Hard drive is stuck in PIO mode! Can it be the cable?

[beer]

Brief rundown of my problem:

I have a K7 Pro running Win2K. One cable, 24", houses my Toshiba XM-6702B and my Iomega ZipCD 4x4x24. According to the device manager, they are running in Ultra DMA Mode and DMA Mode, respectively. However, my Hard Drive, a 27 GB Maxtor ATA/66, which shares a cable with my Zip drive, is stuck in PIO Mode, even though I have selected "DMA if Available."

That cable is 36." It is also an older cable. I know there are differences between ATA/33 and ATA/66 cables, but were there any differences between PIO mode (16 MB/s) and Ultra DMA mode (33 MB/s cables)? Is it because it shares the cable with my Zip drive, which may not be DMA-enabled?

Would installing the AMD bus mastering drivers work? Now I'm using ones off the WIn2k CD - Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE controllers.

 

[beer]

Oh, forgot to mention, the zip is also in PIO mode.

 

[The Stigenator]

its hard to say what may cause it since this PIO Vs DMA problem is hurting quite a few of us.
I have it running on DMA with ATA66 cables.. try switching cables.

 

[3615buck]

Is the zip connected on the same flat cable ?

 

[qt0cali]

I think that by sharing your zip drive with your HD on the same ide port you're forcing it into the lowest common denominator, which is PIO mode for the zip. Easy way to check is to disconnect the zip drive and see if you can get the HD to go into DMA. Better yet, get an ATA/66 controller card and put the HD on the ATA/66 port by itself and pop the zip drive onto a regular ide port.

 

[beer]

That makes sense, QT.
I'll try it tonight.

 

[Edski]

That cable is WAY out of spec for that hard drive. The longest it should be is 18"...and yes, I say replace it with an Ultra Cable. Make sure your bios is set correctly for your drive.

 

[xtreme2k]

if you mix PIO drives with DMA drives

the DMA drives will automatically switch to PIO mode

there is no way around it unless you remove the PIO device

 

[BlueAidan]

Wow! Someone else has the ZipCD! Just a q about that: Has yours started to be really loud when it's reading a cd?

BlueAidan

 

[beer]

Thanks, xtream2k. I'll remove it when I get home.

No, my ZiPCD isn't that loud...at least not compared to my 48x Toshiba drive.

And Edski -

You can have ATA/33 cables up to 36", easily, without any signal loss. They even have ATA/66 cables that cna go that high without signal loss (with one device connected).

It's not out of spec.

 

[Edski]

Elementall007, I didn't say it wouldn't work. After working at Maxtor for 18 months, I do know what their operating specs are....18" is the maximum length that they recommend and support. They won't even help you until your IDE cable is the correct length.