Abit KT7-RAID IDE problems

[Mac]

Have had an Abit KT7-RAID for over a year and finally got around to building the computer. Seems like I run into one surprise after another but the latest is really puzzling and hope others here can shed some light.

I believe there is some type of problem with the IDE controller. Any type of extended file transfer starts to bog down. I had suspected something was wrong when transferring files from another computer over the network but didn't pay much attention until last night. I was backing up the registry using Norton Utilities when I noticed that it seemed to start OK.....copied 3000-4000 keys rapidly and then started to sputter, writing two or three hundred keys and then pausing for several seconds. I did the easy thing, swapping the cables, but didn't make any difference.

If I didn't know better, it seems like there is some type of IRQ conflict occuring but checked in the device manager and it all appears OK...no conflicts on the IDE controllers. I have the latest bios and VIA 4-in-1 drivers loaded. Even tried deleting and reinstalling the IDE controllers but didn't make any difference.

Here is the setup:

WinME OS
Abit KT7-RAID (RAID controller is disabled in the BIOS)
AMD T-Bird 1200 running at spec - non O/C (yet)
Western Digital 20GB 7200RPM drive (new) and only device on the primary IDE channel
Memorex EIDE 40X CDROM - only device on the secondary IDE channel
256MB RAM - Micron PC133 (generic) single stick
Creative Geforce 2 GTS 32MB AGP
SB Live 5.1
Netgear 10/100 NIC
USR 5687-03 ISA modem

I haven't swapped out the hard drive, yet....seems like it may be the IDE controller.

Doubt that it is the CPU or memory because CPU intensive games run without a problem.

Any ideas...were there any known problems with the IDE controller? Am I missing something?

Thanks for your help!

Note - I posted this over on the the motherboard thread also. Please overlook the double post, but wanted to hit all the bases.

 

[CYLINDERMAN]

Have almost the same system except I have a 700@935 Duron and an IBM 30GB 7200RPM HDD on the Highpoint controller. I never had this exact problem but I did have a few bugs to work out.

I found this site very helpful
LINK

 

[richleader]

<< OK...no conflicts on the IDE controllers >>



What about with your sound card and your nic? That can chew up a good amount of performance too, though I doubt that's what's going on, but it's a possibility. Do you have your sblive in the 4th slot? That seems to help some people.

And you might as well turn on the raid controller and run your hard drives to it and let the old ide handle atapi devices. (You don't have to build a raid to take advantage of the ports).

 

[Mac]

Thanks for the response...

What about with your sound card and your nic? That can chew up a good amount of performance too, though I doubt that's what's going on, but it's a possibility. Do you have your sblive in the 4th slot? That seems to help some people.

The NIC is in the 1st PCI slot. The SBLive is in the 5th PCI slot.

And you might as well turn on the raid controller and run your hard drives to it and let the old ide handle atapi devices. (You don't have to build a raid to take advantage of the ports).

Trying to conserve IRQ's so disabled the RAID controller. Only have the one hard drive and CDROM so trying to keep it simple...(ROFL at myself)