SATA shown as IDE ??

Hi. I have a little problem.
I've upgraded my pc a week ago as it follows: Amd 64 3000+ , mb Gigabyte k8nmf-9, 2 x 512 DDR Corsair PC 3200, Geforce 6200 128 M video, Sata WDigital 80 G hd. I've installed Win XP with no problem, the sata hard disk was recognized from the begining, but I think it doesn't work at full capacity because the led keeps flickering and it loads a bit too slow ( when entering a game or loading an application ). I got Sisoft Sandra and analyzed the system. Everything is at full performance, except the HD which is shown as low performance ( doesn't say why ). Also i got a tool from the WD website and at device type it says : IDE. Shouldn't it be Sata ?? I mention that before installing XP i haven't installed with F6 SCSI-RAID drivers. In my opinion the HD is not working in Sata mode. If anyone that had the same problem or knows a resolution, could help me...much obliged. Thank you.

 

install the raid drivers

 

I use a single Sata drive ? As I know RAID drivers are for two HDrives. Do u think i need them too ? Thanc

 

You do not have to use Raid, just the sata driver.
The later chipset shows having, chipset/lan/sata , so it appears to be on that chipset driver.
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/...ProductID=1911&ProductName=GA-K8NMF-9Download from ... 2006/06/15 NVIDIA nForce4 Chipset Driver(include chipset \ lan \ sata raid)
O.S. : Windows 2000,Windows XP 6.85 33.14 MB

 

I already have it. Thanks for the tip. The question is: in the boot screen, is it ok if the the hard drive appears at IDE devices or should be shown as SATA. Also in device manager. i don't know how it should be shown that's why I ask. How does it appear in your PC ?

 

According to the manual ,
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/Manual_DownloadFile.aspx?FileType=Manual&FileID=16452
(page 35), in the Bios, under CMOS Setup Utility-
Integrated Peripheralsyou should choose ,(page 36)
Enabled
NV Serial-ATA 1 - Enable Serial ATA 1 supported. (Default value)

 

I run a SATA 160gb Hitachi HD w/ NVidia chipset... Under IDE in the Device Mgr it shows one parallel controller and two serial controllers. Under disk drives, it only shows the model number- it doesn't specify SATA or IDE... I'm running an MSI mobo: K8Neo s754 w/ Nvidia Nforce3 chipset....

 

Thanx for the info baklogic and hoperdave. Very useful. Well in bios Sata 1 and Sata 2 are enabled. Anyways here's the response I got from Western Digital. Maybe it will help also someone with the same problem. Bye

"Is is normal - it is superficial. There is no UDMA figure that corresponds to ATA 150. But all SATA drives do actually run in ATA 150 (or 300 if they are SATA 2). Any software that reports UDMA - including the SATA bios' themselves on post, report UDMA incorrectly. WD drives report at UDMA 5 mostly, sometimes 6. In other words they report as EIDE even thought they are SATA (we never made ATA 133 drives) previously WD's fastest transfer rate was ATA 100. Actually the latest built WD drives report UDMA 6 in some bios’/ software. But they are both wrong measurements reported by software and both drives run at ATA 150 or 300 - but this is not UDMA 7 (that would, theoretically be ATA 166, which also does not exist.) UDMA terminology does not exist for SATA. So often SATA is shown as IDE.
Remove the jumper from the back of the drive. Check the SATA bios is not set to look for a RAID and also that the RAID function is turned off, under integrated peripherals in the mainboard’s bios if the SATA controller does not have its own bios. You must press F6 at the beginning of the Windows installation to install the Windows driver for your Serial ATA controller from a diskette provided by the motherboard/ SATA controller manufacturer. If you do not have it you need to download it from their site. You need to install the updated SATA controller driver from the manufacturer using the update driver wizard in device manager if Windows is already installed. The hard drive does not need a driver, but the serial ATA ports/ controller need their driver or the generic Windows driver might reduce performance.
"

 

Very useful response from WD, AND will be useful to anyone coming accross this misnomer.
Incidently, your motherboard manual, also stated to set to auto for sata recognition.