Tom's Hardware > Forum > Storage > Hard Disks > Ata 66 problem
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MadQaw   03-07-2003 at 11:32:17 AM

Hi there, I'm new around and I sincerely hope that you can help me on this problem i've got.
I have in my system 2 hard disks, both Seagate Barracuda, ST38410A and ST38421A. The motherboard is Via Apollo PRO 133A based, made by LuckyStar. SOme time ago i had only the ST38410A in my system and evrything went fine, it recognized it as ATA66, no problem at all.
Now i have as boot drive the other drive which has ATA66 compatibility too(i checked on Seagate's web site) but the BIOS says it's ATA33. I do use a 80wired cable, it's the same i used before, so why won't the damn thing work?? Via 4in1 are installed, latest bios update too.
So, what now? Help me out!! Thnx a lot!

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Pnop   03-07-2003 at 11:41:55 AM
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Fdisked and Formatted?

What won't work?

Is it rcognised in the bios and start up and you just can't see it in the my computer?

Reply to Pnop
MadQaw   03-07-2003 at 02:43:35 PM
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The problem is at a lower level than fdisk and format. My problem is that my motherboard recognizes an ATA66 drive as ATA33. That's what bothers me. It's recognized in BIOS, it works perfectly okay but at ATA33 speeds not ATA66 like it's supposed to.

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Javic   03-07-2003 at 05:06:02 PM
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Try running Seagate's dos based disk tool. The drive itself may be set at a lower speed, which you should be able to correct with their <A HREF="http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/" target="_new">utility</A>. Make the boot floppy and load up into their utility. It should show you what mode the drive is currently configured for, and allow you to change the mode.

Good luck!

-Javic

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elzt   03-07-2003 at 08:31:36 PM
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Tell us again what master/slave drives you have attached to the two IDE channels.

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MadQaw   03-07-2003 at 09:55:31 PM
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When I first installed it I used Seagate's Disk Manager which i have downloaded from their web site. The IDE channels are set up like this:
The "faulty" drive is master on the first IDE (primary master that is) with a 80 wired cable. The second drive, that actually works on ATA66 is secondary master with my cd-rom as secondary slave on a 40wired cable. The 80wired cable is working with the secondary master(ST38410A) but not with the primary master (ST38421A). I tried switching the channels between the 2 disks but no result.

P.S.The reason i can't use ST38410A as my primary (and bootable)drive is because it has some bad blocks that screw my system up. Btw, tonight i came from work and the drive is dead. Not even the bios recognizes it. But that's another problem.

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Javic   03-08-2003 at 01:55:33 AM
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Have you tried setting up the "mystery" drive alone on the 2nd IDE channel, without the CD? Also have you tried setting it up as a slave?

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MadQaw   03-08-2003 at 04:07:03 PM
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I didn't before but now I tried that too. Not working. I downloaded VIA IDE tool and it also says: ST38410A <=> ATA66, ST38421A <=> ATA33.
Too bad LuckyStar doesn't have a web site any more, maybe I could of asked them.

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Javic   03-08-2003 at 08:10:35 PM
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Ok, hopefully this will solve your problem. This was the utility that I was referring to. Here is an excerpt from Seagate's <A HREF="http://www.seagate.com/support/kb/disc/ultra_ata_66.html" target="_new">Ultra ATA/66 FAQ</A> on their site.

Quote :

<b>What is required to run in Ultra ATA/66 Mode?</b>

There are basically four requirements:

1. An Ultra ATA/66-capable system board and BIOS. (External Ultra ATA/66 cards are available.)

2. An Ultra ATA/66-capable 80-conductor cable.

3. An operating system capable of DMA transfers. (Windows 95 (OSR2) and Windows 98 are capable.)

4. An Ultra ATA/66-capable device. <font color=red><b>(Seagate drives require an activation utility for each device.)</b></font color=red>

Ultra ATA/66 technology is defined such that the PC and the hard drive can both detect the presence of the required 80-conductor cable. The system board must have a special capacitor on pin 34 to detect the cable. The cable must have a notch cut in line 34 to correctly detect an Ultra ATA/66 device.

<b>Where can I get the utility to activate Ultra ATA/66 on my drive?</b>

Eventually, all Ultra ATA/66 drives will be shipped with the utility either on diskette or CD-ROM. In the interim, the utility (<A HREF="http://ftp://ftp.seagate.com/techsuppt/seagate_utils/uata100d.exe" target="_new">UATA100d.EXE</A> ) can be downloaded from our <A HREF="http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/drivers/index.html" target="_new">Drivers and Utilities</A> page.

The version available on the web is a self-extracting zip file and must be unzipped and placed on a bootable diskette.


Run this utility and make sure the drive is set to use ATA66. With their first ATA66 drives you had to actually run a utility like this to tell the drive to run in ATA66 mode, because at that time, not all MB's supported ATA66.

Good luck!

-Javic

Reply to Javic
MadQaw   03-09-2003 at 01:39:25 PM
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Javic you're the man!!!! It worked!! Now i have a read burst of 43.8 Mb/sec.
Now Ihave another question, maybe you can clear this one for me too. The other hdd is detected as ATA66 but it's in a hdd rack that only supports ATA33. It also has a normal ATA33 cable. Should I use the utility you gave me to "downgrade" it to ATA33? WOuld it improve system stability? Or should I leave it alone?
Again thnx a whole bunch for solving my problem, I would have never guessed that Seagate delivered early ATA66 drives set on ATA33.

Reply to MadQaw
Javic   03-10-2003 at 04:55:50 AM
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You can just leave the drive as is, they're backwards compatible. But in order to obtain the fullest of the drive, its really worth paying $2 for a 80 pin cable and ditching the rack.

Reply to Javic
MadQaw   03-12-2003 at 03:09:35 PM
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Thnx for the sugestion but I use the rack to transfer data between me and my friends. I could buy a ATA66 rack but I only use this HDD for keeping Divx movies which I delete after I saw them.
Thnx again for solving my tricky problem. :-) Good bye!

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