More DMA probs in XP (fairly lengthy, plz read)

[Mith]

Hi folks,

Having read quite a few of the threads on the DMA / PIO for HDD,
I too am having problems with my drive setup in windows XP, and hoping someone can give me a step-by step guide to solve this problem

Having especially bought an IBM Deskstar 60GXP 40Gb HDD I have found it really, really slow.

I have been to the IBM site to check its specs and it will indeed run in UDMA mode 5.
In my BIOS it allows me to set PIO and UDMA to auto, which I have done, but the PC becomes so sluggish it is unbearable.

If I change the setting to PIO mode 4 it works, but obviously not at the 100 MB/S that I bought the damned thing for.

Looking through the posts in this forum I noticed a number of things to check and the registry changes and hacks to use.

1. all my devices in device manager show as PIO mode (not a good sign, I think)

2. I havnt an Intel board so the UDMA66 tweak is not worth anything to me

3. I tried deleting the master / Slave settings in the regisrty but my devices came back as PIO when I rebooted. So nowt there either.

4. My CD/RW also hangs on use

My devices are connected thus:
PRIMARY MASTER: IBM Deskstar 60GXP 40Gb -
Model - IC35L040AVER07-0
PRIMARY SLAVE: cant remember make - but its 30Gb
Model - ST328040A

SEC MASTER: SONY CDU-5211 (no firmware available)
SEC SLAVE: (CD/RW) LITE-ON LTR-24103S (no firmware available)

My full system spec:
Athlon XP1800
MSI GeForce 4 MX440
Drives as above
SOLTEK SL-75DRV4 Mainboard (VIA Apollo KT266A series)
Soundblaster Audigy (bog standard)

While I am about it may aswell show my IRQ usage, someone may kindly enough be able to tell me if anything should be moved about.

IRQ 0 System timer OK
IRQ 1 Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard OK
IRQ 3 Communications Port (COM2) OK
IRQ 4 Communications Port (COM1) OK
IRQ 5 3Com EtherLink 10/100 PCI TX NIC (3C905B-TX) OK
IRQ 5 VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller OK
IRQ 5 VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller OK
IRQ 6 Standard floppy disk controller OK
IRQ 8 System CMOS/real time clock OK
IRQ 9 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 10 MPU-401 Compatible MIDI Device OK
IRQ 11 NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 OK
IRQ 11 Creative SB Audigy OK
IRQ 11 OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller OK
IRQ 11 Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC OK
IRQ 12 PS/2 Compatible Mouse OK
IRQ 13 Numeric data processor OK
IRQ 14 Primary IDE Channel OK
IRQ 15 Secondary IDE Channel OK

I noticed there's alot on IRQ 11 and 5 but don't know how to go about changing this or even if it is a worry.

I know its a long post and it probably be better to break it up a little, but it shows the problems i have and there may be some related issues.

Thx for reading

Mith
😕

 

[eGoalter]

hmm

all thoughs items on irq 11, should all be on the same irq as the acpi, which is 9, that might be a problem.im not sure wheather
it is screwing anything but thats not right, u should try to get them all on the same irq as the acpi, on irq 9.

 

[Sage]

IRQ Problems

Well the biggest problem I see that you have is that your video, sound, and ethernet card are all sharing the same IRQ -- that is a huge no no. In my experience the only way to correct this is to open the case and via trial and error rearrange the cards until, ideally the sound, video, and ethernet have their own IRQ's. I had similar problems when I had Win98. Now your video or sound card can share and IRQ with VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller. Also wht do you have 2 ethernet cards?
Video is usually on IRQ 10, sound on IRQ5, and ethernet on IRQ11. I assume your video is AGP so you can leave that alone - just a matter of moving the ethernet and sound around.
Try PCI slot 3 for the sound and PCI slot 4 for the ethernet (if thats not where they are already)
Hope this helps

 

[Sage]

IRQ

Video, sound, and ethernet can't share the same IRQ
Video is AGP leave - u can't move it - move sound to PCI slot 3 and ethernet to PCI slot 4. You may need to play around with these to until you find the proper places for each. Move them - reboot look - when you find the correct configuration write it down incase you have to do work on your system in the future.

Sorry for the double post

 

[SilverBack]

Actually they all can share IRQ's.
ACPI in XP will let all the devices share the same IRQ if need be.
It can also give out "virtual" IRQ's up to 20. AND we know there are no such things in hardware.




Install the newest VIA drivers from www.viatech.com here:

VIA 4-1 Drivers 4.37a



There are performance Ultra DMA drivers also for IDE drives that you can add after the 4-1's here:

Performance IDE Drivers

 

[firehawk]

What kind of IDE cable are you using? Needs to be an 80 pin UDMA cable to allow UDMA5. Also what is the slave HD rated at that you have attched to the same channel? It will only go as fast as the slowest device on the channel.

 

[Mith]

Ok i juggled my cards around anyways and the irqs arent as cluttered, but this hasnt changed anything, not that i thought it would.

One thing i do note is on my other PC when first booting up, the screen which shows you what hard disks are installed shows the HDD as being a UDMA 4 (which sounds right as it is about a year old-ish)

I know my new HDD (the primary) is a UDMA 5 model but shows as LBA ATA-100. Now the motherboard is quite new and there is no BIOS upgrade yet so maybe there is something i need to change in the bios (although nothing i have seen in the bios would seem to help)

To answer an earlier question:
I have 2 network cards for my home lan - 1 for the cable modem and one for the other PC setup and running fine with ICS

thx for your continued help

Mith

 

[Qumahlin]

Originally posted by firehawk
What kind of IDE cable are you using? Needs to be an 80 pin UDMA cable to allow UDMA5. Also what is the slave HD rated at that you have attched to the same channel? It will only go as fast as the slowest device on the channel.

That is only true with Scsi, with IDE the devices will operate at full speed no matter what other device is on the channel, or else one cd-rom on a channel with a HD would decimate the HD's transfer ability.

the only time the slowest device on the channel comes into play is if you are accessing data on both at the same time or using them to transfer between eachother.

I can vouch for this through system building and that I have run HDtach to test my harddrives one is ata 100, other is 66 and they are on same channel, yet the ata 100 performs at udma 5 like it should 🙂

just an fyi

 

[Mith]

Thx for clearing that one up.

I didn't think that it would access on the slowest as the other HDD i have in I have used for a far while and used to have it in my other now "slower" PC that i use for my second one on my LAN.

I do believe that the cable i am using is the correct one.
The labling on the packaging it came in (with the motherboard) had IDE 33/66/100/133 written on it and secondly it has the thinner and darker grooved cables (don't know wether the darker bit is standard issue) but the groves are certainly smaller than the 33/66 cables you use for the CD-R(W)

Just to clear it up my 2nd HDD is a:
Seagate Barracuda ATA ST328040A 28GB (ATA66)

Therefore:

PRIMARY MASTER: IBM Deskstar 60GXP 40Gb - (ATA100)
Model - IC35L040AVER07-0
PRIMARY SLAVE: Seagate Barracuda 28GB (ATA66)
Model - ST328040A

SEC MASTER: SONY CDU-5211 (no firmware available)
SEC SLAVE: (CD/RW) LITE-ON LTR-24103S (no firmware available)

Mith