ATA 100 problems with A7M266

I know this has be documented, but could someone tell me why my Sandra 2001 benchmark scores for my new WD400BB 7200 ATA 100 drive suck. It's at 19000, and the benchmark is at 24000. What's going on and is there a fix, or are we waiting for a bios upgrade??? Also, am I using the right ide drivers. I think I have the via drivers from the 4.29 4 in 1. Is that correct??

BTW Does this have anything to do with James E question about the Via 686b southbridge issue???
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ANTEC SX-1030
ASUS A7M266
ASUS Ipanel
Athlon-c 1.2 @266
Coolmaster- DP5-6H51-A1
Diamond Viper 770 Ultra 32 MB
Plextor 32x
Yamaha CRW6416SZ 16/6/4
Crucial Pc2100 512 MB
ADAPTEC 2940UWPRO
WESTERN DIGITAL WD400BB 40GB
SOUNDBLASTER LIVE VALUE
3COM 10/100 NIC
WINDOWS 2K

[This message has been edited by oheka (edited May 03, 2001).]

Sandra's HD benchmark is completely useless.

OK Is there a better measure??

Quote:

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Originally posted by Sprint_ST_NYC:
Sandra's HD benchmark is completely useless.

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ANTEC SX-1030
ASUS A7M266
ASUS Ipanel
Athlon-c 1.2 @266
Coolmaster- DP5-6H51-A1
Diamond Viper 770 Ultra 32 MB
Plextor 32x
Yamaha CRW6416SZ 16/6/4
Crucial Pc2100 512 MB
ADAPTEC 2940UWPRO
WESTERN DIGITAL WD400BB 40GB
SOUNDBLASTER LIVE VALUE
3COM 10/100 NIC
WINDOWS 2K

I have a same motherboard, same harddrive speed and i have a problem. You can actually notice that it load program SLOW!

VIA Southrbridge 686B is the chip that controll harddrive. I think VIA 4 in 1 drivers will fix it but i don't know what version is it. I sent VIA's an email asking them which one is for 760chipset and they haven't respond yet.

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1200mhz @ 1380mhz (115 X 12)
Asus A7M266 DDR
Thermaltake Volcano II
39'C Temp.
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I had committed 28 robberies in which
I never fired a shot
or harmed anyone.
I never drank, smoked, or swore.
I never took valuables from women.
I never loaded my shotgun and i always worked alone.
I am a gentleman.
www.Outlaws.cc
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My system specs. at DoGGx site! HeHaww!!

Go to VIA's site and download the 4n1 driver set version 4.29. Go to AMD and download the Miniport driver version 4.80. These are the ones I used in March, there are probably newer ones now. Install 3 of the 4n1 drivers. Do NOT install the AGP driver. Install the AMD Miniport driver for the AMD chipset to utilize the AGP port at 4x and bridge the AGP port to the PCI controller on the motherboard. I think you will see a difference in hard drive performance and video performance, especially if you have a good newer vid card. Radeon and Nvidia cards made in the past year or so support AGP 4x.

Been there, done that. That does not fix the ATA100 snafu. Either a new Via ide driver will help, or a bios upgrade.

Quote:

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Originally posted by BobyJo:
Go to VIA's site and download the 4n1 driver set version 4.29. Go to AMD and download the Miniport driver version 4.80. These are the ones I used in March, there are probably newer ones now. Install 3 of the 4n1 drivers. Do NOT install the AGP driver. Install the AMD Miniport driver for the AMD chipset to utilize the AGP port at 4x and bridge the AGP port to the PCI controller on the motherboard. I think you will see a difference in hard drive performance and video performance, especially if you have a good newer vid card. Radeon and Nvidia cards made in the past year or so support AGP 4x.

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------------------
ANTEC SX-1030
ASUS A7M266
ASUS Ipanel
Athlon-c 1.2 @266
Coolmaster- DP5-6H51-A1
Diamond Viper 770 Ultra 32 MB
Plextor 32x
Yamaha CRW6416SZ 16/6/4
Crucial Pc2100 512 MB
ADAPTEC 2940UWPRO
WESTERN DIGITAL WD400BB 40GB
SOUNDBLASTER LIVE VALUE
3COM 10/100 NIC
WINDOWS 2K

The problem isn't with the mobo but with Win2k which doesn't support ATA 100 mode until Service pack 2 is released.