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From: MZB on 26 Apr 2010 12:57 William: Thanks for your help. I'd like to do the uninstall/reinstall thing but I'm not sure how. Do I go into Device Manager, get to primary IDE Channel, right click, and then click uninstall? If so, then how do I reinstall it. Also, when I right-click there is an option to update driver. Should I click on that? Also, Event Viewer indicate the following: The device, \Device\Ide\IdePort0, did not respond within the timeout period. Does that tell us something? Mel "William R. Walsh" <wm_walsh(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message news:f02f04de-5d15-4cf4-b750-efcfee0cc82b(a)r27g2000yqn.googlegroups.com... > Hi! > >> OK, I continue to have computer problems where it suddenly, >> without warning, slows to a crawl. >> I discovered that my IDE Controller was in PIO mode. It should >> be in DMA mode. > > Yes, it should be. And you're absolutely right, Windows will give up > on DMA mode and switch back to PIO after X amount of errors. > > I've had two Dell machines in the past two weeks decide to do this out > of the blue, with no apparent provocation. The sudden dropoff in > performance was the clue. Both systems have Samsung hard drives. > > Neither one has had a relapse after deleting and reinstalling the > Intel IDE controller from Device Manager. The hard drives themselves > appear to be fine, and the cables look as good as new. > >> I don't know how to check SMART (I don't even know what >> SMART is). > > SMART is "Self Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology". (Whew!) > Basically, it's a standardized way that a hard drive can tell a user, > operating system or application program what its relative state of > health is. Various parameters pertaining to the different ways in > which a drive may fail are (in theory) monitored by the drive. > However, it's up to your operating system or computer BIOS to tell you > when one of these parameters has reached the point where it may be > considered that the drive has failed. > > Some parameters are updated all the time (time spent powered on, > temperature, ECC usage) while others require the drive to be idle and > spinning for an offline scan to take place (offline correctable > sectors, pending sector count). > > If nobody (BIOS, utility software or OS) steps up to the plate to > deliver the message, however, the drive can be screaming "back up your > data NOW!" and no one will hear it. > > Of course, SMART isn't always useful. The allegation has been made > that SMART data was originally honest and that marketing had their way > with it, rendering it a lot less useful in the name of making the > drive look "better" as opposed to being honest about when things were > going wrong. I cannot swear to the veracity of that claim, but I can > say that all drives behave differently...some monitor things that > others don't, while others don't really show much change in SMART data > even when the drive has had a few problems. Seagate and Maxtor drives > seem to have the most honest and comprehensive SMART data. > >> Suggestions on how I can "get smart." > > The best tool I know of for quick and easy SMART access is SpeedFan > (http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php). It lets you see at a glance > what your hard drives are doing, and it provides a link to a website > that lets you compare the performance and statistics from your drive > to that of others. You can use it immediately, right within Windows > and without interrupting your other work. > > You can also force the drive to run its short or extensive test > routines, which may result in useful updates of the SMART data. > > William
From: MZB on 26 Apr 2010 13:00 Follow up question: In device manager, just above Primary IDE Channel, it lists Intel...ATA Storage Controllers. Is THAT what I uninstall? Mel "William R. Walsh" <wm_walsh(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message news:f02f04de-5d15-4cf4-b750-efcfee0cc82b(a)r27g2000yqn.googlegroups.com... > Hi! > >> OK, I continue to have computer problems where it suddenly, >> without warning, slows to a crawl. >> I discovered that my IDE Controller was in PIO mode. It should >> be in DMA mode. > > Yes, it should be. And you're absolutely right, Windows will give up > on DMA mode and switch back to PIO after X amount of errors. > > I've had two Dell machines in the past two weeks decide to do this out > of the blue, with no apparent provocation. The sudden dropoff in > performance was the clue. Both systems have Samsung hard drives. > > Neither one has had a relapse after deleting and reinstalling the > Intel IDE controller from Device Manager. The hard drives themselves > appear to be fine, and the cables look as good as new. > >> I don't know how to check SMART (I don't even know what >> SMART is). > > SMART is "Self Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology". (Whew!) > Basically, it's a standardized way that a hard drive can tell a user, > operating system or application program what its relative state of > health is. Various parameters pertaining to the different ways in > which a drive may fail are (in theory) monitored by the drive. > However, it's up to your operating system or computer BIOS to tell you > when one of these parameters has reached the point where it may be > considered that the drive has failed. > > Some parameters are updated all the time (time spent powered on, > temperature, ECC usage) while others require the drive to be idle and > spinning for an offline scan to take place (offline correctable > sectors, pending sector count). > > If nobody (BIOS, utility software or OS) steps up to the plate to > deliver the message, however, the drive can be screaming "back up your > data NOW!" and no one will hear it. > > Of course, SMART isn't always useful. The allegation has been made > that SMART data was originally honest and that marketing had their way > with it, rendering it a lot less useful in the name of making the > drive look "better" as opposed to being honest about when things were > going wrong. I cannot swear to the veracity of that claim, but I can > say that all drives behave differently...some monitor things that > others don't, while others don't really show much change in SMART data > even when the drive has had a few problems. Seagate and Maxtor drives > seem to have the most honest and comprehensive SMART data. > >> Suggestions on how I can "get smart." > > The best tool I know of for quick and easy SMART access is SpeedFan > (http://www.almico.com/sfdownload.php). It lets you see at a glance > what your hard drives are doing, and it provides a link to a website > that lets you compare the performance and statistics from your drive > to that of others. You can use it immediately, right within Windows > and without interrupting your other work. > > You can also force the drive to run its short or extensive test > routines, which may result in useful updates of the SMART data. > > William
From: William R. Walsh on 26 Apr 2010 13:15 Hi! Generally speaking, I have had the best results by removing the individual IDE channels first and then removing the "Intel ATA/Ultra ATA Storage Controllers" entry. Immediately after you do, reboot the system. Windows will reload the drivers after you log in or the computer comes to the desktop. Give it time to do this--you'll know when it's done because the little "your new hardware is now ready to use" notice will appear above the system clock. I've seen that "device did not respond within the timeout period" entry in the Event Viewer, and it may be perfectly normal. However, if you continue to have problems, this can indicate a hard disk that is having trouble responding to requests in a timely fashion. I would start by inspecting the hard disk cable first. You didn't mention what Dell system you are using in this thread, but I'm going to assume it's a PATA system as opposed to SATA. As such, you should have an 80 conductor IDE cable (the individual wires will be finer than a 40 conductor cable, which you will probably find going to your optical drive) going to the hard drive. If you don't, get one. (They're a few bucks from any computer parts store at the most. Or they might give you one for free if they do a lot of system builds and have extras laying around.) Buy the shortest one that will meet your needs. The "update your device driver" option will do two things if you choose it: 1. You will be asked to provide a newer driver. This is the best case. However, A) I doubt very much that you need or want to do this and B) if you really do, the best way is to download the Intel chipset software installer directly from Intel and use it. 2. If Windows doesn't find a newer driver on the system or you don't provide one, Windows may try to get a driver from Windows Update. You won't want this to happen...the drivers that come from Windows Update are usually out of date in the best case and usually don't work 100% correctly. William
From: MZB on 26 Apr 2010 16:33 Hi: I'm still very confused on what to do exactly and I don't want to screw things up. Under Device Manager I have: IDE ATA/ATAPI CONTROLLERS. Under that I have: Intel(R)....ultra ATA storage controllers and then: Primary ID Channel. So, by remove you mean uninstall? Right? So I right-click and do that. Do I start with the Primary ID Channel and then immediately reboot and then do it to the Intel storage controllers? My data is backed up. Mel "William R. Walsh" <wm_walsh(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message news:59359423-348c-4078-a008-dc7cd1efa857(a)5g2000yqj.googlegroups.com... > Hi! > > Generally speaking, I have had the best results by removing the > individual IDE channels first and then removing the "Intel ATA/Ultra > ATA Storage Controllers" entry. > > Immediately after you do, reboot the system. Windows will reload the > drivers after you log in or the computer comes to the desktop. Give it > time to do this--you'll know when it's done because the little "your > new hardware is now ready to use" notice will appear above the system > clock. > > I've seen that "device did not respond within the timeout period" > entry in the Event Viewer, and it may be perfectly normal. However, if > you continue to have problems, this can indicate a hard disk that is > having trouble responding to requests in a timely fashion. I would > start by inspecting the hard disk cable first. > > You didn't mention what Dell system you are using in this thread, but > I'm going to assume it's a PATA system as opposed to SATA. As such, > you should have an 80 conductor IDE cable (the individual wires will > be finer than a 40 conductor cable, which you will probably find going > to your optical drive) going to the hard drive. If you don't, get one. > (They're a few bucks from any computer parts store at the most. Or > they might give you one for free if they do a lot of system builds and > have extras laying around.) Buy the shortest one that will meet your > needs. > > The "update your device driver" option will do two things if you > choose it: > > 1. You will be asked to provide a newer driver. This is the best case. > However, A) I doubt very much that you need or want to do this and B) > if you really do, the best way is to download the Intel chipset > software installer directly from Intel and use it. > > 2. If Windows doesn't find a newer driver on the system or you don't > provide one, Windows may try to get a driver from Windows Update. You > won't want this to happen...the drivers that come from Windows Update > are usually out of date in the best case and usually don't work 100% > correctly. > > William
From: Brian K on 26 Apr 2010 17:52
Mel, Start with the Primary IDE channel. Uninstall and reboot. Then see if you can set DMA. |