VIA - HUGE IDE Issues - Please help!

[Com807877]

Hi everyone,

I'm having tons of IDE issues that I have been trying off and on to resolve for the past few months (literally).

I have an ECS K7VTA3 board. (KT266) The primary drive is a 100GB Western Digital 7200RPM ATA 5.

If I am using the WinXP Pro provided drivers I have no dead system problems (massive corruption of either normal files or XP system files causing a boot failure), but I have VERY bad IDE performance. With HD Tach and 2 other benchs I have one everything comes out to around 15-20MB/s. I can feel this too - I have attrocious IDE performance that I have been living with. (UDMA is confirmed active... though I might as well be using PIO...)

I have tried the IDE miniport drivers. Problem it them is - I still get horrible IDE performance, but I get the added incentive of massive corruption. Thus, they are no good.

I have tried to use a Promise Ultra 100TX2 (non RAID) PCI IDE controller. Unfortunately IMMEDIATLY after I format the drive in the "blue screen" XP install (when you boot from the CD) I get a message telling me the drive is corrupt and I can't proceed. I've tried both quick and slow formats, NTFS & FAT, deleting all partions, and still the same. I have no idea what the problem is here - and Promise support is basically non-existant. I've also tried using FDISK to eleminate all partions, but, once again, I still get a corrupt disk message when I try to install XP with the controller card. Putting the drive on the VIA on board IDE lets the install go through with out problem, but then I am still stuck with horrible performance.

Can anyone provide any info on how I might go about getting the Promise card to work (I've used the newest beta BIOS that I managed to get Promise to send me with no luck) OR how to fix the speed problems with on board VIA IDE?

Thank you very much!!!

 

[FrostyFlakes]

sounds more like sympthoms of bad ram or maybe ur hd is bad.

 

[CROSSeyed]

I feel your pain... I have 3 SCSI U160 10k Running RAID0 and I get 26MB/s... I'm thinking Intel chipset for my next board just for this reason... or maybe try nForce... or MP/MPX... but I've got to get away from Via (using MSI K7T 266 Pro2 w/ 266a chipset)... The bad news is Via knows about the problem and doesn't seem to be doing anything about it ... yet (fingers crossed)

Are you using XP specific drivers for the promise card during install, or are they win2k... because Win2k drivers would not work with XP for my SCSI RAID card...

Good Luck

 

[Com807877]

Hi,

I thought about the possibility that the hard drive really was damaged. I tried an IBM 75GXP and another Western Digital - both with the same results.

I'm sure the RAM is ok.

I've been trying to use XP specific drivers for the Promise card. I'm betting they are a poor brand? Unfortunately it was my first time to use an IDE card, and I didn't do my homework....

 

[Frodolives]

I'm running 98 pretty nicely with my via chipsets on this Asus A7V133, but the via south bridge did cause me to do some troubleshooting.

Also though I have Windows XP Pro going unused on another partition due to via issues that I'm still struggling with. I'm sure that in time this stuff can be mostly overcome, but I too will be glad to have less hassles next time around.

 

[Funky303]

Hi there. I have the newest c't in my hands (Germanys most spread & technical PC magazin, not a gmaers mag) & they have tested all DDR Chipsets. As a result they have found a problem with the onBoard IDE, but also with an external Promise Ultra100/133 TX2 controller. With these controllers sticked into a Kt266A board, the Controller made after every few bytes a halt, which was up to 1,5 microsecs long. This just happened on KT266A chipsets. But Kt266 where NOT testet.

This could be one of the IDE Performance problems, maybe even something to do with the poor PCI function of VIAs 266/A chipsets

 

[Funky303]

I had the same probklem with my MSI K7t266 Pro. I also switched to a Promise controller.
BUT INSTALL DOES NOT WORK dierctly with teh HDD on the controller.

First, connect your HDD to the Primary IDE controller, only one CD-Rom as secondary master.
Then insert the Promise Controller. I don't use the first 2 PCI slots anyway for something like that, so trie PCI solt 3 or 4. Depending on what you want to connect to them.

Then install WinXP. WITHOUT ! the 4in1s. Also do install the Promise Controller from scratch, when your IDE is connected to the onBoard IDE.

After doing that, just go to BIOS, change Bott sequence to SCSI first, CD ROm second. That helped me.

DO NOT connect any CD Rom or other IDE device to the Peomise COntroller, it can just handle Hard Drives.

Good luck

 

[Gstanfor]

VIA chipsets don't have great performance even at the best of times, unfortunately.

You could try replacing the IDE cables, but alas, I don't think it will do you much good.

I believe the source of your problems stems from the motherboard itself. ECS are part of the PC Chips empire, unfortunately non of them are capable of making a decent board to save their lives.

I reccomend you replace your motherboard with one from MSI, ASUS, Giga-byte or Epox and watch your troubles vanish. I would further suggest that if IDE performance is important, you should consider a non VIA chipset.

Greg

 

[Pabster]

Gstanfor wrote:

"I believe the source of your problems stems from the motherboard itself. ECS are part of the PC Chips empire, unfortunately non of them are capable of making a decent board to save their lives."

Baloney. The problems arise from faulty VIA core logic, as with the entire crop of "VIA-disabled" (as I call them) mainboards.

ECS/PCChips make some damn nice, full-featured, low cost mainboards. At $55, there isn't a better buy on the market right now than K7S5A. SiS 735 is a breath of fresh air for those tired and disgusted with VIA.

 

[Gstanfor]

I don't know how long you have been around PC's pabster, but PC Chips always has been purest crap. They were the mainboard manufacturer behind the 486 motherboards with fake cache onboard just for starters. You need to read up on their history.

No PC builder who values his reputation would deal with PC Chips - we leave that to the dealers who can only compete on price. I know you have a high regard for the SIS 735 chipset, and thats fine, but I'd be reccomending the Leadtek mainboard over anything in the PC Chips group. I think the online forums illustrate the quality of the PC Chips/ECS boards well enough.

Greg

 

[Pabster]

Gstanfor wrote:

"I don't know how long you have been around PC's pabster, but PC Chips always has been purest crap. They were the mainboard manufacturer behind the 486 motherboards with fake cache onboard just for starters. You need to read up on their history."

To each their own, I suppose. I was never a big PCChips fan, but the fact remains ... ECS manufactures fine boards at unbeatable prices. As for how long I've been in the industry... about 15 years.

"No PC builder who values his reputation would deal with PC Chips - we leave that to the dealers who can only compete on price. I know you have a high regard for the SIS 735 chipset, and thats fine, but I'd be reccomending the Leadtek mainboard over anything in the PC Chips group. I think the online forums illustrate the quality of the PC Chips/ECS boards well enough."

Again, to each their own. Everyone has some bias or hatred toward a company or product which they've had a bad experience with before. I'd recommend the Leadtek, but it is nearly twice as expensive. For most users, K7S5A is the best bang for the buck.

 

[Gstanfor]

PC-Chips, ECS, Protac, Jetway, Chaintech, Elitegroup and many other brands I can't think of right at this moment are all one and the same. They are the same manufacturer, usually the exact same motherboard with only brand,color and silk screening differentiating them.

If you purchase ECS, you are purchasing PC-Chips.

 

[Pabster]

Which is why I referred to ECS and PCChips collectively

 

[fendel]

For what it's worth, my AK31rev2 has been driving me nuts with IDE issues ever since I "upgraded" to it. Every time I boot I get "New Hardware Found"---XP can't seem to recognize that it has the bus master drivers installed already. My IDE performance was cruddy until I installed the Via stuff, but now I have to cancel out of the New Hardware dialog every time I boot. I can live with it, but... I just installed an ECS K7S5A in my significant other's computer and it's been smooth sailing. I'm tempted to order another K7S5A for myself and swear off Via.

 

[Pabster]

fendel wrote:

"I'm tempted to order another K7S5A for myself and swear off Via."

Ah, refreshing to see another wise soul around these parts.

I'm not surprised in the least with your trouble on AK31A. Although, each of the ones I've tested had more serious issues than dismal IDE performance.

K7S5A is the best bang for the buck right now. Hold out another 2 weeks and grab hold of K7S6A. It utilizes the new SiS 745.

 

[Bingo13]

I would just switch to a SIS/ALI/Nvidia board if you want to solve your issue.

 

[fendel]

Pabster, thanks for the tip on the K7S6A. I'll keep an eye out for that. Having an third DDR socket (rather than the K7S5A's two) would be a plus. So far my SO's K7S5A has been trouble-free, in contrast to my balky AK31 board.