ultra DMA modes

[agharthi]

hello,

yesterday i've installed winxp professional. when i turn on my pc, he's
checking the slaves and masters. there i can see, that my harddisk is running in ultra DMA mode-5. during the load of winxp i get a blue screen saying: unmountable_boot_volume. then i've to press the reset button and he boots again, but now he's booting the harddisk in ultra DMA mode-2. then, winxp runs properly again. i'd like to know what the problem is and if anybody can help me.
can i set the ultra DMA mode somewhere? like setting it to 2, so i don't need to boot twice.

thanks in advance,

agharthi

[Ghost_Hacker]

I would check your BIOS documentation. Some BIOSes will allow you to choose an Ultra DMA mode. You must also have the correct 80 pin cable to use UDMA 5. Having the wrong/bad cable could explain the downgrade to UDMA 2.

Good Luck http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

[jabarnutcase]

Hi-
This is somewhat unrelated, but thought you might find it interesting none the less. When I first upgraded from ME to XP Pro(Clean install), my computer was running very slowly- plus an erratic mouse and numerous other problems with loading programs. After much research and headaches, I discovered that XP chose to disable my DMA altogether! Stranger still was the fix. (I saw it on another message board) Under device manager/controllers/Pri IDE Channel/Properties/Advanced, I changed the tab from "DMA if available" to "PIO only" and clicked OK-then,I went back to "DMA if available" and clicked OK again. That was it! No re-boot or direct bios changes, and my DMA was enabled. I know it makes little sense but it worked. After that, my computer ran so much better it was amazing. The bottom line. If that tab says "DMA if available" it doesnt always mean it truly is enabled! Hope this helps (Someone http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif). Have a great day!

[agharthi]

I'm afraid nothing worked out. maybe i've got the wrong cable, but why can't i always run winxp in udma mode-2. I'm also afraid that there isn't any possibility in my ami-bios to change the dma modes. but why does it always run properly in win98?

agharthi

[rond36]

Hello agharthi, Welcome to the PC Guide Forums.
Have you installed the motherboard drivers for Windows XP specifically the IDE drivers if you haven't, installing them will help.

The native Win XP drivers will work but probably not in UDMA mode 5. I think what is happening is BIOS is trying to run the drives at UDMA mode 5 and the windows drivers can only do UDMA mode 2. You may want to check your IDE cable as suggested above. A standard 40 wire 40 pin cable has ridges the same size as your floppy cable. A UDMA mode 5 cable has ridges allot smaller and twice as many of them. If your IDE cable looks the same as your floppy cable, only wider it is a standard IDE cable.

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[This message has been edited by rond36 (edited 06-18-2002).]

[agharthi]

hi there,

I've finally managed to solve the problem!!!
and the reason why it didn't work is quite embarassing. although i've tried out all of your advices, nothing worked. today i checked the cable, and it was the appropriate one, but...after i closed my pc and started it...the monitor was showing...udma mode-2 (not mode-5 anymore)...
and the reason why it didn't work was (i'm not completely sure, but quite sure): the power-cable wasn't connected appropriate (not firmly enough)...
such a stupid thing...i mean it's quite ridiculous that the main power cable was connected too loose. stupid eh? but well, i still can't explain it to myself, why it didn't work at the first time, but then when i restarted. thanks anyway to all of you and i think that this is a great forum.

agharthi

[agharthi]

i wanted to add, that i've just 2 usb sockets, but three devices, which are being changed all the time...maybe because of that everything is loosening up there (like my optical p/s 2 mouse, it's also often too loose).
anyway thanks again,

agharthi

[agharthi]

i wanted to add, that i've just 2 usb sockets, but three devices, which are being changed all the time...maybe because of that everything is loosening up there (like my optical p/s 2 mouse, it's also often too loose).
anyway thanks again,

agharthi

[mjc]

Well, if you have more devices than ports, then it is a very good idea to grab a USP hub, and a powered one at that. It will save wear and tear on the ports themselves and the cables, plus provide additional power to the whole USB setup. I found that USB can best be described as flaky (one of the main contributors to this flakiness is lack of power), so wearing out your cables by constantly switching devices around is not going to help matters any.

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mjc
Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.