Do I need the Win Patch for large cache hard drives?

[Zorba]

I have a WD 20.5G with 2MB of Cache on Winblows98 FE.

 

[noxipoo]

win98SE you mean? FE is that new? and no you don't. the patch is for winME
edit: and i think only the IBM 75GXPs since the others aren't fast enough to need a patch

 

[Maniac9127]

I don't know what OS requires the patch, but it's needed on all drives with 2MB cache, regardless on how fast it is. In fact, it would be required more on slower drives, due to the fact that they can't emptie the cache as quickly as a faster drive.

 

[DannyLarry]

If you guys are talking abouth the "MS Windows IDE HDD Cache Package Update" I went looking for it last night (IBM 75gxp on the way this week..) on the Win98 site and on MS support site and couldn't find anything like that.

Does anyone know exactly (link?) where this update patch is? I have heard it is essential for powering-down an older sys (like mine..) with a faster hdd.

Thanks for any links!

 

[Zorba]

noxipoo: FE = First Edition.

 

[tboo]

Yeah-does anybody know where this update can be found?

 

[SaturnX]

Alrite this update can be found here (for both 98 and ME)

Windows Update - Corporate Site

Go to search, and check all the boxes for Win95/98/ME and then check the Critical box along with Recommended Updates. After the search use the IE Find function (Edit->Find) and search for IDE, click find a few times and you end up at Windows IDE Hard Drive Cache Package (make sure it's for your OS; for WinME, keep clicking find)

There ya go, you now have the update, I'll put it up on a web server soon.

--Mark

[Edit]If you can't be bothered with searching through the Corporate Site, then I've put up the files for all to download at the following addy:

http://members.home.com/mastert88/update/

Hope this helps everyone.

--Mark

[/Edit]

 

[Fumiup]

nevermind.

 

[FOH]

Does anyone know if this aplies to Win2000? I have a 1G Thunderbird, Abit KT7, 2-30G IBM 75GXP in raid, with W2K.

 

[Whitedog]

If you're running WIN NT4 or WIN 2000, you DO NOT need the hard drive patch for large cache HD's

It's only for Win9x machines...

WinNT and 2000 properly shut down everytime... which is where the danger is in 9X.

 

[rbV5]

NOT TRUE I can personally vouch that IT IS A PROBLEM WITH WIN2K , it has happened to me twice, unfortunately, I have not found a patch for this OS

It only happens on ACPI HAL computers and to me if I use "shutdown" to shutdown my computer.

Mystupid work around...Shut down using "restart" and right before it POST's, I shut off the computer...or just don't shut down

Anyone that has a better solution, please tell me.

 

[Whitedog]

Uhmmm, I don't believe your problem is related to the Hard Drive cache bug.

 

[rbV5]

Why would you say that? As far as I know, it has the same symptoms and gives the same error message, sounds related to me!

 

[Maniac9127]

Because the problem is from shutting down your computer before a hard drive can write everything in it's cache. Your "work around" has nothing to do with the problem (the one requiring the patch, not whatever your problem might be).

And Win2k and NT do not require the patch. Your problem is something else.

 

[rbV5]

Thats what mine does also. When I pick "shutdown" from the menu, windows shuts down before the hardrive cache is written back and when it reboots, the registry is scrambled, requiring the ERD or reinstall.

When I pick "restart" then the system takes the time to write the cache back, when it reboots, no problem.

It sounds like the same thing, but I'm listening.

 

[Planktune]

The microsoft site says this is just for a Pheonix bios. and using LBA mode will do the same thing. This is just workaround for Pheonix disk translation something

 

[steelnewfie]

Discovered yesterday mine does the same thing RBV5....also running win2k. When I select shutdown, it simply restarts... I don't however think it has anything to do with the 2M cache drive problem. I've got a Maxtor 7200 rpm 20 gig and Win 2K used to shutdown fine for me... Been racking my head to remember what I've modified/installed in the past two weeks since shutting down the last time... IE 5.5, media player update, that's pretty much it I think... I wonder.....

 

[rbV5]

steelnewfie, I think thats something else, what happens on my comp is, 2 times(I rarely shut off my computer) I shut down my computer from the shut down screen, it shut down(off), but after I powered it back up later, Windows will not load and I get a OS wont load due to a registry(hive?) problem.(I can't remember the error message now) It requires the ERD or a reinstall,(I back up my registry now

If I use "restart" from the shut down menu, it restarts fine, never has corrupted my registry.

For some reason, when I pick "shut down" the computer shuts down too quick (noticeably faster) and the hardrive cache doesn't get a chance to write back to the system.