Stuck in PIO Mode in WinXP

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Thu Nov 29, 2001 7:35 pm

I have Western Digital WD205BA Expert HDD....
I just moved from an Abit KT7E board to an Epox 8KHA+
nothing else changed but the Mobo and RAM.
I have done a fresh install...
but this drive which usually was in DMA Mode 5 is now stuck in PIO Mode and my performance SUX

I have tried setting it to DMA but no go.
Any Suggestions?

PreDatoR · Post by **PreDatoR** » Thu Nov 29, 2001 8:06 pm

Be sure that the mobo's drivers are all installed and get the newest via drivers. Also be sure that in the bios your ide is all set to auto or force it to DMA on both channels.

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Thu Nov 29, 2001 8:36 pm

I should add that the two HDD's on the secondary IDE are in DMA mode 5
also the IDE is set to auto.

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Thu Nov 29, 2001 9:46 pm

This is pissing me off...
because the quick summary screen from the BIOS boot up shows all the drives working in their proper mode.
But once in WinXP it switches to PIO mode and I cant move it to DMA :/

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Thu Nov 29, 2001 10:05 pm

More information :
Event Viewer says:
The device, \Device\Ide\IdePort0, did not respond within the timeout period.

and according to Microsoft:
For repeated DMA errors.
Windows XP will turn off DMA mode for a device after encountering certain errors during data transfer operations. If more that six DMA transfer timeouts occur, Windows will turn off DMA and use only PIO mode on that device.
In this case, the user cannot turn on DMA for this device. The only option for the user who wants to enable DMA mode is to uninstall and reinstall the device.
Windows XP downgrades the Ultra DMA transfer mode after receiving more than six CRC errors. Whenever possible, the operating system will step down one UDMA mode at a time (from UDMA mode 4 to UDMA mode 3, and so on).
If the mini-IDE driver for the device does not support stepping down transfer modes, or if the device is running UDMA mode 0, Windows XP will step down to PIO mode after encountering six or more CRC errors. In this case, a system reboot should restore the original DMA mode settings.
All CRC and timeout errors are logged in the system event log. These types of errors could be caused by improper mounting or improper cabling (for example, 40-pin instead of 80-pin cable). Or such errors could indicate imminent hardware failure, for example, in a hard drive or chipset.

Now..... Whats a timeout error????

PreDatoR · Post by **PreDatoR** » Thu Nov 29, 2001 11:07 pm

You tried a new 80 conductor cable?

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Thu Nov 29, 2001 11:38 pm

Here it is:
I tried a new IDE cable and that didnt work.
Get this tho:
apparently when I put the mobo back together I broke a pin off on the hdd.
amazingly it still worked with 39 pins ... just really slow.
I took the controller card off of the HDD and re-sodered the pin back on....
Now it works...Back to DMA Mode 4

amazing it is SO much faster now

Thanks for the thoughts Pred

PreDatoR · Post by **PreDatoR** » Thu Nov 29, 2001 11:40 pm

LOL amazing how something like that will piss ya off to no ends

Glad ya got ti figured out...