Write Caching

[icehole]

I bought a new case recently and moved all my stuff into it last weekend. Ever since then I have had a black screen after the bios info screen that lasts a couple of minutes.

I though CHKDSK was running but I checked all of my 5 drives and none are showing a dirty bit.

I downloaded BootVis and it says “Warning: Write caching disabled”

I checked device manager and my 2 Nvidia 430/410 SATA controllers, both my IDE controllers and all 5 hard drives show write caching enabled.

The only thing different in the way my drives are connected is I have a DVD-ROM as master on IDE 1 with an old 80 GB drive as slave. Nothing on IDE2. Before I hard each on a separate IDE channel as master. Could that be the problem?

I have an MSI P6N SLI Platinum with XP Home SP2, all the latest updates.

NEED HELP!! 3 minute boots are a pain.

 

[khansolo]

If you're boot drive is SATA, I don't see why the IDE configuration should make a difference.
Of course, I've always gone with the advice that you shouldn't stick a hard drive on the same channel as a CD/DVD rom device (though this shouldn't be the problem). But perhaps you could try arranging it back to the old way just to see if it fixes your problem. Usually when you switch channels, your bios will reset the current mode it's running it (IE, from UDMA to maybe PIO, although that would be a weird automatic configuration).
Also, don't forget to remove the jumpers from your SATA drives to enable SATA2 mode (if your mobo supports it of course, although, I also don't think this should have an effect).

 

[icehole]

Yeah, I was going to give that a try tomorrow. I have run hard drives and CD/DVD drives on the same IDE cable for years but never with the optical dive as the master. The way this new case it set up there is no way I can reach both with the same cable unless the upper drive is the master.

 

[DonDon]

If there is some kind of conflict on the IDE bus, it may be the bios trying to wait to see if things are going to fly straight before proceeding.

I would try it with all the IDE stuff disconnected. If it works, try adding just 1 device. If that works, then plug the other thing in.

Don

 

[icehole]

OK, I hooked the DVD drive and the hard drive back up so they are on their own IDE channels as masters and still get the 2 minute black screen after the bios is done with it's thing.

I checked both SATA and both IDE channels and there are no conflicts showing. DMA and write caching are enabled on all.

Guess I will run a complete CHKDSK tonight and see what it finds.

Does anybody know how long it takes to do a complete scan of a 500 GB drive. Can I do more than one overnight?