Hi,

I just bought a new HDD. A 160Gb Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9. The new HDD is always in "Pio Mode"?!?!?!

I have installed every update Microsoft has to offer (SP2,etc,etc) and tried every solution they have to offer.
Updated BIOS. IDE Controller drives. EVERYTHING! And it doesn´t still work.

My computer:

AMD Athlon 1700+
ASUS A7A266-E
512Mb DDR

Can my motherboard be incompatible or old? Even if the manual says that it works with 2 Ultra DMA devices. I just do get it. Please HELP me!!!

Did You try to go to www.Maxtor.com and get (maxblast3.exe) ? If You don't have it You won't Be able to install Your Large 120Gig Hard drive, this is a Must and easy to use. Let Me know how it Goes !

drdirect@videotron.ca

Yepp, I tried it now and it doesn´t still work. Can the fault be in XP or is the HDD caput`?

This motherboard uses the Ali M1647 chipset.
Did you install the proper Windows XP "Integrated Driver" (IDE & AGP) for this chipset from Ali.

http://www.ali.com.tw/eng/support/drivers.php

Are you using the proper IDE 80 conductor cable. Using Cable Select or IDE/ATA
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/confCS-c.html
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/IDE-DMA.mspx

http://www.michna.com/kb/WxDMA.htm
<>""""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)."""""

http://www.asus.com/support/download/item.aspx?ModelName=A7A266-E&Type=All

A7A266-E BIOS 1011

1.Support AMD XP2100+ CPU.
2.Add LBA 48-bit addressing mode support.
3.Fix Samsung DDR problem.

The first thing is to check the Bios update
You need 48bit addressing support
Go to the above link for the Bios update

Windows XP with Service Pack 1 (or newer) and download the Maxtor Big Drive Enabler software patch. The Maxtor Big Drive Enabler, once executed, will update the Windows registry for large drive support.

or

Attach the large hard drive to an add-in Ultra ATA PCI adapter card with a 48-Bit LBA compliant BIOS and controller driver. The adapter card bypasses the system BIOS and operating system’s controller driver and uses its own BIOS and controller driver.

> The new HDD is always in "Pio Mode"?!?!?!


> I have installed every update Microsoft has to offer (SP2,etc,etc) and tried every solution they have to offer.
> Updated BIOS. IDE Controller drives. EVERYTHING! And it doesn´t still work.


The drive not using UDMA mode was the problem,, not large drive support.

The ASUS download for ALi drivers are out of date, not the latest. 1/29/02
ALi Integrated Driver v1.04

http://www.ali.com.tw/eng/support/drivers.php
M1647 Drivers for Windows XP version 2.07

The OS defaults to PIO untill the chipset driver is in place.

http://www.michna.com/kb/WxDMA.htm

> Re-enable DMA using the Registry Editor
>
> My thanks go to my fellow MVP Alexander Grigoriev who taught me this method.
>
> Run REGEDIT. Go to the following key:
>
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
>
> It has subkeys like 0000, 0001, 0002, etc. Normally 0001 is the primary IDE channel, 0002 the secondary, but other numbers can occur under certain circumstances. Check the DriverDesc value to see which one it is.
>
> Delete MasterIdDataChecksum or SlaveIdDataChecksum, depending on whether the device in question is attached as master or slave, but it can't actually hurt to delete both. Reboot. The drive DMA capabilities will be redetected.
>
> Open Device Manager again and check whether the device is now actually using DMA mode. If so, congratulations, you've made it (at least until the next time Windows disables DMA).
> Alternative Method—Uninstalling the Port
> 1. Uninstall the secondary IDE port
>
> To do that, open Device Manager as follows. Right-click on My Computer, select Properties, click on the Hardware tag, click on the Device Manager button, click on the plus sign to the left of IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller, right-click on Secondary IDE Channel, click on Uninstall. Deactivating is not enough.
>
> Reboot to make the changes active and permanent.
>
> After booting Windows will automatically reinstall the IDE channel and the DVD (or CD) drive. This Plug-n-Play process can take a little while, so give it a minute after the boot process finishes.
> 2. Reactivate DMA
>
> But this is not enough, because unfortunately Windows does not automatically activate DMA on a DVD or CD drive. You have to tell Windows to try to use DMA first.
>
> For that, go to Device Manager again. Right-click on My Computer, select Properties, click on the Hardware tag, click on the Device Manager button, click on the plus sign to the left of IDE ATA/ATAPI Controller, double-click on the secondary IDE channel, click on Extended Settings and change the relevant setting from PIO only to DMA when available.
>
> On Windows NT and 2000 you now have to reboot a second time, but Windows XP applies the change instantly. Then you can go to the same place in Device Manager again and check whether the device is now actually using DMA mode. If so, all is well.