UDMA100 on MSI Mobo & Seagate HDD?

I have a Segate 40Gb HDD (5400 rpm), I haven't looked for a Model number, sorry. It is less that a year old.

I also have an MSI KT7 Turbo 2 (MS-6330) mother board, I have used the seatools programme to set the maximum UDMA mode (100)on the HDD, the motherboard is ATA100 compatable, but in the seatools program it says that the system is running at ATA33.

There is only one setting in the (Award) BIOS that refers to ATA/UDMA, and I have tried this Enabled & Disabled (these are the only settings) but my HDD still runs at ATA33.

Does anyone know more about this BIOS/HDD to be able to help me?

Dig

 

Are you using an 80 wire cable or a 40 wire cable?

Rockster2U

 

I don't know how to tell, I used the cable that came with the mobo, it is colour coded (blue plug on cable, blue socket on mobo), what is the correct way of telling?

 

Sounds like an 80 wire cable or ATA 100 compatable. Yes, you want to enable this in your bios and if you are still running at 33 then you need to check the specs of your HDD on Seagate's website. Assuming drive is Master, plug it into the last header on the cable and you can also set the drive as cable select - I run most all HDD's as CS unless an oddball configuration is required to accomodate some other device.

Rockster2U

 

I checked it out, the hdd is ATA100 (Model number: ST340810A), there is only one device on the cable at the moment, that is the hdd (set to master) and it is on the end terminal.

I set the maximum capable speed of the hdd to UDMA100, I did this with a tool that runs from a boot disc, I got it from the seagate website.

So, the hdd and other hardware is ready to run UDMA100, but apparently, according to the tool I used to set the maximum hdd ATA speed, my system (and therefore my hdd) is currenly running at ATA33 - But alas! during boot, when it is detecting the hdd, I see a message ".Primary IDE Channel No 80 Conductor Cable Installed "!!!???. the cable looks identical to those I have seen advertised as UDMA100, but this is the message I get.

I cannot find anything in the BIOS that will activate UDMA100 directly, but I have a list of options (this is typed directly from the user maual):

OnChip IDE Channel0/1 (this is set to Enabled)
The integrated peripheral controller contains an IDE interface with support for two IDE channels. Choose Enabled to activate each channel seperately.


IDE Prefetch Mode (set to Enabled)
The onboard IDE drive interfaces supports prefetching, for faster drive access. Set it to Disabled if your primary and or secondary add-in IDE interface does not support prefetching.

Primary/Secondary Master/Slave PIO (set to Auto on all)
The four items allow you set a PIO (Programmed Input/Output) mode for each of the four IDE devices that the onboard IDE interface supports. Modes 0-4 provide increased performance. In Auto mode, BIOS automatically determines the best mode for each IDE device.

Primary/Secondary Master/Slave UDMA (set to Auto on all)
Ultra DMA implementation is possible only if your IDE device supports it and your operating environment contains DMA driver. If both your hard drive and software support Ultra DMA 33/66/100, select Auto to enable BIOS support.

IDE HDD Block Mode (set to Enabled)
This allows your disk controller to use the fast block mode to transfer data to and from the hard disk drive. Block moode is also called block transfer , multiple commands or multiple sector read/write. Enabled enables IDE controller to use block mode; Disabled allows the controller to use standard mode.

Is there a fault here, or should I check that the cable (supplied with the mobo) is UDMA100? if so, how?

Cheers.

Dig.

 

Digitalis,

I had the same problem on a different VIA chipset board - turned out it was a bad bios load. I ended up flashing the bios to the latest version and all has been well since. Seems that on MSI's site 3.5 is the latest bios version for your board - what version do you have now?

I went out of my mind with cables assuming that they were the problem. I think I tried every ATA 100 cable that I had in the house. It is possible that you have a bad or poorly constructed cable. If I recall how 80 conductor cable performance was explained to me, each of the 'data' wires has it's own iceolated ground wire 40+40; something like that. These additional 40 wires reduce electrical 'noise' and allow the faster data transfer. If the cable is nicked in any way or connectors weren't aligned correctly on the wire before construction you re-introduce that 'noise' and your increased performance is lost.

I don't recall if that's exactly how it plays out but I'm sure it's close - maybe Rockster can fill in any spots that I've missed.

I have received Mboard cables that were damaged with nicks and cuts. You may want to check yours over carefully. I also had an ATA 100 setup on a Gateway machine a couple of years ago that would only run at 100 if the cable were installed with the black end on the board and the blue end on the drive. If I swapped those around - ATA33 is as fast as it would go - Go figure....

I know the rule not to flash your bios unless it's absolutely necessary (the impending fear of a power outage just as the eeprom is being reprogrammed) but I just thought I'd offer my suggestion. Take it FWIF

Cheers,

Gary

 

Easiest solution is to first try another cable that you know is ATA 100 - 80 wire. As an aside, I have never used any Seagate software to enable ATA 100, never even knew such a thing existed. From my perspective - either a drive is or it isn't. Guess I learned something else I didn't know.

 

Seagate have a range of support-be it online or downloadable-the one I have I think is called Seatools, it has to be run from a boot disk.

It doesn't actually set the speed of the drive, it allows you to set the maximum, so that if your system is UDMA66, then you could set the Hdd maximum to 66, so that your HDD won't have any conflicts with the system.

I have ordered a couple of UDMA100 cables, I am awaiting delivery, I'll let you lot know how I get on......

Cheers.
DIG.

 

Cables came back, now running at UDMA100.

Job Done.

Cheers all.

Dig.

 

Again - Congratulations and thanks for posting back.