Help! SATA2 Drive in PIO mode

Question

Hi,

I recently purchased a Maxtor SATA2 300gb drive for my XPS600. For some reason, its only operating in PIO mode. When I open up the "nForce4 Serial ATA RAID Controler" properties under device manager, my primary device (250gb that shipped with the dell) is saying "Serial ATA Generation1 - 1.5G". The Secondardy Channel tab says "PIO Mode" and there is a little windows warning icon that says "Transfer Mode Downgraded".

I have attempted to set the PIO mode to SATA2 and SATA1, but each time when I reboot, the machine hangs part way through the reboot and I have to revert to "last known good setting" to get the machine to boot again.

Im stumped by this one.

Naturally, dell support are completely unwilling to help as I didnt purchase the second drive from them. However, I am sure that the problem is not with the drive because I have tried TWO separate drives (a SATA1 and a SATA2) and both always end up in PIO mode.

I have also tried connecting the drive to different SATA connectors on the motherboard, but the result is always the same!

All help and suggestions gratefuly recieved!
Thanks in advance

rmtracy · Answer

Hi,   Had the same problem, but not with a Dell... Suggest removing the drive under control panel, system. hardware, device manager, and reboot... The system should reconize the hard drive, and allow you to change the drive back to DMA... Worked for me... XP will assign PIO mode to any drive that has X ammount of errors... Not sure if this is what happened to you, but worth a try...   Hope this helps,   Ray

roboBob · Answer

Hi,

Thanks for the suggestion. I deleted the drive in device manager and rebooted as requested. During the reboot (approx half way through the windows startup process), windows hung with a blank screen. The hard drive light stayed on for another few minutes and eventually went off.

In order to get the machine to boot, I had to revert to last known good configuration during the bootup process.

Any suggestions?

Thanks a million.

rmtracy · Answer

Sorry, this has stumped me also...I am planning on getting another SATA drive...here's hoping I have better luck when I do...

Did you go into the BIOS to ensure the drive is reconized? Just a thought...

Ray

roboBob · Answer

yep, just double checked. The BIOS recognises the drive ok. Cheers

roboBob · Answer

Interesting, just came accross the following:

http://maxtor.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/maxtor.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=2685&p_created=1136595488&p_sid=MsRrUR2i&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MSZwX3Byb2RzPTAmcF9jYXRzPSZwX3B2PSZwX2N2PSZwX3NlYXJjaF90eXBlPWFuc3dlcnMuc2VhcmNoX25sJnBfcGFnZT0xJnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9bmZvcmNl&p_li=&p_topview=1

The firmware version listed is the same as my drive. It would seem that this may be some/all of the problem.

Have opened ticket with maxtor. Will post back and let you all know how I get on.

royhud · Answer

Don`t use Maxtor drives on Nforce 4 boards. Stick with WD or Seagate. Also Seagate purchased Maxtor.

roboBob · Answer

Hi There,

Can you explain a little more about this statement. I know I am having problems and it looks like Maxtor is not compatible with nForce4, but do you have any links to articles or sites or other evidence (etc...) that supports this. Naturally, if this is the case I will be looking to return the drive.

Thanks

royhud · Answer

I was going to go with Maxtor at first because Dell used it but then found too many problems listed by users here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/CustratingReview.asp?item=N82E16822144014
Read all the sata drives there and you can then decide. Hope this helps.

roboBob · Answer

Very helpfull link, thanks.

royhud · Answer

I`m thinking on this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822136003 The KS models are the best from what I can see.

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Help! SATA2 Drive in PIO mode

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