P5WD2 - configuring hard drives CORRECTLY

  • Thread starter Thread starter NS
  • Start date Start date
N

NS

Hello,

I need recommendations on how to CORRECTLY configure 2 HD's & a DVD writer
on P5WD2 Premium board. I am not interested in RAID.

Hard Drive 1 is a S-ATA 74 Gb WD Raptor, which I want to be my "primary"
boot drive (where win xp will reside). Hard Drive 2 is a P-ATA WD 200 Gb.
7200 RPM, which I want to be my storage drive. The DVD/CD writer is a
Plextor PX-716SA SATA drive.

Currently, the Raptor is connected to SATA-1 and the Plextor to SATA-2 on
MB. The P-ATA HD (200 Gb WD) is connected to the ICH7 Primary IDE (blue)
connector with a 80 pin cable and is jumpered (no jumper) as a single drive.

Win XP Pro reports the RAPTOR as "Local Disk (E:)" and the WD 200 Gb as
"Removeable (C:)." The Plextor as "DVD-R (D:).

The BIOS reports the following:

PRIMARY IDE MASTER = WD 200 Gb HD
PRIMARY IDE SLAVE = Not Detected
THIRD IDE MASTER = RAPTOR HD
THIRD IDE SLAVE = Not Detected
FOURTH IDE MASTER = Plextor DVD
FOURTH IDE SLAVE = Not Detected

I have the RAPTOR set as Drive 1 under BOOT DEVICE PRIORITY in BIOS.

On boot up, I have an annoying lag (about 20 seconds) that seems to occur
after the 1 Gb of memory is detected, but prior to the IDE devices being
detected. I'm wondering if the lag is related to impropper configuring of
the drives.

Thanks for your comments!
 
NS said:
Hello,

I need recommendations on how to CORRECTLY configure 2 HD's & a DVD writer
on P5WD2 Premium board. I am not interested in RAID.

Hard Drive 1 is a S-ATA 74 Gb WD Raptor, which I want to be my "primary"
boot drive (where win xp will reside). Hard Drive 2 is a P-ATA WD 200 Gb.
7200 RPM, which I want to be my storage drive. The DVD/CD writer is a
Plextor PX-716SA SATA drive.

Currently, the Raptor is connected to SATA-1 and the Plextor to SATA-2 on
MB. The P-ATA HD (200 Gb WD) is connected to the ICH7 Primary IDE (blue)
connector with a 80 pin cable and is jumpered (no jumper) as a single drive.

Win XP Pro reports the RAPTOR as "Local Disk (E:)" and the WD 200 Gb as
"Removeable (C:)." The Plextor as "DVD-R (D:).

The BIOS reports the following:

PRIMARY IDE MASTER = WD 200 Gb HD
PRIMARY IDE SLAVE = Not Detected
THIRD IDE MASTER = RAPTOR HD
THIRD IDE SLAVE = Not Detected
FOURTH IDE MASTER = Plextor DVD
FOURTH IDE SLAVE = Not Detected

I have the RAPTOR set as Drive 1 under BOOT DEVICE PRIORITY in BIOS.

On boot up, I have an annoying lag (about 20 seconds) that seems to occur
after the 1 Gb of memory is detected, but prior to the IDE devices being
detected. I'm wondering if the lag is related to impropper configuring of
the drives.

Thanks for your comments!
Click to expand...

Hi,
Unless you already realized it by now, the Plextor PX-716SA SATA drive is
not completely compatible with the P5WD2 Premium motherboard.
I have tried it on the Intel ICH7R SATA connector and the Silicon Image
3132 SATA connector.
Any configuration (SATA2, RAID) on either of the SATA interfaces causes
great instability with anything in general (Windows BSOD, read errors on
cd/dvd media, etc..)
I called Plextor, and they confirm that the PX-716SA SATA drive will not
work properly on the Intel ICH7R. They were not sure about the SiI3132
interface, but I can tell you it will not work properly either.

If you can RMA the PX-716SA SATA drive, and get the PX-716A IDE drive, it
will clear up any problems you have been experiencing.

William
 
Back
Top