault]

<snip>
Might just be my hardware, but I'm not taking any chances.
Besides, the drive is supposed to be "whisper quiet", but when under
heavy use makes a racket compared to my older 20 gb. Probably nothing,
but better safe than sorry.

Sounds like a high speed drive. I have a Maxtor 6Y080L0 that is supposed
to have a "quite" mode. I don't have the program that checks/sets that
and far as I can tell, that program is no longer available. The drive
has a definite ratcheting sound when doing a lot of seeking.

I suggest that if you have not yet done so, obtain any manufacturer's
diagnostic programs for your drive. If the drive checks out good, then
there is some flaky WinXP installation problem or SiS motherboard problem.

I don't have any more suggestions for you other than general ones. Don't
make multiple changes before running a test. If something changes, you
won't know what caused it. Make tests on your system with all cards
removed except the video and all drives disconnected except for the
problem drive. If the operating system is not on the problem drive, then
connect it as a master on the second cable making sure that the jumpers
on the drive are set correctly.

I think you said the drive works in UDMA mode on another computer. If
that is true, there should be nothing wrong with the drive.

 

[Cheffy]

Yeah, it did seem to work in UDMA mode on another system. It was
running win 2k and older hardware than mine. Hoiwever win2k lists the
tranfer mode as simply "UDMA" or something to that effect, does not
specify. SO it might not be accurate either.

I tried maxtor's diagnostic tool PowerMax, as well as HD3Tech and
SiSoft Sandra. All seem to indicate the drive is A-okay, so I should
be less paranoid about it.

I've tried setting the drive as a master on the second with jumpers, as
cable select, even tried limiting the size to 34 GB with the jumper to
see if that helped. Nope. Unshakable!

Probably going to pick up a PCI IDE ATA133 controller card tomorrow,
see if that makes a difference. If not, I give up. Well, I'll
probably try loading winxp on the new drive, but that's about it. I'll
run it in crappy DMA-2 mode and wait until I buy a new system (probably
this fall some time). not a big deal I suppose, just have to wait a
awhile when transfering files to/from the drive. I'll keep the old CPU
as a spare system - hey, it works fine otherwise, just a tad sluggish.

Thanks a bunch for the suggestions. I haven't had a lot of reponses in
the forums/groups I've posted, but those who have responded have been
great! I really appreciate your time and assistance.

Chef

 

[Cheffy]

Okay, turns out it was the BIOS after all. I didn't update the BIOS
for fear of using the wrong one, but the use of an Adaptec ATA 133 pci
card saved the day. NOw it runs happily in UDMA 6, with an average
54.1 mb/s transfer rate and burst speed of 110.4 mb/s.

As a note, I had to use the card in the 1st PCI slot, in any other slot
it would get hung up on it's own BIOS looking for a drive. If I
unhooked the drive cable, it would load after a bit of a wait. Slots
2-5 probably shut down after initial recognition in BIOS until the OS
is opened, but since it hung up before entering the OS that didn't
matter.

Thanks for all the help!

Cheffy