Promise PDC20276 ATA/RAID Controller...

[jonifen 0]

Hi all, I've got a bit of a problem with my PC at home... its not a major issue really and I can make do with it, but I'm sure in a month or two I'll be tearing my hair out over it (and being a male at the age of 22 (and living with 4 females)... I'm starting to get less and less to tear!).

 

First of all... my hardware spec

Intel P4 2.4GHz 533fsb

1024Mb (2x 512Mb) PC2700 DDR

Gigabyte GA-8PE667 Ultra

Soundblaster Live Value PCI

Leadtek gf4 ti4200 8x AGP

40Gb Seagate Barracuda IV (ata100, 7200rpm)

80Gb Maxtor (unsure of exact model - its a diamondmax I think - ata133, 7200rpm)

48x LG CDRW

16x Pioneer DVD105s DVDROM

4x Pioneer DVR106d DVDRW

 

secondly... my problem

I recently changed my drives around in my system before doing a complete clean install of WinXP SP1. They were originally set as:

Primary Master: 40gb seagate

Primary Slave: cdrw

Sec Master: dvdrom

Sec Slave: dvdrw

Promise Channel 1 master: 80gb maxtor

 

I changed them to this:

Primary Master: dvdrom

Primary Slave: cdrw

Sec Master: none

Sec Slave: dvdrw (couldnt get to the jumper to change to master - not much room as its near psu)

Promise Channel 1 master: 40gb seagate

Promise Channel 2 master: 80gb maxtor

 

Anyway, since the reinstall, I've noticed that when the 40gb is accessed, my mouse (intellimouse optical usb) goes jittery and sound tends to jump a bit too.

 

All that just to say my sound is jumpy and my mouse is jittery!

 

So to cut a long story short... can anyone give me any advice to help solve this? I have to admit, the system itself runs quicker with both HDDs on the promise controller... but if I'm moving the mouse while the HDD is being accessed (usually has to be accessed a fair bit... more than loading Outlook anyway) it goes jittery, and if I'm playing mp3s or anything, they jump slightly. So if possible, I'd like to keep both HDDs on the promise controller. I've already tried the CDRW on the promise controller in the past to keep the 40gb at least on its own cable on primary IDE, but the cdrw ran garbage (due to the ata controller not being good with atapi functions).

 

So then... if anyone can help, its appreciated

thanks in advance.

[jmmijo 1]

Make sure that neither the Promise controller and the Sound Blaster are sharing IRQ's...

 

They are supposed to be bus mastering devices but in fact do not always like to share to well

 

Also make sure all you chipset and device drivers are up to date.

[jonifen 0]

hi, thanks for the quick reply

 

I've already checked IRQs, and they are on separate numbers... but I noticed that there is a USB host in both of those IRQs, and my mouse has been jittery. Possibly related. Would it be worth trying to move the sound card in the PCI slot?

 

Only thing I've changed is put my 40gb onto the controller with the 2nd one. The sound didnt jump when the CDRW was on the secondary promise channel in the past, so I dont think its somethin to do with both channels being used... or could it be? as i never always used the cdrw...

 

edit: drivers are all up-to-date yeah... I downloaded new promise drivers to make a floppy disk so I could install the OS while the HDD was on the controller. And the sound card... well, creative aint the most reliable for new drivers, so the ones I'm using are the ones I've used for about a year now (and are still the newest!)

[jmmijo 1]

I would try both things, move back to the original drive config and retest for jumpy/jittery sound. Also just try disabling most of the USB ports, you can usually adjust how many USB ports are active in the system BIOS settings. Of course any USB devices on any of the disabled ports will need to be moved to the enabled ones

[jonifen 0]

I can only enable/disable the extra ones (which I need one of those). I cant disable the onboard ones (as per usual on the mobos these days). WinXP does not boot when I move the main HDD between normal IDE and the ATA controller (just BSOD and reboot - I may need to edit boot.ini but am not daring to try it tbh!)

 

But with the original drive config, pre-reinstall, it worked fine... but I thought I'd change it a bit, and after ~3hrs of installing stuff, I wish I hadnt bothered lol

 

I'll give the sound card thing a go, and will post back after I've done this. Thanks for your quick replies and the help

[jmmijo 1]

You're welcome

 

Just remember that sometimes when you change a working config you may run into issues like this

[jonifen 0]

aye I had thought it ran a bit smooth to start with

not been able to test anything just yet... so I should have chance tomorrow

[bill31k 0]

Well I have, about, the same specs with your system.....

 

What I noticed trying to set the onboard Promise controller is this:

 

when I use the newest drivers (version 2.0.1020.40 and higher) I have the same problems with usb devices nad the soundcard (onboard realtek)

 

try using promise drivers version 2.0.1020.32 (they work for me)

 

to check the version find the file """ ultra.sys""" and see on "properties" the version info.

 

 

hope this will work on your system..!!!

[jmmijo 1]

Yes, this is a good thing to check for sure, sometimes certain versions of device drivers will behave erratically with some system configs, you can always try out ealier versions of the device driver to test if the same issue(s) occur or not

[jonifen 0]

good info to know... thanks for the heads up on that bill.

The drivers are the latest ones on the gigabyte website, so I imagine they are the ones you mention.

[bill31k 0]

I have the drivers with version 2.0.1020.32 in the DRIVERS CDrom (supplied) bundled with the mobo.

the newer package from gigabyte is version 2.0.1020.41 .

I think that if you browse the DRIVERS CDROM under /Promise you will find something like /OLD (drivers).

 

If you cannot find them let me know... :x

[jonifen 0]

ok, cheers

I downloaded the new ones cuz I thought it'd be a good decision... so it doesnt seem to be anything to do with my drive setup change afterall lol.

[jonifen 0]

hi,

I just finally got around to installing the older drivers... and my old drivers are infact (taken from device manager) version 2.0.1020.41

I snooped through the contents of my mobo cd to no avail... these are the oldest (and newest) drivers on the CD

 

I'm gonna have a quick scout around online for the drivers you mentioned (.32 i think you said - I will double check before searching).

[jonifen 0]

Bill, you're a legend m8 - my problem is solved!!

 

Many many thanks for your help... Just did a bit of a quick test, sound did not jump with an mp3, mouse seems normal.

 

Thx again