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Win XP Pro slower after adding hard disk

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by phil.hall

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Here's my system:
Windows XP Professional SP1 with all updates
Pentium III 750MHz Slot 1 SECC2 CPU
640MB RAM
Abit BX6r2 (440BX) motherboard
Hercules TNT2 Ultra Video Card
Linksys NIC (10/100 autosensing PCI)
Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 PnP(ISA)
40GB Western Digital Hard Drive (boot)
Lite-On 16x10x40 CDRW
Added 80GB Maxtor Hard Drive

Configuration:
Pri. Master: 40Gb boot
Pri. Slave: 80GB
Sec. Master:
Sec. Slave: LiteOn CDRW

After adding the 80GB hard drive the system seems slower to respond. Sometimes programs take up to 10 seconds (or more) to launch. This problem did not occur prior to adding the 80GB drive.

Anyone have any ideas that will allow for the system to return to its normal speed (other than removing the 80GB drive)?

10 replies

by thechas

I could not find a BX6r2 on Abit's site.

Here are my ideas:

1. I have seen different brands of drives have problems when connected to the same IDE cable.
In fact, I avoid even mixing hard drive brands on any system.
Try moving the Maxtor to the Secondary Master position.

2. Did the motherboard recognize the full 80GB on it's own, or did you have to install the Maxtor utility?
When you use any drive overlay utility, I strongly recommend that the drive who's manufacture provided the utility be set as the Primary Master (boot) drive. Again, this is a potential conflict point between drive brands.

Which model Maxtor do you have?
If the Maxtor is an ATA133 drive, I STRONGLY recommend installing a PCI IDE controller card that supports ATA133 data rates.
Not only will it be able to operate the drive without the Maxtor utility, it will give you the full 133MB data transfer rate of the drive. The $30 for the controller card will basically double the data transfer rate from the drive!

Check in device manager that your system is not running in "Compatibility" mode.
If so, try deleting all IDE controllers and re-booting.
Allow Windows to re-install the devices and see if that speeds things up.

Chas

by thechas

Found the manual using Abit's Taiwan FTP site.

I would DEFINITELY install a PCI IDE card in your system.
The HDD controller on the board is an UDMA33.
The Western Digital is either an ATA66 or 100.
(2X or 3X data transfer improvement)
For theMaxtor, you will get 4X the data transfer rate with an ATA133 controller card.

Install the drives as follows:
Western Digital (boot drive) as Primary Master on new controller card.

Maxtor as secondary master or slave on the new controller card.

Make sure to:
Set the jumper on the WD back to single drive.
Use 80 conductor ATA133 IDE cables for both drives.

Not only should this get you back to the system performance you had before, it should get you at least a doubling of the data transfer rates from the hard drives.

Chas

by hberkhoff

My guess is also to put the 80GB on the Secondary Controller as master. Could be that the two disk don't mix very well on the same controller. Have seen it before, but with older disks. Another possibility is to upgrade the bios of your mainboard tothe latest version.

by phil.hall

See my above comments as to why this was rejected. I did try this first, though, and I appreciate your advice.

by phil.hall

First, thanks to you first 2 posters. To answer a couple of your questions: the BX6r2 isn't made any more so it's hard to locate on Abit's site, but it is there. Can't update the BIOS further since it's not made any more. I'll try moving the 80GB toSec. Master tonight (don't have time now to try. Hope it works.) The BIOS and the OS saw the full capacity of the drive--the BIOS on the system will see all drive sizess, so that's no problem there. Tonight I'll try and reconfigure to the suggestionyou (both) made, and we'll see what happens. Crossing fingers until then.

by phil.hall

Moving the drive to Secondary Master didn't alter the response times. I have ordered overnight an ATA-133 drive controller card (the one Maxtor makes--it darn well better be compatible with their own drive! lol) and we'll see what happens when it arrives. I'll award points if this does it. If not... back to the drawing board, I guess.

by phil.hall

After some additionall digging around I discovered what the problem is/was, and before I tell you what it was, I would like to thank the two who had answered to this request. You two rock! The answer was this http://support.microsoft.com/?id=811493 I had applied the hotfix as listed in that article, and it has been known under certain circumstances to cause the exact slowdown behavior that I experienced. So I said, "Ok, let's uninstall that patch and see what happens..." Uninstall went happily,and on reboot the problem was gone. I got bit my MS. Wow. Again I'd like to thank you both.

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