Installed a new Maxtor 200gb drive Model 6B200Po as master. Drive only working in PIO mode despite the DMA if available selection being made in device manager. The slave drive (original) is working in ultra DMA 5 mode. I have updated the motherboard BIOS with no change. any clues?

McC

Not sure if it is relevant but:

Did you use MaxBlast to install?

Have you run PowerMax?

Also I see in this link:

http://home.comcast.net/~bbmayo/DMA.html

The suggestion is to uninstall the drive in Device Manager & reboot to reset the setting.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, I did use maxblast and I have un installed and re installed the primary IDE chanell. Drive still using PIO mode!

Besides this page:

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

Have you checked:

BIOS settings?

Jumper settings?

Are you using SP2?

Have you tried just using the new drive?

Installed a new BIOS and using cable select mode. The drive works but only in PIO mode and the sytem is much slower than it was before I installed the drive.

My drive is using PIO mode instead of DMA in Windows XP?

Question
Why is my drive using PIO mode instead of DMA in Windows XP?

Answer
Problem:
The drive controller is set to use "DMA if available" but reports to be only in PIO mode. User cannot turn on DMA for ATA device. The only option for the user who wants to enable DMA mode is to uninstall and reinstall the affected channel, "Primary IDE Channel" or "Secondary IDE Channel". Reboot the system and Windows XP will reinstall the driver for the channel.

Cause:
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.

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).

All CRC and timeout errors are logged in the system event log. These types of errors could be caused by improper mounting or improper cabling (for example, 40-pin instead of 80-pin cable). Or such errors could indicate imminent hardware failure, for example, in a hard drive or chipset.

*Referenced from Microsoft - http://www.microsoft.com/hwdev/tech/storage/IDE-DMA.asp

Solution:
Ensure you are using an 80-pin UDMA cable that does not exceed 18 inches in length.
Windows XP Service Pack 1.
Uninstall and reinstall the affected channel, "Primary IDE Channel" or "Secondary IDE Channel". Reboot the system and Windows XP will reinstall the driver for the channel.

Open Device Manager.
Double-click on IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers
Right-click on Primary IDE Channel or Secondary IDE Channel and select uninstall.
Click on "Ok".
Restart the system.
Upon restart, Windows will reinstall the Primary or Secondary IDE channel.
Note: It is recommended to obtain the latest drivers for the hard drive controller on the motherboard or controller add-in card from the manufacturer.


https://maxtor.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/...PJ*BFh&p_lva=#