Device Manager shows Generic Hard Drives when it used to show the correct Drive type, why is this?

[Shagga]

Is it a driver issue?

Ta very muchly ppl.

 

[AMB]

On two of my computers I have generic HDD as the driver, I think only in Win 95 you needed drivers.

I do not think it is a big issue

 

[Shagga]

I just found it strange that my BIOS correctly identified what my hard drives are, yet Wimdows 98SE doesn't.

I just like things to be tidy and don't like the idea of using generic drivers, if you know what I mean.

 

[AMB]

I had the same thought as you when I first saw it

 

[Terp]

Ditto..Mine says Generic IDE Disk Type47

Also, anyone getting close to 66 meg/sec with Ultra 66 drives? I can crank out 49 m/sec, but that's a far cry from 66 m/sec....What could be keeping back on the throughput?

 

[Deeko]

Do you have the bus drivers installed? Mine used to say that, until I installed those drivers. Before I wasn't able to enable DMA, now I am, so you might want to check that.

 

[Shagga]

Deeko - Your bang on right there. If I recall when the correct HD type was shown in the Device manager I was using an ASUS P3B-F and the ABIT Hotrod66 Controller which had to be booted from describing the drive as a SCSI device in the BIOS. I also could not enable DMA as it was greyed out.

However, now that I'm using the ASUS P3v4x with the onboard UDMA66 onboard the DMA box can be checked. I think you've hit the nail on the dead.

Terp - By the way I can only get 58.8 mbps which is also way off 66 mbps. Better than 33 mbps though!!

 

[cobain]

NO IDE drive card max or get near the UDMA 66.

 

[Pariah]

The "problem" is a busmaster driver issue. Certain versions of VIA's drivers detect the drives, some don't. I don't believe the MS drivers detect drives either. It's only a psychological issue, it has no bearing on performance.

The fastest IDE drive is the IBM 75GXP, and it maxes out at a sustained 37MB/s or so, the only other IDE drive that can even break 30 is the Maxtor DM40+, and it barely does only on the outside tracks. In otherwords, only 2 IDE drives currently available can reach the realworld limit of DMA33, let alone DMA66.

 

[JellyBaby]

Before I installed the Via Busmaster drivers, I saw "generic type 47". After installing the latest individual driver, my 75gxp is now correctly reported as "IBM DTLA -307030".

But Pariah is right: it's a psyche job. As long as everything is working properly, it doesn't matter what the descriptor is. In fact I believe you can edit the descrption in the registry -- not sure if that'll foul anything up.

Wouldn't care if it said "purple corndog type yummy" as long as Sandra's disk bench remained at 23,100...

 

[flenn]

Here's a blatant copy and paste from Paulcs at MURC



<< The P3V4X has some idiocyncracies. If you buy this board, no matter what video board you're using, you should use the VIA 4.03 AGP driver. The 4.02 driver is included in the 4.22 4in1 set, so you must download and install 4.03 driver separately.

After you install the 4in1's, check you disk drives in device manager. If your hard drives are identified as &quot;GENERIC IDE DISK TYPE47,&quot; your busmastering drivers did not install properly. Just install them manually from device manager.

The P3V4X likes fast RAM and hard drives. I found it was best to connect an ATA-66 hard drive to the first IDE channel. Performance is greatly enhanced by CL2-rated PC133 RAM. Let SPD set the timings.

When you turn on your system for the first time, note carefully the BIOS version. If your board shipped with BIOS 1002, flash it immediately. The board did not function properly until 1003. I know Sanjuro has had good luck with 1005, the latest.

Good luck.

Paul
>>



The reason why I knew right where to find it is because this post helped me take care of the same problem with my MSI 6309. I reinstalled drivers from Device Manager and the HD's are now reported properly.

Good luck.

 

[Shagga]

JellBaby/Flenn - I installed the Via BusMaster Drivers and now the hard drives are being reported correctly. However as mentioned earlier the DMA checkbox has gone.

Running HDTach showed that Access time has improved slightly, but the average seek time dropped a bit.

 

[Pariah]

Busmastering drivers can't improve access time. It's an anomaly in the benchmark.

 

[JellyBaby]

<< However as mentioned earlier the DMA checkbox has gone >>

That's what happens when you install those Via busmaster drivers. Not sure exactly why. Anywho, look in your C: for Dmatool folder. Therein run Setdma.exe to set DMA mode for your HD and CD-ROM/DVD.