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

[rmc]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

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

 

[BigJim]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

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

"RMC" <RMC@craven.worldonline.co.uk> wrote in message
news:2qj8m3FvilasU1@uni-berlin.de...
> 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
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

BigJIm wrote:
> 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]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

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


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

>> 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.

 

[rmc]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

> 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

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

"RMC" <RMC@craven.worldonline.co.uk> in
news:2qjdceF1081bbU1@uni-berlin.de:


> 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)

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

RMC wrote:
> 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>

 

[rmc]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

> 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]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

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 ah heck
my system up. After the install
all drives were now in the dma mode.
I would recommend a reinstall of windows xp.


"RMC" <RMC@craven.worldonline.co.uk> wrote in message
news:2qjdceF1081bbU1@uni-berlin.de...
> 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
>
>
>> did you do a clean install of xp when you changed the motherboards?
>
>>> 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.
>
>

 

[rmc]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

"BigJIm" <Jim10277@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:8s41d.165266$9d6.38699@attbi_s54...
> 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
> ah heck 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

 

[BigJim]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

hang in there
"RMC" <RMC@home.com> wrote in message
news:4144d84a$0$58547$ed2619ec@ptn-nntp-reader03.plus.net...
>
> "BigJIm" <Jim10277@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:8s41d.165266$9d6.38699@attbi_s54...
>> 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
>> ah heck 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
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

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


On Sun, 12 Sep 2004 16:35:23 +0100, "RMC"
<RMC@craven.worldonline.co.uk> wrote:

>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
>

 

[rmc]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

> 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

 

[jad]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

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?


"RMC" <RMC@craven.worldonline.co.uk> wrote in message
news:2qj8m3FvilasU1@uni-berlin.de...
> 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
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

"David Maynard" <dNOTmayn@ev1.net> wrote in message news:10k9pnpjm944kac@corp.supernews.com
> RMC wrote:
> > 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?

'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.
>
> >
> > 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 ultra 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).

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.

>
> >
> > 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

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.

>
> <snip>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

Folkert Rienstra wrote:

> "David Maynard" <dNOTmayn@ev1.net> wrote in message news:10k9pnpjm944kac@corp.supernews.com
>
>>RMC wrote:
>>
>>>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?
>
>
> '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.
>>
>>
>>>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 ultra 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).
>
>
> 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.
>
>
>>>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
>
>
> 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.
>
>
>><snip>

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]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

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

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

"JAD" <Kapasitor@coldmail.com> wrote in message news:10kc33b5tpmdm31@corp.supernews.com
> 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?
>
>
> "RMC" <RMC@craven.worldonline.co.uk> wrote in message news:2qj8m3FvilasU1@uni-berlin.de...
> > 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.
> >

[snip]

 

[jad]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

stupid, first I am far from a troll

second the OS has no effect on the bios. period


"Folkert Rienstra" <see_reply-to@myweb.nl> wrote in message
news:2qoh84F11p5clU1@uni-berlin.de...
> "JAD" <Kapasitor@coldmail.com> wrote in message
news:10kc33b5tpmdm31@corp.supernews.com
> > 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?
> >
> >
> > "RMC" <RMC@craven.worldonline.co.uk> wrote in message
news:2qj8m3FvilasU1@uni-berlin.de...
> > > 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.
> > >
>
> [snip]

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

"RMC" <RMC@home.com> wrote in message news:2qmq3jF1171hqU1@uni-berlin.de
> 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

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.

>
> RMC, England

 

[jad]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

and your callin people trolls...get out from under the bridge


"Folkert Rienstra" <see_reply-to@myweb.nl> wrote in message
news:2qoh85F11p5clU2@uni-berlin.de...
> "RMC" <RMC@home.com> wrote in message
news:2qmq3jF1171hqU1@uni-berlin.de
> > 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
>
> 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.
>
> >
> > RMC, England

 

[rmc]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

> But you failed to mention that/make that clear.

I should have made allowances for those of us whose first language isn't
English, you are right.

> 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.

That's quite an assumption. I did clear CMOS several times and I did check
from DOS several times. The results I achieved I recorded and summarised
and they still stand.

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

That's a bit of a leap of faith! Can you identify which registry lines you
are referring to? It would be interesting to see what theyinclude. As I
mentioned in my original summary, I did carry out some reg edits that should
have cleared any error detection and also should have forced a higher mode
onto the drives, but that didn't work.

Are you sure you are really trying to help ? Your tone comes across as
particularly abrasive.

Cheers

RMC, England

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

<RMC@work.com> wrote in message news:41471c3a$0$745$69cb9d16@trog.dstl.gov.uk
> > But you failed to mention that/make that clear.
>
> I should have made allowances for those of us whose first language isn't
> English, you are right.

Yes, English and clairvoyancy obviously go together.

>
> > 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.
>
> That's quite an assumption.

Yes, forgive me, since english is not my first language I'm not clairvoyant so
therefor I have to 'assume' on the minimal facts that you so graciously provided.

> I did clear CMOS several times

.... but again failed to mention that/make that clear.

> and I did check from DOS several times.

The point being not to run the OS in between.

> The results I achieved I recorded and summarised and they still stand.

Oh? Did someone dispute them?

>
> > And all that to get rid of few lines in the registry, probably.
>
> That's a bit of a leap of faith!

Oh? Try running the OS without it and let's see.

> Can you identify which registry lines you are referring to?

Having a problem with understanding the concept of "probably"?

> It would be interesting to see what they include.

Well, if I knew, I wouldn't have used the word "probably", now would I.

> As I mentioned in my original summary, I did carry out

> some reg edits

So?

> that should have cleared

> any error detection

'Any'? 'Some'?

> and also should have forced a higher mode onto the drives, but that didn't work.

Right, so they weren't the 'right' ones. 'Any' and 'some' didn't cut it.

>
> Are you sure you are really trying to help ?

Of course not.
I only provided the link to Alexanders post to put you on a wild goose chase.
Of course you knew that since you are a native english speaker and therefor
are clairvoyant and didn't even bother to look it up. Good for you.

> Your tone comes across as particularly abrasive.

Yeah, so much different from your's.

>
> Cheers
>
> RMC, England

 

[rmc]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

Folkert

> I only provided the link to Alexanders post to put you on a wild goose
chase.
> Of course you knew that since you are a native english speaker and
therefor
> are clairvoyant and didn't even bother to look it up. Good for you.
> > Your tone comes across as particularly abrasive.
> Yeah, so much different from your's.

Our conversation seems to be descending into a flame of sorts - there's a
similarly titled thread in alty.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit which I started
and is getting quite technical. If you'd like to come over, you might enjoy
joining in with some of the technical discussion to do with ESCD clearing.
There's some people who have also come up with some good ideas ( a couple of
which are a little difficult to follow)

If you're interested, have a look for posts entitled "Fixed it! was AI7 and
ATA100 hard drive" dated yesterday (14th September).

cheers Folkert

RMC

 

[jad]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.storage (More info?)

kill im with kindness eh?............... just tell him to STFU, He
lives under a bridge hassling people crossing.


<RMC@work.com> wrote in message
news:41480876$0$745$69cb9d16@trog.dstl.gov.uk...
> Folkert
>
> > I only provided the link to Alexanders post to put you on a wild
goose
> chase.
> > Of course you knew that since you are a native english speaker and
> therefor
> > are clairvoyant and didn't even bother to look it up. Good for
you.
> > > Your tone comes across as particularly abrasive.
> > Yeah, so much different from your's.
>
> Our conversation seems to be descending into a flame of sorts -
there's a
> similarly titled thread in alty.comp.periphs.mainboard.abit which I
started
> and is getting quite technical. If you'd like to come over, you
might enjoy
> joining in with some of the technical discussion to do with ESCD
clearing.
> There's some people who have also come up with some good ideas ( a
couple of
> which are a little difficult to follow)
>
> If you're interested, have a look for posts entitled "Fixed it! was
AI7 and
> ATA100 hard drive" dated yesterday (14th September).
>
> cheers Folkert
>
> RMC
>
>