ICH5 Driver Queerness

[Auric]

Hi, I'm Auric. You may remember me from such threads as "ICH5 South Bridge"...

Well, I thought I'd start a new one specific to this query. Okay, running XP SP2 there are three options for the storage controller. See if you can spot what's wrong with this picture (name/provider/driver):

A)
Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
Microsoft 7/1/2001
pciide.sys 8/17/2001

B)
Intel(R) 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers
Intel 11/17/2004
pciide.sys 8/17/2001

C)
Intel(R) 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers - 24D1
Microsoft 7/1/2001
intelide.sys 8/3/2004


A) is obviously generic so no real surprises there with a generic driver and presumably generic (unoptimized) config
B) is installed by both XP's automatic update and Intel's chipset software, yet it uses the same generic driver -although conceivably with a specific config
C) is the most recent driver yet with a provider date which predates it. There is an indirectly related KB Article which although last reviewed 07/27/2005, actually refers to an intelide driver dated 2/19/2003 which is preferred over the generic pciide. Apparently this is relevent for pre-SP2 XP.

So, I'm pretty sure I should be using the 2004 MS intelide driver but if so why is the provider date 2001 and more importantly why does neither XP nor Intel's software "install" (point to) it rather than the generic pciide? Also, why would Intel update a config for the generic pciide after MS provided a specific driver?

 

[vailr]

Why would you want to be using a driver (designed for pre-SP2), on a post-SP2 system?
Therefore: just obtain the latest Intel ICH5 driver, "intel_chipset_7.3.1.1013". The Intel install notes, specify that: SP2 is a requirement prior to installing.
So, the correct answer (for a system running post-SP2) is: B).

 

[Auric]

Well, SP2 was released 8/2004 with both the old generic pciide and the new intelide drivers. Only the latter supports hot-swapping. As of 2/2005, HP was still offering a SoftPaq and as of 7/2005 MS was still recommending a hotfix or the latest SP to ensure the intelide driver is used. New versions of the Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility are generally released to target new chipsets so for the ICH5, version 7.3.1.1013 is the same as 6.3.0.1005. In any case, it contains two relevant INF's: ich5id and ich5id2 which refer to pciide and intelide respectively with the latter in a subfolder "SP", so what determines which is used?

 

[vailr]

As far as I'm aware, the regular IDE 40/80 pin connector hard drives weren't meant to be "hot swappable". Too much chance of an electrical mishap, while connecting or disconnecting. Maybe the "intelide.sys 8/3/2004" driver is required, only when a SATA drive (or SATA Raid array) is present and installed?
I agree: the install notes don't provide much guidance.
Checking under (my: Abit IC7: SATA Raid & ICH5/Intel 875 chipset)
System Devices: Intel 82801 PCI Bridge - 244E, shows an (Intel) driver date of 1/10/2005, (even though under Driver details, the driver file: pci.sys file has a "Created date" of Oct 17, 2005 and a "Modified date" of Dec 16, 2004).

 

[Auric]

I do have the integrated SATA controller enabled and thus a second instance of "Intel(R) 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers" with a suffix of "- 24DB" only when the intelide driver is installed. Perhaps it does only auto-install when the "R" model of the ICH5 is present. However in that case I though the IAA was preferred. I wonder what driver that uses. I thought the SATA 150 spec in the ICH5 did not support hot-swapping until I read the KB and SoftPaq and began to wonder as they refer to it being required for swapping two Ultra DMA devices (the SATA ports are detected as such).

 

[Auric]

Ah so, intelide.sys is installed by Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility when a switch "- intelide" is specified.