Both IDE channels have slowed to MultiWord DMA Mode 2 :-(

[scottb721]

I recently purchased a Barton core AMD Athlon XP2700 to replace my XP1800 CPU
The BIOS in my Gigabyte GA-7VAX was only F0 (original) so I flashed the BIOS to F10 so a Barton core CPU would work.
My new CPU works fine and is seen as an XP2700.

The problem I'm having now is that all my IDE drives, 2 HDD on Primary and 2 DVD drives on Secondary have all slowed to MultiWord DMA Mode 2.

They previously were UDMA mode 5 and UDMA mode 2, respectivley.

Could flashing new BIOS have caused this problem and if so, any ideas on a fix ?

It's a little different to the normal UDMA slowing to PIO problem some people have. In those cases it's normally only 1 device that is slowed, not all 4.

Thanks

[Ripper2860]

Have you tried the following ...

1. Check BIOS setup and make sure that the settingd for UDMA are correct in BIOS or set to AUTO-DETECT?

2. Install the latest chipset drivers (Via Hyperion or NVidia NForce, etc.) ?

3. Delete the IDE controller in Windows HARDWARE SETTINGS and allow Windows to re-detect the devices on re-boot?

4. Clear CMOS and allow the system to re-auto-detect the devices?

Just some things to try.

[redwudz]

Have you went into your BIOS to check the settings for HDs? May be something there.

Also, you might want to clear your CMOS after the upgrade. There is usually a shorting clip to reset the CMOS. If not, removing the battery when the computer is off and unplugged for a few minutes will clear it. Then you can start with a clean slate.


If all else fails, that board should be dual-BIOS, so you could switch to the backup BIOS, but then your Barton would not work properly.

Also, check to see if there is a Gigabyte user forum. If it's happened to you, it's indubitably happened to others.

[scottb721]

Thanks guys. There's enough stuff there to get me started.
It's very much appreciated.

In last step of the BIOS update Gigabyte advises to go back into the BIOS and select "Load Fail-Safe defaults"
Any idea what effect this has ?

Cheers

[redwudz]

Generally, the 'Fail Safe' settings just lowers the memory speed settings. Probably not applicable to your problem.

I have upgraded a Gigabyte board to Barton settings in the past, but I don't remember any problems. Maybe the BIOS clear will fix it. The big difference as far as I remember is that the front side bus (FSB) setting is different. 266Mhz as compared to the Barton 333Mhz. A month ago I ran my Barton XP1800 with a FSB setting of 400Mhz with no problems. Just switched over to a Athlon 64 3200 Winchester, but the Barton has been a great CPU.

[scottb721]

When I first installed the 2700 it only showed up as a 2100. This was fixed when I switched the clock from 133 to 166. The multiplier is still set to Auto.

Just found this in the manual,

Load Fail Safe Defaults-
"Fail-Safe defaults contain the most appropriate values of the system parameters that allow minimum system performance."

Load Optimized Defaults-
"Selecting this field loads the factory defaults for BIOS and Chipset Features which the system automatically detects.

The fail safe option doesn't sound like the better choice. Funny that the BIOS update procedure says to do it.
What do you think ?

[redwudz]

They generally want you to start in 'Fail Safe' mode to help sort out the drivers for your boards. The settings are almost guaranteed to work, even if some of your hardware is not set up quite properly.

There is not a lot of difference between 'Optimum' and 'Fail Safe'.
You can select either one, then check all the BIOS settings and see what is different.

I would still clear the CMOS, won't hurt anything. Will just reset everything to your new default. If you have changed some of the BIOS settings before, you might want to take note of those settings first. You can then select 'Failsafe' or 'Optimum' again.

[scottb721]

Hey Redwudz
Thanks for your time.
There wasn't anything in the BIOS about IDE settings(speed) so I went and selected Optimum Defaults.
What do ya know, Primary are back to UDMA5 and Sec are back to UDMA2

Learn something new everyday.

Thanks again.