Promise Controller - Clunking Drive

[JohnB]

XP PRO was installed on a WD 13GB HDD, while the drive was connected to
an onboard controller. I loaded the Promise drivers, and moved the drive
to an Ultra133 TX2 Promise controller. The drive is shown in MODE 4 in
the controller BIOS. As soon as XP begins booting, the drive begins to
clunk, and clunks continuously. The OS is super slow-it could be the
drive is being turned off and on as it clunks.

Win98 runs fine on a separate partition on this drive.

To install XP Pro, I used partition magic to prepare for a new OS. I
believe I had the identical problem when installing XP on a clean drive
also.

I have tried Promise drivers .29, .39, .43, and the controller has
its latest BIOS.

There are many posts about this, see

"Promise controller damages Maxtor hard drive (?)"

in group:

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage

but I am still looking for a possible solution.

Thanks,

John

 

[Shenan Stanley]

XP PRO was installed on a WD 13GB HDD, while the drive was connected
to an onboard controller. I loaded the Promise drivers, and moved
the drive to an Ultra133 TX2 Promise controller. The drive is shown
in MODE 4 in the controller BIOS. As soon as XP begins booting, the
drive begins to clunk, and clunks continuously. The OS is super
slow-it could be the drive is being turned off and on as it clunks.

Win98 runs fine on a separate partition on this drive.

To install XP Pro, I used partition magic to prepare for a new OS. I
believe I had the identical problem when installing XP on a clean
drive also.

I have tried Promise drivers .29, .39, .43, and the controller has
its latest BIOS.

There are many posts about this, see

"Promise controller damages Maxtor hard drive (?)"

in group:

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage

but I am still looking for a possible solution.

If the drive is "clunking" - it is damaged.

Turn off the PC..
Disconnect the ribbon cable from the drive - leave the power.
Turn on the PC..

Still clunking..?

Dead/Dying drive. If you still have the option of getting data off the
thing - do so.

 

[JohnB]

If the drive is "clunking" - it is damaged.

Turn off the PC..
Disconnect the ribbon cable from the drive - leave the power.
Turn on the PC..

Still clunking..?

Dead/Dying drive. If you still have the option of getting data off the
thing - do so.

Shenan, it is clear in my post that there is nothing wrong with the
drive. Please don't post advice to me. Thank you.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

XP PRO was installed on a WD 13GB HDD, while the drive was connected
to an onboard controller. I loaded the Promise drivers, and moved
the drive to an Ultra133 TX2 Promise controller. The drive is shown
in MODE 4 in the controller BIOS. As soon as XP begins booting,
the drive begins to clunk, and clunks continuously. The OS is super
slow-it could be the drive is being turned off and on as it clunks.

Win98 runs fine on a separate partition on this drive.

To install XP Pro, I used partition magic to prepare for a new OS.
I believe I had the identical problem when installing XP on a clean
drive also.

I have tried Promise drivers .29, .39, .43, and the controller has
its latest BIOS.

There are many posts about this, see

"Promise controller damages Maxtor hard drive (?)"

in group:

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage

but I am still looking for a possible solution.

If the drive is "clunking" - it is damaged.

Turn off the PC..
Disconnect the ribbon cable from the drive - leave the power.
Turn on the PC..

Still clunking..?

Dead/Dying drive. If you still have the option of getting data off
the thing - do so.

Shenan, it is clear in my post that there is nothing wrong with the
drive. Please don't post advice to me. Thank you.

John,

No - it is not clear.

You never stated the drive would work fine AFTER it started clunking.
Sure - it boots and works in 98 - but I have seen OPEN drives do that and
they were far from "fine". Windows 98 booting is far from a trying test.
*grin*

*If* the drive is clunking even if not connected to the controller at all -
then the drive or the power source to the drive is at fault. Doesn't matter
if it happened because you hooked it to the controller, loaded up some "bum
driver" or if it happened because it was raining in some remote village
somewhere thousands of miles away from you - if you performed the test I
suggested and it clunks - it is the drive. You have neither confirmed or
denied this test - unless you are inferring it does not clunk with the
Windows 98 boot on the same configuration?

Also if you believe this to be a driver issue - what does Promise have to
say? It's hard to troubleshoot when you have only part of the story.

I have both controllers you have on a few systems.. Those systems are
working fine - one with a triple boot system on it including XP and the
latest driver from Promise. Admittedly - they are not Maxtors (I avoid them
like a plague) they have Western Digitals - but so is yours (although be it
an ancient Western Digital in your case.)

Which model is your 13GB drive? (AC31300, WD135AA, WD135BA, WD135BB,
WD136AA, WD136BA or WD136BB?)

You say you have the latest BIOS - have you tried downgrading that? The
latest for your TX2 is 5/6/2003 - 2.20.0.15. With a drive that old, the
fixes that the latest version provided (Fixed cannot detect some ATAPI
devices) is likely unnecessary for you. Perhaps you should try the prior
BIOS (9/30/2002 - 2.20.0.14.)

You have tried all but one of the drivers for XP (and the one driver you are
not using is so close to the latest, it is laughable) - although changing
that during a "drive clunking" session may be less than reliable.

Does the drive work when it is not connected to that controller? I cannot
see the drive needing any of the features of such a controller - and should
work fine on just about any IDE controller - including built-in controllers.

Have you tried a repair installation for your XP?

 

[Admiral Q]

Regardless of the I/O controller it is connected to - if it is clunking,
then something damaging is amiss - it could have been damaged when you
changed it, you could have loaded the wrong promise controller drivers, you
could have set the drives geometry incorrectly in the BIOS, the promise
controller could have autodetected the incorrect drive and loaded the wrong
geometry, or it could be ....
As has been stated, a clunking drive is a damaged drive, regardless of
whether Win98 or WinXP finally boots and is able to use it - it is only a
matter of time before it goes "poof".
But if you wish to be hard-headed and conceded, fine, be that way, when
you loose what ever precise data you have on the drive, then it'll be one of
those lessons learned from the "school of hard knocks".

--
Star Fleet Admiral Q @ your service!
"Google is your Friend!"
www.google.com

***********************************************

 

[JohnB]

Regardless of the I/O controller it is connected to - if it is clunking,
then something damaging is amiss - it could have been damaged when you
changed it, you could have loaded the wrong promise controller drivers, you
could have set the drives geometry incorrectly in the BIOS, the promise
controller could have autodetected the incorrect drive and loaded the wrong
geometry, or it could be ....
As has been stated, a clunking drive is a damaged drive, regardless of
whether Win98 or WinXP finally boots and is able to use it - it is only a
matter of time before it goes "poof".
But if you wish to be hard-headed and conceded, fine, be that way, when
you loose what ever precise data you have on the drive, then it'll be one of
those lessons learned from the "school of hard knocks".

I am in troubleshooting HE**.

It clunks when WINXP loads-in otherwords, WINXP is switching it on/off or
similar. Under no other condition does it show any sign of a problem.

I don't have any needed data. I am trying to load XP Pro on this hard
drive to test whether or not XP will run on this system, before I upgrade
my main drive.

If it runs in other operating systems, without making a sound, then it is
a DETECTION problem, with the only OS that is having any problem with it,
XP.

If it were incorrect in the main BIOS, or the Promise BIOS, then it would
have a problem with the dual-boot OS on the same drive.

I have been through the school of hard knocks. I just don't know what
kind of sampling XP is doing when it is booting up. That is a simply
quandry, and someone will know it.

thanks,

john

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

John;
That clunking is a bad indicator.
There is nothing in your post making it clear the hard drive is OK.
IMMEDIATELY back-up all important data.
Go to the hard drive manufacturers website and get their hard drive
diagnostics.
Do not assume because Windows 98 seems to run fine there is no problem, you
are gambling your data.

 

[Alex Nichol]

XP PRO was installed on a WD 13GB HDD, while the drive was connected to
an onboard controller. I loaded the Promise drivers, and moved the drive
to an Ultra133 TX2 Promise controller. The drive is shown in MODE 4 in
the controller BIOS. As soon as XP begins booting, the drive begins to
clunk, and clunks continuously. The OS is super slow-it could be the
drive is being turned off and on as it clunks.

You will need the proper drivers for the Promise card installed. If
you look for the card in Device manager, d-click - Drivers and update
driver you should find ones available on the XP CD;

 

[JohnB]

You will need the proper drivers for the Promise card installed. If
you look for the card in Device manager, d-click - Drivers and update
driver you should find ones available on the XP CD;

I solved the problem. XP was unable to deal with a USB PCI Controller
card, using the same IRQ as the Promise Card. I removed the USB card, and
FINALLY, was able to install XP Pro.

I thought that in XP, IRQ's finally were being utilized the way they were
supposed to, and that this kind of interference wouldn't occur. My fault
for this assumption.

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I solved the problem. XP was unable to deal with a USB PCI Controller
card, using the same IRQ as the Promise Card. I removed the USB
card, and FINALLY, was able to install XP Pro.

I thought that in XP, IRQ's finally were being utilized the way they
were supposed to, and that this kind of interference wouldn't occur.
My fault for this assumption.

Yes.

A general description of IRQ sharing in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314068