Still working on PC speed problem- WinXP

Running WinXPHome (not the update, the full version).

Background - After a clean (format C install of WinXP, my system just dont
have the speed that it had before the install.

New (Added or Replaced) Hardware since purchase of system:
Added a TDK CD-RW.
Added a new Seagate SATA HD (for testing purposed this drive is unplugged).
Replaced graphics card nVidia TI4800 AGPwith a nVidia 6600 GT, AGP.
Replaced Creative Sound Card Audigy with Creative Audigy 2 ZS w\front panel.
Replaced 250 W Power supply with 55W Power supply.

Still trying to figure out the speed slow down for my system.

I just finished re-installing the chipset (original) from Gateway but no change.

Looking at the BIOS, I see this config -

ATA/IDE Configuration [Enhanced]
HD Pre-Delay - Disabled
Intel RAID Technology - Disabled <---(This is OK, i dont have a RAID system)
SATA [Port 0] - Hard Drive
SATA [Port 1] - Not found]
PATA Primary Master - IOMEGA ZIP
PATA Primary Slave - Not Found
PATA Secondary Master - DVD Drive
PATA Secondary Slave - TDK CD-RW

The last change in the BIOS was adding the TDK CD-RW, well before the
slowdown was apparent.

I dont remember if the HD Pre-delay was always disabled nor do i know the
effect (if any) if i enabled it.....

Does this config look right for the BIOS?
Any feedback on what happens if i enable the HD Pre-delay?

Thank you,
savagcl
(Clif)

 

Hi clif,

It may be that Windows has installed a "standard" set of drivers for a major piece of hardware. Have you installed the motherboard drivers? A good set of video drivers?

You could check that the HDD is set to DMA mode (in Device Manager).

Run the harddrive manufacturers utilities.

You could try the Pre-delay. If you have any trouble, go back to the BIOS settings and change it back. (The main worry with changing BIOS settings is Graphics/Video and maybe memory/RAM, these can make you startup to a blank screen).

Matt

 

hi mattman,
thanks for the comeback.

Motherboard drivers = chipset drivers???? if so, yes, i put in the chipset drivers
right after the Xp install.
I have the latest set of video drivers installed (nVidia 6703).

According to Everest:
The HD is set to "Active UDMA transfer mode = UDMA-5 (ATA-100). The max
allowable is UDMA 6 (ATA-100).

The HD is showing up as being Drive #2, maybe picking up the ZIP drive as #1?

I'll try the seagate utilities and pre-delay today and get back to you.

thanks,
clif

 

follow-up.

Seagate diagnostic tools do not support SATA drives, bummer.
The Pre-delay just inserted a delay before attempting to read/write HD. No effect.

I'm still waiting for Acronis to provide an answer to the "Snapman.sys" file that
they (their software) has attached as a HD driver......... Highly suspect that
this is the culprit since i can find no one who has a similar system with this file.

thanks,
clif

 

Clif, did you try SeaTools?
http://www.seagate.com/support/seatools

Everest may be reading the BIOS configuration for the drive. You should check in Device Manager and select Properties for the drive, there you should be able to check that Windows is running it in DMA mode.

These are just add-ons, it seems like you may be getting a "feel" for where the problem is.

Matt

 

Hi Mattman,

Yes, getting closer but not there yet.. I did try Seatools, most wouldn't
run because of non support for SATA. Recon they'll catch up some day.

I looked in system properties>Hardware>Device Manager>Disk Drives>
ST3200822AS>Properties and went through all 5 tabs shown. No DMA was
mentioned or shown........

Strange, no DMA is shown at all for either DVD, CD-RW, or the ZIP drive.
I know it used to be there!

If i do an unstall of the driver for the Hard disk (C:\), then reboot, windows
will find it (as new hardware) and reinstall the driver for it - right? Or since
windows is on drive C:\ will it just bomb and force a reinstall of windows?

thanks Guy,
clif

 

To see DMA status look at controller, not drive.

 

OK! Thats it! I've had enough senior moments.

From now on, i'm not getting any older!

(thanks)
clif

 

Its shows a DMAMode 5 for the HD.

In the control panel>system>hardware> device manager> Intel(R) 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controller - Shouldn't my SATA drive listed there?
Its currently listed under the 2nd Primary IDE Channel (with a ZIP drive using the 1st Primary IDE Channel).

And, both of my high-speed CD drives are showing as DMA Mode 2. I tried to
uninstall both the cd drives and rebooted but they still showed as DMA Mode 2.
Thats not correct, is it?

thanks,
clif

 

Sounds like that old line from Howlin Wolf, " She's built for comfort baby, she ain't built for speed "

Been watching this one, wondering what was going to come of it and am not sure I've got much to contribute but, you might want to investigate a couple of things further. Mattman's suggestion that you might have a chipset driver problem is still high on my list of potential culprits but the fact that your SATA drive is currently listed as an IDE device or at least is listed as running on an IDE controller should bring out the "Joe Friday" in all readers. What SATA controller drivers are you using and what happens when you enable the RAID controller in your BIOS. Just because you aren't running a RAID configuration doesn't necessarily mean your RAID controller should be disabled (this varies by board) Your SATA drive should be showing up as a SCSI device even though we all know it really isn't. Ive also seen boards (couple of my own DFI's) that will not let one run any type of drive on primary master if the SATA controller is enabled - its one or the other but not both.

Yes, your Opticals are probably singing backup vocals for the same Howlin' Wolf which again points to the potential of (A) chipset drivers or (B)IDE/SATA controller conflicts caused by improper setup in your sytem BIOS or (E) all of the above. Sorry, I don't have an answer for you at this time because we don't know enough about your system, but I would encourage you to step back, take a breather and broaden your focus.

These types of issues can be devilish, but one has to admit - they're also the most fun trying to figure out.

 

Sparrow, thanks for looking that up. I am working on my main harddrive at the moment and don't have Win XP.

Clif, UDMA mode 2 is correct for optical drives.

I have not worked on SATA drives much, but you could uninstall the drive controllers (IDE and SATA) and let Windows reinstall them when you reboot. Actually, it may be best to uninstall the drive controllers, shutdown, disconnect the ZIP and optical drives, then restart with only the SATA drive. Check if the SATA drive is configured correctly, then reconnect the other drives one restart at a time.

What mode is stated for the ZIP drive?

Check in the BIOS settings that the boot drive is set to SATA 0 (or boot to SATA 0 after floppy).

I would be inclined to put the optical drives on the primary IDE and the ZIP drive on the secondary. At least see what happens if the ZIP drive is changed to slave on the primary IDE.

When you start-up, tap the Pause key, then cycle through the screens using Enter/Pause, Enter/Pause (if there is a motherboard or CPU "splash" screen at the start you may have to press a key to see the POST information, it may be the Esc key). Look at the POST configuration screen, it will list how all the drives are configured and their mode, etc.

If you formatted and partitioned the harddrive with Seagate DiskWizard, I wonder if a Dynamic Drive Overlay (disk manager) was installed? That may be telling Windows that the drive is IDE. You mention the machine is a Gateway, check the Gateway website that you have set up the drive to their instructions (do you need to use their "recovery disks ", blah, blah ).

Check the BIOS (flash) upgrades. See if any refer to the problems you are seeing. If you decide to try an upgrade, follow the instructions carefully.

As I said, I don't have much background in SATA, I hope some of these suggestions help.

Matt
(Edit: Hello Rockster, you posted while I was making this up. Good if you can help)

 

Mattman,

Thanks for those suggestions. I'll try each of them in order. This will take a
little time so i'll get a report back here soonest.

I did find out about the "Snapman.sys" file that was attached as a driver to my
HD. It was from Acronis! At first they tried to tell me that it was a windows
system file and they got some heat over that from me and others.
After a lot of pushing from acronis forum members they finally created a full
uninstall procedure for Acronis, very convoluted and very quickly done. It uses
both auto and manual actions and is over a printed page in length. I dont know
if its even been tested yet.

Got a lot to do today so it will probably be tomorrow before i finish all this.
Stand by for further adventures of "Learning Windows the Hard Way ".

thanks again,
clif

 

Here's what i wound up with...

Intel(R) 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers
Driver Details: atapi.sys, pciide.sys, pciidex.sys
Intel(R) 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers
Driver Details: atapi.sys, pciide.sys, pciidex.sys

1st Primary IDE Channel
Driver Details: atapi.sys, storprop.dll
Advanced Settings:
Device 0 = Ultra DMA Mode 2 <-----------------------CD
Device 1 = NA

2nd Primary IDE Channel
Driver Details: atapi.sys, storprop.dll
Advanced Settings:
Device 0 = Ultra DMA Mode 5 <----------------------HD (1st)
Device 1 = NA

1st Secondary IDE Channel
Driver Details: atapi.sys, storprop.dll
Advanced Settings:
Device 0 = Ultra DMA Mode 2 <----------------------CD
Device 1 = PIO Mode <-----------------------------------Zip drive

2nd Secondary IDE Channel
Driver Details: atapi.sys, storprop.dll
Advanced Settings:
Device 0 = Ultra DMA Mode 5 <----------------------HD(2nd)
Device 1 = NA

I think!
Isn't there a utility that will just show the controllers/channels and state
what device is attached to it??

No improvement in speed but i think, until i have to re-load WinXp, I'll just
leave well enough alone (Tired of messing with it).

Mattman,
thanks for the help, if this ever gets fixed, i'll post the conditions here.
clif

 

"Isn't there a utility that will just show the controllers/channels and state what device is attached to it?? " See everest in matt's sig, then under storage, ATA.

 

No problems Clif. Pity it has not helped.

Excellent idea. Step back and give yourself a break for a while. You may come up with something in the meantime.

Early SATA motherboards had SATA/PATA problems. You may be dealing with one here. Do a search on the net when you get time, you may come across something similar or at least find out if it is fixable at all (certainly hope so!).

If you reinstall WinXP, have a plan ready to overcome those areas that you think may be the cause, for example, do you need to completely "wipe" the harddrive and start from scratch (could the Acronis "hidden partition" that you mentioned in another thread be messing up the Master Boot Records?)

Hope you can find it.

Matt

 

OK, Time to re-start this problem! Its getting worse, average speed is now
down to 55.8MB.
Still no closer to a resolution for this problem. I searched the web uncountable
times with no solution in sight.

Running through Everest i did find this:
Bus 0, Device 30, Function 0 Intel 82801EB I/O Controller Hub 5 (ICH5)
Bus 0, Device 31, Function 1 Intel 82801EB ICH5 - ATA-100 IDE Controller
Bus 0, Device 31, Function 0 Intel 82801EB ICH5 - LPC Bridge
Bus 0, Device 31, Function 2 Intel 82801EB ICH5 - Serial-ATA/150 IDE Controller

Everest, Device Properties, shows: ich5ide.inf for the Ultra ATA Storage
Controller for both HD's???????

Everest, Device Resources, shows:
Port 03B0-03BB - undetermined - Intel(R) 82875P Processor to AGP Controller
- 2579
Port 03C0-03DF - undetermined - Intel(R) 82875P Processor to AGP Controller
- 2579
Port C800-C81F - undetermined - Intel(R) 82801EB SMBus Controller - 24D3

It appears that Bus 0, Device 31, Function 2 is at least saying its a SATA but
the ich5ide.inf (notice the ide) is the file used for setting both up.

Still at wits end. Hoping some SATA Guru's have come on-board and can
shead some light on why arent both HD's shown as SATA and maybe explain
the decrease in speed.

thanks, as ever
savagcl

 

Hi Clif,

Have you looked at the Intel website for the latest drivers for your chipset version? The chipset version will be listed in the specifications for your machine.

I would go to Device Manager and uninstall the old drivers (anything listed as Intel and specifically, anything listed under drive controllers), then run the installation program for the new drivers. Shutdown (and I might consider disconnecting any drives except the harddrives and testing the HDDs by themselves). Windows will install the correct drivers on reboot.

Don't be afraid to uninstall the drivers, you have the Gateway ones as backup if the Intel ones won't install.

Matt
PS Have you checked the Gateway website for any updates to (chipset) drivers? Are you using SP2?

 

Hi Mattman,

Yes, i re-installed the Intel Chipset drivers yesterday from intel site, no change
from previous version tho).

Will try the uninstall of the drivers via device manager. Went to GW and got the
latest but they rarely update drivers. They expect you to go to the source and
get updates then they're not responsible anymore (neat huh).

Yep, SP2 running fine, with the exception of the new stuff, i dont notice any
system differences.

Will post about driver changes (if any) here.

thanks, Mattman,
savagcl

 

Personally, I think Everest is excellent but you also may be getting all worked up over next to nothing. I have one machine with 4 SATA drives - two on a VIA contoller and two on a promise controller (both on-board controllers). Everest doesn't even see the second drive on the VIA controller and I'm not running any kind of RAID configuration in that box.

As far as your drive benchmarking - is this coming from readings off of PC Pitstop or what software are you using?

 

Rockster2u,

I used HdTach for the readings.

Extract from HdTach:

Random access: 12.8ms
CPU utilization: 3% (+/- 2%)
Average read: 54.6 MB/s

The average read is down from initial reading of 120.?MB/s. Representing a
drop of 65.4MB's. Which is way to much for normal wear and tear (system
and HD is less than a year old).

I'm not using RAID config either.

thanks,
savagcl