Ultra ATA HDD Questions

iar_xeno

The new PC I bought has a Ultra ATA HDD running at 7200 RPM, I got the whole deal from Dell. I had a problem with some software and decided to just ZZTop the hard disk (zig zag top, utility provided with Dells, hidden file contains the initial installation of the PC, can be used to reset it to ex factory state). The ZZ image file was corrupt so I just went for a complete reformat/reinstall, everything went fine except for the fact that the manual specified installing an Ultra ATA driver for the HDD, but no driver was on the installation CD, rang Dell tech support came back with the answer that the Intel chipset patch contained the Ultra ATA drivers now (dubious). The only mention on Dells website was for drivers for an Ultra ATA accelerator board (don't have). The hard disk seems sluggish, interfering with on screen graphics while working (seems to be using too much CPU)
Any ideas whether I need extra driver sw and where I can get it.
(if you want exact details on HDD check the Dell site under 40Gb 7200rpm HDDs)

Cheers - Technophobic

_CreeD_

It depends on a few things really. Are you talking ATA-33 or 66? Is this an 1820 (Rambus) or BX chipset?
UNless you were really silly and paid a bucket load for Rambus, then its most likely BX, and since Dell use intel chipsets/boards (AFAIK) they wouldnt have a nice new ATA-66 controller on it (As some other manufacturers have added to the BX). In this case Win98 should autodetect the correct Busmaster controller.
Just go into dev-man. and check that it's an Intel 8xxxx something, (Sorry cant remember the exact code). And that the DMA checkbox for the HDDs is ticked (Under Disk-Drives).

A lot of 'IFs' but at least checking the above will give some more help troublehooting here.

SickBoy

I think the intel patch that Dell refered to was for win95 which didnt have support for the new specification of hard drive controller intel introduced with the LX/BX chipset. As creed said, Win98 should install the correct busmastering driver.

iar_xeno

i820
ATA 66 (7200rpm)

The Intel codes all begin with an 8 !!!
Intel 82801AA is installed and it is a bus master IDE controller. It just seems slow, is there any diagnostic programs (commercial or downloadable) similar to Norton Utilities of way back to get benchmarks for HDD, CD, DVD, Video and Network speeds?

There isn't a DMA checkbox. (The DVD and CDR have this option - u recommend it for these?)

The Intel Chipset Update contains these drivers for 98. (which I installed first)

Thanks, any other optimisation tips greatly appreciated.

_CreeD_

Sorry Xeno, I've no experience with the I820 so I dont really know what controller it uses . And sorry about the 8xxx thing, it's been nearly 2 years since I was troubleshooting 95 (Excuses excuses... ).
You should tick DMA for the CDR/DVD as this bypasses your CPU for memory management.
The lack of these boxes on the HDD's is (IMHO) the problem - as without it they have to get the CPU to act as middleman all the time. Sometimes just removing the controller and letting it redetect does the trick.
There are also some registry hacks I remember hearing about on another forum but I can't remember what they are.
If you're still stuck pop over to Anandtech.com and it's tech forums. They're pretty good and I know that's where I saw it before.

You could also double check the BIOS to make sure both drives are still being picked up as UDMA (AFAIK ATA-66 is PIO mode 5).