S.M.A.R.T. not being so smart

[Elcs]

I havent delved into looking at my HDD information for a while so I went to investigate. I was astonished to find absolutely no SMART information on my drives.

Since the last time I tried to look at SMART information, Id purchased a new 200Gb WD PATA HDD and popped it into a new Antec SLK3000B, next to my existing 120Gb WD PATA HDD and behind a 120x38mm fan.

Using Everest, under the Storage and then ATA tab, no information is displayed.

Using Speedfan, under the SMART tab, there is no information and the bar contains nothing next to 'Hard disk'.

In Everest, under the Storage and then Physical Drives, my HDD's are listed as WDC WD1200JB-XXXXXX SCSI Disk Devices.

What is up?

Running Win XP Pro and the latest NForce2 package for my ABIT NF7-S Rev 2.0.

I realise SMART isnt of great consequence to my HDD's day to day operations but Id like it just in case I can monitor temperatures to make sure I keep them cool.

 

[UltraWide]

you have to turn SMART on in the drive itself. There is a utility provided by IBM and/or Samsung that can access this setting.

IBM feature tool

or

Samsung hutil

 

[bfonnes]

What about the??? BIOS??? :roll:
Why not just turn it on in there?

BFonnes

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: bfonnes
What about the??? BIOS??? :roll:
Why not just turn it on in there?

BFonnes

If there was such an option, Id turn it on. Cant find one.

UltraWide: Even though these drives are Western Digital, I'll have a google for those programs and take a look.

 

[bfonnes]

then you're mainboard sucks, cause every computer I've had lately has it. no offense... it's usually in the Basic settings where you turn on/off the CPU internal cache and such. If your BIOS doesn't have the option just forget about it... it's not gonna work

BFonnes

 

[volrath]

Yup, has to be turned on in the BIOS. Don't think I've ever seen a mobo without that option...

 

[The Boston Dangler]

it's likely the mobo doesn't support it. my board doesn't read SMART data on the SATA drives, probably limited by the Promise controller. ool

 

[volrath]

Yeah I just checked my NF7 manual and none of the NF7 models appear to support SMART.

 

[Codegen]

Ha, my el-cheapo 9VIF1 has it.

Hell, my P233 even has it.

 

[Elcs]

If find it funny how the best NForce2 Ultra board doesnt have the capability to read SMART information from HDDs.

It did with my 80Gb Western Digital.

As a sidenote, Id recommend some of you take courses in common manners.

 

[Dennis Travis]

What is your exact motherboard? Brand and Model Number? Maybe I can help if I had that info.

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: Dennis Travis
What is your exact motherboard? Brand and Model Number? Maybe I can help if I had that info.

Read my first post please.

ABIT NF7-S Rev 2.0 - Not the cheap NF7-S2 imitation.

 

[Dennis Travis]

Interesting, for all those that told him to turn on S.M.A.R.T in the Bios, there is no toggle. I just searched the manual from end to end and not even one mention and checked every Bios screen. I can not find anything so far on the net about SMART and that board. Try running WD utilities and see if it will tell the S.M.A.R.T. Status.

Sorry I could not find more.

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: Dennis Travis
Interesting, for all those that told him to turn on S.M.A.R.T in the Bios, there is no toggle. I just searched the manual from end to end and not even one mention and checked every Bios screen. I can not find anything so far on the net about SMART and that board. Try running WD utilities and see if it will tell the S.M.A.R.T. Status.

Sorry I could not find more.

At least you were polite about it.

Western Digital Data Lifeguard Tools - Hard Drive Information - SMART info: N/A

Surely they'd have SMART. Modern Hard Drives, Modern Motherboard.... Im 90% sure my 80Gb WD HDD on this same board picked up its SMART info because I remember scouting around for an internal HDD temp sensor only to find mine didnt have one.

So far, Im lost.

 

[mdubrow]

I disagree with the digression this thread has taken. SMART does not need to be enabled in BIOS for you to be able to access the information using Speedfan, Everest, or any other diagnostic tool. I have an Epox (9NPA+ Ultra) and an MSI (RS480M2-IL) motherboard (obviously in different systems), and the manuals are quite specific that enabling SMART in BIOS only allows the BIOS to read the SMART data during boot-up, along with other diagnostic information--and that's it. MSI's manual even points out that enabling SMART in BIOS will lead to slightly slower boot times and the default is to have it OFF.

Originally posted by: Elcs
Using Everest, under the Storage and then ATA tab, no information is displayed.

Under Storage, you should have a SMART tab which shows the information in question. This information isn't on the ATA tab.

Originally posted by: Elcs
Using Speedfan, under the SMART tab, there is no information and the bar contains nothing next to 'Hard disk'.

Did you try clicking on the hard disk drop-down box and selecting a hard drive? Even if I have only one hard drive in the system, I typically have to select it in order to get the SMART data. Are you saying that no hard drives appear in the drop-down box?

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: mdubrow
I disagree with the digression this thread has taken. SMART does not need to be enabled in BIOS for you to be able to access the information using Speedfan, Everest, or any other diagnostic tool. I have an Epox (9NPA+ Ultra) and an MSI (RS480M2-IL) motherboard (obviously in different systems), and the manuals are quite specific that enabling SMART in BIOS only allows the BIOS to read the SMART data during boot-up, along with other diagnostic information--and that's it. MSI's manual even points out that enabling SMART in BIOS will lead to slightly slower boot times and the default is to have it OFF.

Originally posted by: Elcs
Using Everest, under the Storage and then ATA tab, no information is displayed.

Under Storage, you should have a SMART tab which shows the information in question. This information isn't on the ATA tab.

Originally posted by: Elcs
Using Speedfan, under the SMART tab, there is no information and the bar contains nothing next to 'Hard disk'.

Did you try clicking on the hard disk drop-down box and selecting a hard drive? Even if I have only one hard drive in the system, I typically have to select it in order to get the SMART data. Are you saying that no hard drives appear in the drop-down box?

Thank you for your response.

First bolded section: I have no SMART Tab under Everest. Under Preferences, every box has a tick next to it which Id guess means a SMART Tab should appear... but no such tab there.

Second bolded section: Thats exactly what Im saying. No HDD's appearing in the drop down menu.

This has me confused really.

 

[mdubrow]

Originally posted by: Elcs
Thank you for your response.

First bolded section: I have no SMART Tab under Everest. Under Preferences, every box has a tick next to it which Id guess means a SMART Tab should appear... but no such tab there.

Second bolded section: Thats exactly what Im saying. No HDD's appearing in the drop down menu.

This has me confused really.

Nuts, I was afraid of that. This page suggests that the motherboard/BIOS do need to support SMART, not just the hard drive.

 

[Elcs]

It seems it was PEBKAC rather than SMART being stupid.

In the end, i got frustrated and removed all traces of nvidia nforce2 drivers. Reinstalled them all one by one since the entire package didnt want to go.

It turns out I was using IDE drivers from 2002 rather than the latest Nvidia IDE 2004 drivers. Now I can pick up SMART info for both drives via Speedfan.

Its funny really.

SMART says my 200Gb drive has a temperature value of 121 with the worst being 87. Is that in Farenheit or just a weird value?

EDIT: Under my list of temp sensors, my HDD says its at 29c so Ive cranked up my fans to the max to see if I can get it to change.

 

[bfonnes]

Originally posted by: Elcs
If find it funny how the best NForce2 Ultra board doesnt have the capability to read SMART information from HDDs.

It did with my 80Gb Western Digital.

As a sidenote, Id recommend some of you take courses in common manners.

sorry for saying sucks...
BFonnes

 

[bigsexychris]

bfonnes, no need to be a jerk.. even AFTER Elcs stated he solved the problem.

Elcs, glad to hear you got it working.. and i've got a question for you. How do you completely get rid of those drivers.. I installed the invidia ide drivers when i built my new system last week (with a dfi lanparty nf4) and i seem to be having a terrible time with my two optical drives.. perhaps using xp's default ide drivers would be a better choice!?

sorry to change the subject, but I didn't feel a whole new thread was necessary.

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: bigsexychris
bfonnes, no need to be a jerk.. even AFTER Elcs stated he solved the problem.

Elcs, glad to hear you got it working.. and i've got a question for you. How do you completely get rid of those drivers.. I installed the invidia ide drivers when i built my new system last week (with a dfi lanparty nf4) and i seem to be having a terrible time with my two optical drives.. perhaps using xp's default ide drivers would be a better choice!?

sorry to change the subject, but I didn't feel a whole new thread was necessary.

bfonnes seems to have a problem. Dont feed the trolls

Thanks. Im using an NForce2 board so I dont know how it would compare to your NForce4 setup but I went via. Add/Remove Programs and removed every Nvidia program I could find. Despite having an ATI card, it removed all Nvidia drivers and messed up my graphics card detection. Since I couldnt get the NF2 driver .exe to fire up, I manually Updated Drivers via. My Computer Properties -> Device Manager.

If you are running Windows XP, you may consider going to Device Manager and performing a Driver Rollback. You should see the option in Device Manager on your specific device to 'Roll Back Driver'. That may solve your problem.

I dont mind changing the subject, its not that far away from this topic. If my advice doesnt work, Id start your own thread unless you get some nice person posting in here

 

[w00t]

It's because SATA drives arent S.M.A.R.T compatible.

< SMART one

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: w00t
It's because SATA drives arent S.M.A.R.T compatible.

< SMART one

You werent smart enough to read the thread.

These were PATA drives.

 

[w00t]

Originally posted by: Elcs

Originally posted by: w00t
It's because SATA drives arent S.M.A.R.T compatible.

< SMART one

You werent smart enough to read the thread.

These were PATA drives.

Using Everest, under the Storage and then ATA tab, no information is displayed. I wasnt sure if you were talking about that one or many drives. my sata hd also reads up as a scsi so i thought maybe it was.

 

[Reapsy00]

This is interesting coz I was just trying to get smart working on my drives with a nf7-s v2 but i have them connected to a highpoint rocketraid 404 controller in raid0 so i'm not sure if i can do it