I have several problems so I thought to ask them all in one thread :

1. I bought a WD 250KS HDD 6 months ago .. and another one 1 month ago .. now the temperature readings for each of them is different .. the first on is at ~36 and the second is at ~58 ... the temp. differences are too big and its also a new drive, so is it possible that the reading is incorrect or that the drive is busted and I need to go back to the store and ask them to check\replace it ?

2. Sisoft sandra tells me something about my bios .. that its not an MPS 1.04 Bios and that I need to upgrade or change it.. so what is that MPS 1.04 ? and how do I upgrade it ?

3.again, on sisoft sandra I get this message (as the program reads my SATA2 HDDs as ATA) :
"Warning W3104 - Current transfer mode not optimal, i.e. not highest supported. This affects drive performance. If the controller is also capable of the highest supported transfer mode, there is no reason not to use it.
Fix: First check controller supported transfer modes. Then check the mode the driver for the controller/BIOS is set to use and modify; some default to a lower mode for compatibility. You may need to install newer drivers if the current drivers do not natively support the controller (especially for RAID). You may need to update the controller BIOS or drive firmware, if the mode does not stick. If data corruption occurs verify the cable and consider switching (if any) drives on the same channel onto other channels.
If the built-in controller does not support the mode, consider using the on-board/RAID controller or even disable the built-in controller and install a new controller."

4. Sandra says that my LG DVD GSA-H42N is RAID .. huh ?!

I will thank you for answer my questions and help me fix those little annoyin' problems ..

Hey major9686... long time no hear... welcome back.  You were the guy that did some cool stuff with photos!

For ?#1... Perhaps the drives have a different firmware revision.  Check the drives and see what revision you have.  WD may be able to provide a flash...

For the rest, can you provided some details on your system?  I'm at work now and don't have lot of time to research things... But if you can provide some detailed system specs (motherboard, cpu, vid adapter, etc) it would be great.

Thanks,

Sith

(in reply to major9686)

quote:

ORIGINAL: SithTracy

Hey major9686... long time no hear... welcome back.  You were the guy that did some cool stuff with photos!

For ?#1... Perhaps the drives have a different firmware revision.  Check the drives and see what revision you have.  WD may be able to provide a flash...

For the rest, can you provided some details on your system?  I'm at work now and don't have lot of time to research things... But if you can provide some detailed system specs (motherboard, cpu, vid adapter, etc) it would be great.

Thanks,

Sith

All the data I could gather up :
Intel Pentium 4 3.0Ghz 2MB Cache 64bit (800FSB; 15.0x200.00; 0.09) HT 630 (CPUID 0, Family 15, Model 4, Stepping 3)
Asus P5LD2-VM; Rev 1.xx (Chipset 945G; Bios ver. 1303, Release Date 03/19/2007)
4x Infineon\Aeneon 512MB DDR2 533Mhz
eVGA NVidia 7600 GT CO 256MB
Western Digital 80GB 7200rpm 8MB Cache ATA100
2xWestern Digital 250GB 7200rpm 16MB Cache SATA II
BenQ DVD±RW DW-1640 x16 Beige
LG DVD±RW GSA-H42NK x18 Black
LG Flatron 19' F900P
Toshiba 32' 32WL66E
Creative Inspire 4400 4.1
Enermax 350W
Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit (DirectX 9.0c\10)
Case : Chieftech Dragon
CPU FAN : Spire CoolWave III
Case Fans : 2 Thermaltake 80cm in back , 2 Thermaltake 80cm in front , 1 stock 80cm on side door , 1 Thermaltake +7 Volcano on floor.


and what do u mean by drive revision ?
how do I check it ?
on the drive backpanel label or with sisoft sandra or some other program ?

and thanks for the welcome :) Glad to be back ..
tomorrow I have a japanese test (Im a university student now.. 今、私は大学の学生ですよ。)

(in reply to SithTracy)

quote:

and what do u mean by drive revision ?

Hard drives have a firmware too... I had to flash them in my days of server support on SCSI systems.  I suspect they may have a different firmware revion... You should see it on the label of the hard disc... My WD 250 SATA drives have them.

Vista, huh?  Ouch... couldn't wait until SP1 like most of us.  Which SiSoft product are you using (free or payware)?  Have you flashed your MB BIOS to the latest version...  This is all I can add right now... now back to my darn job.

(in reply to major9686)

quote:

ORIGINAL: SithTracy

quote:

and what do u mean by drive revision ?

Hard drives have a firmware too... I had to flash them in my days of server support on SCSI systems.  I suspect they may have a different firmware revion... You should see it on the label of the hard disc... My WD 250 SATA drives have them.

Vista, huh?  Ouch... couldn't wait until SP1 like most of us.  Which SiSoft product are you using (free or payware)?  Have you flashed your MB BIOS to the latest version...  This is all I can add right now... now back to my darn job.

1. Im too tired to open the case and take apart the inside so I can see the revision, I will try to check the firmware with some program... - Sisoft says both of the HDDs have the same Revision and are from the same model.. plus, why does it say that they are ATA and not SATA ? is there another program that can check that data ?
and how do I change the drive active transfer mode from UDMA 5 to 6 ?
2. I couldnt wait, but I think I will install XP Pro SP2 32bit on a new HDD which I will buy soon ..
3. SiSoftware Sandra Engineer XI.SP1a - Payware ...

Data on 1st WD250 :

SiSoftware Sandra
General Information
Controller : 2
Bus : 0
Target ID : 0
Logical Unit No. : 0
General Capabilities
Channel : Master
Type : ATA
Removable : No
Model : WDC WD2500KS-00MJB0                    
Revision : 02.01C03
Serial Number :      WD-WCANKF433993
ATA/ATAPI Approved Version : 7.00
Cache Size : 16MB
Drive Geometry
CHS Geometry : 16383 x 16 x 63
CHS Total Sectors : 16514064
LBA Total Sectors : 488397168
Number of ECC Bytes : 50
Capacity : 233GB
Translation Mode Geometry
CHS Geometry : 30401 x 255 x 63
Bytes Per Sector : 512 byte(s)
Properties
IORDY Support : Yes
IORDY Disableable : Yes
LBA Support : Yes
DMA Support : Yes
Features
S.M.A.R.T Support : Yes
Security Support : Yes
Power Management Support : Yes
ACPI Power Management Support : No
Power-up in Standby : Yes
Packet Command Interface : No
Removable Media : No
Look-Ahead Buffer : Yes
Write-Back Cache : Yes
Host Protect Area : Yes
Microcode Update : Yes
Acoustic Management : Yes
48-bit LBA : Yes
Device Config Overlay : Yes
Active Features
S.M.A.R.T Enabled : Yes
Security Enabled : No
Power Management Enabled : Yes
Power-up in Standby Enabled : No
Look-Ahead Buffer Enabled : Yes
Write-Back Cache Enabled : Yes
Host Protect Area Enabled : Yes
Acoustic Management Enabled : No
S.M.A.R.T Information
Version : 1.01
ATA Commands Support : Yes
ATAPI Commands Support : Yes
S.M.A.R.T Commands Support : Yes
S.M.A.R.T Data
Raw Read Error Rate (01) : 0 (Threshold 51; Worst 200; Maximum 200)
Spin-up Time (03) : 5550 (Threshold 21; Worst 189; Maximum 189)
Start/Stop Count (04) : 18 (Threshold 0; Worst 100; Maximum 100)
Re-Allocated Sector Count (05) : 0 (Threshold 140; Worst 200; Maximum 200)
Seek Error Rate (07) : 0 (Threshold 51; Worst 200; Maximum 200)
Power-On Time Count (09) : 1237 (Threshold 0; Worst 99; Maximum 99)
Spin Retry Count (0A) : 0 (Threshold 51; Worst 100; Maximum 253)
Calibration Retry Count (0B) : 0 (Threshold 51; Worst 100; Maximum 253)
Power Cycle Count (0C) : 18 (Threshold 0; Worst 100; Maximum 100)
TBE : 37 (Threshold 45; Worst 63; Maximum 45)
Drive Temperature (C2) : 37 (Threshold 0; Worst 113; Maximum 95)
Re-Allocated Data Count (C4) : 0 (Threshold 0; Worst 200; Maximum 200)
Pending Sector Count (C5) : 0 (Threshold 0; Worst 200; Maximum 200)
Un-Correctable Sector Count (C6) : 0 (Threshold 0; Worst 200; Maximum 200)
CRC Error Count (C7) : 0 (Threshold 0; Worst 200; Maximum 200)
Write Error Rate (C8) : 0 (Threshold 51; Worst 200; Maximum 200)
Environment Monitor(s)
HD / Aux Temperature : 37.0°C / 98.6°F
Transfer Modes Support
Block Size : 16
Width : 16-bit
Maximum PIO Mode : PIO-4
Maximum DMA MW Mode : MWDMA-2
Maximum UDMA Mode : UDMA-6
Transfer Modes Active
Current Block Transfer : 16
Current Active Mode : UDMA-5
Performance Tips
Warning 3104 : Current mode not optimal. Check settings.
Tip 2 : Double-click tip or press Enter while a tip is selected for more information about the tip.

Data on 2nd WD250:

SiSoftware Sandra
General Information
Controller : 3
Bus : 1
Target ID : 0
Logical Unit No. : 0
General Capabilities
Channel : Master
Type : ATA
Removable : No
Model : WDC WD2500KS-00MJB0                    
Revision : 02.01C03
Serial Number :      WD-WCANK2700373
ATA/ATAPI Approved Version : 7.00
Cache Size : 16MB
Drive Geometry
CHS Geometry : 16383 x 16 x 63
CHS Total Sectors : 16514064
LBA Total Sectors : 488397168
Number of ECC Bytes : 50
Capacity : 233GB
Translation Mode Geometry
CHS Geometry : 30401 x 255 x 63
Bytes Per Sector : 512 byte(s)
Properties
IORDY Support : Yes
IORDY Disableable : Yes
LBA Support : Yes
DMA Support : Yes
Features
S.M.A.R.T Support : Yes
Security Support : Yes
Power Management Support : Yes
ACPI Power Management Support : No
Power-up in Standby : No
Packet Command Interface : No
Removable Media : No
Look-Ahead Buffer : Yes
Write-Back Cache : Yes
Host Protect Area : Yes
Microcode Update : Yes
Acoustic Management : Yes
48-bit LBA : Yes
Device Config Overlay : Yes
Active Features
S.M.A.R.T Enabled : Yes
Security Enabled : No
Power Management Enabled : Yes
Look-Ahead Buffer Enabled : Yes
Write-Back Cache Enabled : Yes
Host Protect Area Enabled : Yes
Acoustic Management Enabled : No
S.M.A.R.T Information
Version : 1.01
ATA Commands Support : Yes
ATAPI Commands Support : Yes
S.M.A.R.T Commands Support : Yes
S.M.A.R.T Data
Raw Read Error Rate (01) : 0 (Threshold 51; Worst 200; Maximum 200)
Spin-up Time (03) : 5475 (Threshold 21; Worst 190; Maximum 188)
Start/Stop Count (04) : 258 (Threshold 0; Worst 100; Maximum 100)
Re-Allocated Sector Count (05) : 0 (Threshold 140; Worst 200; Maximum 200)
Seek Error Rate (07) : 0 (Threshold 51; Worst 200; Maximum 200)
Power-On Time Count (09) : 9571 (Threshold 0; Worst 87; Maximum 87)
Spin Retry Count (0A) : 0 (Threshold 51; Worst 100; Maximum 100)
Calibration Retry Count (0B) : 0 (Threshold 51; Worst 100; Maximum 100)
Power Cycle Count (0C) : 167 (Threshold 0; Worst 100; Maximum 100)
TBE : 60 (Threshold 45; Worst 40; Maximum 14)
Drive Temperature (C2) : 60 (Threshold 0; Worst 90; Maximum 64)
Re-Allocated Data Count (C4) : 0 (Threshold 0; Worst 200; Maximum 200)
Pending Sector Count (C5) : 0 (Threshold 0; Worst 200; Maximum 200)
Un-Correctable Sector Count (C6) : 0 (Threshold 0; Worst 200; Maximum 200)
CRC Error Count (C7) : 0 (Threshold 0; Worst 200; Maximum 200)
Write Error Rate (C8) : 0 (Threshold 51; Worst 200; Maximum 200)
Environment Monitor(s)
HD / Aux Temperature : 60.0°C / 140.0°F
Transfer Modes Support
Block Size : 16
Width : 16-bit
Maximum PIO Mode : PIO-4
Maximum DMA MW Mode : MWDMA-2
Maximum UDMA Mode : UDMA-6
Transfer Modes Active
Current Block Transfer : 16
Current Active Mode : UDMA-5
Performance Tips
Warning 3104 : Current mode not optimal. Check settings.
Tip 2 : Double-click tip or press Enter while a tip is selected for more information about the tip.

(in reply to SithTracy)