Buggy said:
i just got a 200gb hard drive and i have been re-re-
reinstalling and formatting it with windows XP PRO and
always get problems.
it works for 1-2 days..then it slows down when u do
anything(click on an icon for xample).
Now when i clicked either on IE/MSN Explorer/Outlook
Express they wouldn't run and afterwards wouldn't let run
the other programs/executions either(like opening
folders).
what should i do?
I am having the same problem with my 160 MB drive and have been unable
to find a resolution. I have only found other people with the same
problem. This is what I do know:
-- The slowness of the drive is caused by Windows XP running the drive
in PIO mode after several time outs in the boot up sequence. PIO mode
uses interrupts instead of DMA (Direct Memory Access) mode to facilitate
data transfers, so each time the drive is accessed, you notice a speed
"hiccup". PIO also tops out at 33 MB/s I believe.
-- I have the right cable. I can run another Hard drive (40 GB) at DMA
5 on either channel with no problems.
-- I am running with the full capacity of the drive after applying SP1,
so I am apparently running in 48-bit mode. Prior to 42-bit LBA mode,
IDE drives topped out at 128(?) GB max.
-- I am running a BIOS that claims to support 48-bit LBA
-- I am running an Athlon XP motherboard, ALI Chipset, and an ASUS
A7A266 Motherboard. At least one other report I have seen was using an
ASUS Athlon board with an ALI chipset. That could be the common
denominator, but I doubt it.
-- The only fix I have seen posted that apparently works is installing
Intel Application Accelerator. Of course that is useless on an AMD
based system.
-- I have tried both the generic IDE controller driver as well as a few
versions of the ALI driver, with no success. All of the drivers,
however, worked fine with my 40 GB drive in DMA mode
-- The error log does record 5 drive timeouts and a controller failure
on the boot. After it falls back to PIO mode, however, the system will
boot without error.
-- I am currently using ATAPI.sys driver version 5.1.2600.1135
-- There was one report that I found that said that the drive would load
in DMA mode on Win 2K. It didn't say whether or not the user had the
full capacity of the drive, however. It may be that the system was not
using the 48-bit LBA mode (which can take some doing to turn on in 2000)
and that is why it was able to use DMA mode.
I hope someone can help with this one. It looks like it could be a big
issue. I wonder if it has something to do with 48-bit being greater
than the 32-bit code environment. Maybe someone declared their
variables wrong somewhere.
Jeremy Hannon
Hannon Computer Services
www.quad-s.com