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Win2k insists to run my Master HDD in PIO mode, help.

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OCNewbie

Diamond Member
Just recently did a brand new install of Win2k, SP4, etc.

My pertinent specs -
Mobo - DFI nF4 Ultra-D
Hard Drive - Maxtor Ultra 16 PATA 250GB

Ok, I have the Maxtor set as Primary Master via the jumper on the back of the unit. It's the only drive on the First IDE channel. It is using a traditional cable-select cable, with the blue/grey/black connectors. I do not have it setup properly for a cable select setup (is that a problem when I have the jumper NOT in CS mode, as it's in Master mode?).

I've gone into Device Manger, under IDE/ATAPI Controllers, and changed to "PIO Mode Only", then back to "DMA if Avail", and rebooted, but no go. I have another 80GB HDD on Secondary channel, with a DVD burner on there too, and they both show up as Ultra DMA. I believe I have them set up with jumpers as well, but I think the cable is properly setup for CS (again it's not in CS mode via the jumpers).

Anybody have any tips? Thanks.
 
Set it to slave via the jumper on the back of the HDD? If it's the only drive on the channel, will this effect performance or boot up in any way? It's my boot drive as well.
 
It will still boot. Also you could try loading the latest nforce 6.70 drivers and choose YES when prompted to install the NVIDIA SW IDE driver.
 
I did download the latest NForce 6.70 drivers, and did chose yes to install them, but I'm not so sure they installed correctly. At least when I go to add/remove programs, and try to uninstall the Nvidia drivers, it doesn't show the SW IDE driver as removable (which I take to mean that it was never installed), or is it the kinda item that you can't install anyway?
 
Tried running it as slave, and no go. It still lists as "Current Transfer Mode" as PIO, even when preferred Transfer mode is set to DMA. I even set it to PIO, it asked for me to reboot, I canceled, then toggled back to DMA, then rebooted (read somewhere that that fixes it sometims), and didn't work either =( Any other ideas?

Is the cable an issue? It's the standard, yellow CS-style cables that came with my DFI nF4 Ultra-D. The drive is NOT on the black connector, and I don't believe the blue one is on the motherboard either. I believe the black is on the mobo and they grey (middle connector) is on the hard drive. I have it setup that way to route cables the best way. Is that the problem? Or do CS-style cables function like normal cables unless the jumpers on the attached device(s) are set to CS? Thanks again.
 
The blue end of the IDE cable connects to the motherboard.

IIRC when you install the SW IDE driver in Win2K it treats it like XP and doesn't allow you to change the primary and secondary controller DMA/PIO settings. Instead you click the NFORCE controller (or w/e it's labeled as) and it will show you that it's enabled.
 
I'll try to install it again, seems I am having trouble. Again, I have the DFI nF4 Ultra-D mobo, and I'm getting the "Nforce4 for AMD" drivers off of Nvidia's website. We'll see if I can get the SW IDE driver to install properly this time. I believe I've tried twice now.
 
Originally posted by: zephyrprime
Run the manufacturer diagnostics on the drive. It may be going.
Click to expand...

It's a brand new drive, just opened it like 2 days ago. So while possible, I would have to think that would be unlikely.
 
Tried installing again, I double click the "nForce4_amd_6.70_winxp2k_english.exe" file, it unpacks, starts the installshield wizard, etc. I check only the "Nvidia Storage" driver. Then it asks me if I want to install the SW IDE driver, and I click yes. It does it's thing, asks me to reboot, and I do so. How do I know if this has been properly installed or not? Are you certain that these are the correct drivers? I'm wondering if the problem is just with the cabling. I figured it wouldn't matter what end/color was on which device (motherboard, HDD, etc.) if you didn't have the jumpers setup for CS, am I wrong?

Any other ideas are appreciated, thanks for helping so far.

Edit - I do not see the Nvidia storage option in the Device Manager, unless it's under "System Devices" or something. I see Nvidia Network Bus Enumerator, but I don't think that's it. And I just have the standard IDE/ATAPI Controllers tab.
 
Ok, changed the cabling around. It's now in Cable Select (CS) mode. The jumper on the back of the drive is on CS. The blue connector for IDE1 is on the Mobo, the grey middle connector is empty, and the black connector is on the 250GB that is my boot drive, the one that also won't go to DMA. I tried disabling S.M.A.R.T. in case that had anything to do with it, and didn't make a diff. I'm still stuck in PIO mode, damn.... WTF Mate. Both devices on IDE2 are running in Ultra DMA mode, and the cables are switched around for them even, meaning the blue isn't on the mobo, I think it's on the Secondary Master, etc., but still working as expected.

One thing to add, I only have about 50 GB's partitioned for the 250GB. It still has about 200 GB's unpartitioned/formatted. Dunno if that has anything to do with it.
 
Try deleting the IDE channel it is connected to, rebooting and let it again install it. I had a lot of atapi error event logging and found that the ATA-33 optical drive was in PIO mode. Nothing I did resolved the issue. Googling it led me to this solution posted somewhere in cdfreaks forum. Now the optical drive is back to DMA-2 mode and while the atapi errors have not entirely disappeared, their incidence frequency is much less.
 
Tried your suggestion sandeep. Didn't work =( I deleted it under normal boot up (not safe mode), and it re-installed after a couple reboots. But still stuck in PIO, dangit. Wonder if it could be a problem with my HD? Seems to work fine otherwise.

Any other suggestions are welcome, I'm off to bed, cya's.
 
Configure your DFI bios settings to be identical w/ the screenshot below.
http://www.angrygames.com/nf4-ultra/ultra-d_bios5.jpg

Excessive errors will sometimes cause the drive to revert to PIO mode. You can also try disconnecting your optical drives, then connect the hard drive (jumper to Master/single) to the cable to see if Win2K will report DMA mode.
 
Checked the BIOS screen and it was already setup to look identical to the above. And the boot drive is the only device on IDE1, so not sure if you still recommend me removing my DVD burner from IDE2. DMA seems to be working fine on IDE2 though.

I wonder if there's a possibility that somehow DMA could be bad on IDE1? It's a brand new motherboard, or like a week or less old anyway. Perhaps I'll try the drive all by itself on IDE2 without any other devices connected, and see if it then triggers to DMA. That might indicate a drive problem if it's not able to go DMA on IDE2 when I currently have 2 other devices (older devices as well) that are running UDMA fine on that channel.

Any if you have the 6.70 Nvidia drivers installed, with the SW IDE driver installed as well, would you be able to post a screenshot from your Device Manager showing the "Nvidia" named IDE controller there, instead of just the regular IDE/ATAPI Controllers? Dunno why mine isn't showing up. I'm unsure if the SW IDE driver is installing correctly or not.

Thanks again for your replys. Have to go to work now, won't be back till 10PM EST or so.
 
First of all, one should NEVER run nvidia IDE drivers - only the IDE ones MS installs with XP.
The drivers for each of your IDE channels are on the driver tab for the prim and sec and busmaster items

However what is strange about this is that even with problematic nvidia drivers, possible PCI lock not in place, wrong CPU default settings, hi temp probs, mobo IDE controller, O/S partition limits, or bad ram, etc., what stands out here is that the secondary IDE is working fine under same conditions.

So this indicates bad HDD out of box, or cabling, or your misinterpreting where jumper goes. Like the man said run the diagnostic, run memtest86+ and look in SiSoft Sandra
for diagnostic help. And run HDTach to actually see transfer rate.

I dont buy Maxtor, so I am not familiar with them, but it may also be something to do with NCQ or SMART monitoring in bios settings.

And you might want to partition your drive in 125GB chunks, avoiding 48 bit. (Win2K)

http://www.michna.com/kb/WxDMA.htm

Edit:
Just saw your latest post. mobo controller either works for both ports or none.
 
I booted off the MaxBlast software CD that comes with the Maxtor drive. I ran a diagnostic utility that gives drive info. It lists the problem drive as supporting UDMA 1-6 (or possibly 0-6, I forget), and it listed it as currently operating in UDMA Mode 6 (which I presume would be what I want it to be operating in). So perhaps it's a Windows problem? Since the CD's program bypasses all Windows functions, and seems to detect the drive just fine as a UDMA 6 device, and says it's connected as such.

I'm gonna try formatting into 2 equal, less than 137GB (or whatever the cap is) drives, and hope that makes a diff. This is quite annoying. Also, I tried one of the registry editing ideas from the above link, but that didn't change anything either. Rebooted and still in PIO mode. Perhaps I need to do some xfer tests.

Again, thanks for the replies.

Edit - I also did run MemTest86 (booting off a floppy IIRC) and everything was fine and dandy, made it through about 1.75 passes and no errors.

Edit - Maybe I should just break down and buy WinXP. Would that be a wise move? I've just become so used to Win2k (and not having to pay for a new OS was nice too). Should I get the Pro or Home versions? I'm mostly a gamer, and use my computer for entertainment purposes. It won't be on a network, or run a server, etc. Also, if I could get WinXP Pro for about the same price as Home, would there be any negatives going with Pro if I will primarily be gaming, watching movies, etc.? Other than the obvious price premium.
 
always get pro, forget home

and yeah, I forgot Maxtor is ATA133 - that may be your problem, and answer why your driver install does nothing
switch the drive back to ATA 100 - udma 5 with the utility, then you wont need special drivers or XP

and you HAVE to run thru a drive test program to see if the drive is functioning properly, not Maxblast install CD about what its set at.
http://maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/me...wnloads/Top%20Downloads&downloadID=113
 
Originally posted by: Bozo Galora
always get pro, forget home
Click to expand...
Why? Pro isn't necessary for everyone.

Bozo, if his hard drive shows DMA on the secondary IDE then 1) it's not a drive problem and 2) you don't need special drivers (other than the mainboard chipset in most cases) for ATA133 drives in XP. It sounds like an OS issue to me.

OCNewbie, if you put your optical drives on the primary IDE does the OS report them to be in DMA mode? The answer is probably 'yes'. 😛
 
YO OC newbie, try switching the sata drive to outlets 1 or 2(ones closest to cpu), through experience on ports 3/4 my drives would constantly revert to pio mode and after switching all is good, think the ports by the pc are locked whilst the others were unlocked, who knows, try it though

weredaweedat
 
Originally posted by: harryPOThead
YO OC newbie, try switching the sata drive to outlets 1 or 2(ones closest to cpu), through experience on ports 3/4 my drives would constantly revert to pio mode and after switching all is good, think the ports by the pc are locked whilst the others were unlocked, who knows, try it though

weredaweedat
Click to expand...

Ahhhh it's the free iPod spammer......who like teh chr0nic. 😛

He has IDE not SATA. 🙂
 
Just to add, I have Win2k Pro, Windows 200 Pro with Service Pack 4, I don't have WinXP. Couldn't tell if you thought I had XP or not, but I do NOT have XP =) Thanks again, good suggestions.
 
If you've installed the nvidea SW drivers, and hanven't uninstalled them, they are probably running. Trying to selectively uninstall them using add/remove programs doesn't work -- you're not given the option to select just the SW drivers to uninstall. To verify: device manager, ide ata/atapi controllers, nvidia nf4 pata controller, and check the driver. If the provider is nvidia, you are running the SW drivers. (If you want to get rid of the SW drivers, uninstall the entire nf4 driver package, then reinstall it with the box for nvidia ide drivers unchecked.)

While it's not a bad idea to get XP, i'm not sure it's going to do anything for your dilemma.

I would dl and run HD tach, to see how the drive is actually performing. You should be able to tell from the results if you are stuck in PIO mode or not.

Otherwise this is a strange problem and I don't have any more ideas on it at the present time.

 
Originally posted by: Bozo Galora
and you HAVE to run thru a drive test program to see if the drive is functioning properly, not Maxblast install CD about what its set at.
http://maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/me...wnloads/Top%20Downloads&downloadID=113
Click to expand...

Clicked on that link, and a few paragraphs down, it starts with "Note:" and it appears to say that diagnostic software (which came on my MaxBlast CD) does NOT support nForce 3 or 4? So it wouldn't work in my case?

Also, I'm not sure how I can set the drive manually to UDMA 5, do you know of a progam that will allow me to do that?
 
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