Stuck in PIO mode

[Dig]

I have a Win2K system with svcpk 4. I have 2 hard drives on a cable and one
of them is showing UltraDMA while the other one only PIO mode. I tried
switching the drives on the cable, new cable, seperating the drives on two
seperate cables, uninstalling the channels and eating breakfast. All to no
avail.

Then I remembered I had another drive only 60GB but I plugged it in were the
Maxtor usually sits and the new drive came up in UltraDMA mode.

I read somewhere that I should turn off "write verify". Does anyone know
where I can find this and is it a good idea to do this?

Any other ideas appreciated.
Thanks

 

[Carrie Garth \(MVP\)]

Hi Dig,

If by writing "write verify" you mean the "Write Cache Enabled" Feature... When disk
caching is disabled, loss of data is avoided when events occur that prevent your
computer from shutting down properly (like a power failure). Enabling disk write
caching may increase operating system performance. For more information to help you
decide whether or not you want to use this feature see the following Microsoft
Knowledge Base Articles:

KB233541 - Description of Advanced Disk Properties Features
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=233541

KB259716 - HOW TO: Manually Enable/Disable Disk Write Caching
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=259716

KB332023 - Slow Disk Performance When Write Caching Is Enabled
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=332023

BTW, AFAIK the "Write Cache Enabled" setting has nothing to do with your drive using
PIO mode instead of UDMA mode. For that problem I suggest that you post in the
following newsgroup: microsoft.public.win2000.hardware. Make sure you include more
information such as: hard drive specs, relevant error message found in Event Viewer
(eventvwr.msc) such as repeated DMA errors, etc.

See the following article for some reasons that an ATA or ATAPI device will be in PIO
mode. Although written for Windows XP, as far as I can tell the information applies
to Windows 2000 also.

DMA Mode for ATA/ATAPI Devices in Windows XP
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hwdev/tech/storage/IDE-DMA_Print.mspx