Intel Matrix Drivers won't install + Stuck in PIO mode

What model Dimension is this? 5100/5150/E510? Further, you mention a single hard disk and I was under the impression that the Matrix drivers were only needed for DataSafe/RAID configurations on that machine.

I also thought those machines were SATA only, but you indicate IDE.....? Perhaps I'm way off base.

Be that as it may, have you gone into Device Manager and deleted/uninstalled the IDE controller and attempted to let XP re-install a native driver upon reboot?

BTW, does device manager show a "SCSI and RAID Controllers" entry? Just curious.

If I read correctly, there are SATA/IDE settings in the BIOS. Perhaps, as you've pointed out, the system incorrectly thinks it's dealing with an IDE drive in PIO mode rather than a SATA disk - if BIOS is set to look for an IDE drive.

It may be a stretch, but might help.

If you're not sure, just use ALT+F to default the BIOS settings. This should force the system (upon exiting) to re-detect all drives and might help - and won't hurt.

E510.

Yes, I've already tried uninstalling the driver and letting it fix itself, and I've added all the registry keys to enable DMA in the registry as well. Yes they're SATA only, but for some reason, it shows them as IDE Channels instead of ATA Channels like my friend's setup (completely different, but SATA and similiar chipset).

The Matrix drivers are for everything it seems, at least that's what the Dell site says when I stick my service tag in the Driver section. ALL intel drivers are refusing to install except the Chipset Configuration Utility, and that's about as useful as dried water.

Hmm.

Well I suppose you've been into BIOS to view the drive properties are set as you want them:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim5150/en/sm/syssetup.htm#wp1100650

Exactly what am I supposed to change in the BIOS? There's nothing in this stupid BIOS that will let me change from PIO mode to DMA or anything. Overly restrictive BIOSes FTL

Well, if it helps, I should be moving to a new motherboard soon with another 945g chipset but core 2 duo support. What drivers should I F6 in? I only tried the 82801 or whatever GR/GH drivers, and that needed a system restore to fix.

There's no "DataSafe" or RAID, just your vanilla SATA.

Message Edited by Conrow on 12-04-200611:23 AM

I tried ALT+F, nothing.

Yes, it does attempt to install an SCSI/RAID controller, but I was under the pretext that this was the Daemon Tools SPTD driver.

Edit: It IS the Daemon Tools driver. .

Message Edited by Conrow on 12-04-200611:07 AM

Generic answer: Whatever controller you have (which you already know).

And I've gotta say, sometimes determining the controller down to the letter/model suffix isn't as easy as I would've imagined.

I'd heard/read that SATA drivers had been added to the Dell SP2 discs anyway, but I've not verified.

I can tell you this, however; on my 3rd party board in which I AM actually running RAID1 with dual 200's (ASUS board, SiS chipset), loading the SATA and RAID drivers was boring it was so easy. Left me feeling that the Intel Matrix Storage configuration is entirely too complicated. jmo.

Message Edited by NVRambo on 12-04-200612:05 PM

The thing is, when I was using the OEM XP Home, it worked in UDMA 5 Mode, I believe. I can't quite remember anything else, unfortunately. The difference in performance is overwhelming, most games that would take about 5 seconds to load up and play now take about 1-2 minutes to even get past the splash screen.

What a predicament.

You can't enable RAID with a single hard disk, can you? If you can, I can just F6 the drivers in and run a repair install of XP.

But why does Dell list these drivers in the Driver Downloads section if they are not supported? That doesn't make sense.

Yes, I have uninstalled the drivers and reinstalled them. I've tried every software fix and registry fix that I can think of, so it may be a problem with the HDD or the controller itself. Would sliding in the hard-drive slightly too hard in the bay honestly do anything?

Also, prior to this problem, I was going to swap my mother board and case, although this could not be done because I didn't have a heatsink for the CPU. I changed the HAL to Standard Computer, and obviously it didn't work when I rebooted after realising the new motherboard couldnt be used yet. Could this honestly play any part?

Also, could it be a botched SP2 slipstream? I notice that I have some of the Pre-SP2 bugs such as not being able to log off when having 2 users logged on.