HDD speed problems

[LeoiD]

I got a major problem with my new system. I can't get my hdd speeds up. I tested the read speed with hdparm, getting results of 2 Mb/s. System configuration follows:

Mobo: Asus A7V-C
NB: VIA VT8364A
SB: VIA VT686B
Proc: Duron 1200
RAM: 512 SDRAM
hda: Maxtor Diamondmax Plus9 120Gb
hdc: IBM Deskstar 120Gxp 80Gb
hdd: Standard CD-ROM

The Mobo supports UDMA66.

I've been trying to fix this speed-issue using hdparm, but I only get the respons: "function not implemented".

[JP83]

Make new kernel that could fix it. I usually get when running hdparm -Tt /dev/hda speeds like 150MB/s and another about 32MB/s (26MB/s from old 7200rpm hd) mobo is ata66.

[LeoiD]

Sorry, I forgot to mention.
I have compiled the 2.4.20 kernel, and it didn't make much of a difference.

I have Slack 8.0

[JP83]

And your mobo is ata 100 because i have Via 686A southbridge and that is ata 66 but 686B is ata 100. Have you enabled Via chipset and use dma settings in the new kernel.

[LeoiD]

That's the things that confuses me. Upon configuring the kernel (using menuconfig). There seems to be nothing supporting the chipsets I have and nothing is even mentioned about DMA. There is one VIA chipset, but that's old and stale. Am I supposed to download patches to use within the kernel?

[JP83]

First use command make xconfig. Chipset support is there below generic ide chipset but you need to enable that generic first then there are selection something like VTxxxx read the helps about that and desable unneeded chipsets like Intel.

[LeoiD]

I'm not running X so I can't use xconfig...

And I still don't seem to find any VT..
There is one VIA ("VIA82CXXX chipset support"), is that the one?

And I found DMA under generic. I getting a little confused here...

[JP83]

Yes that is it. I have enabled these supports in that section:


* IDE, ATA and ATAPI Block devices
*
Enhanced IDE/MFM/RLL disk/cdrom/tape/floppy support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE) [Y/m/n/?]
*
* Please see Documentation/ide.txt for help/info on IDE drives
*
Use old disk-only driver on primary interface (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_HD_IDE) [N/y/?]
Include IDE/ATA-2 DISK support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDISK) [Y/m/n/?]
Use multi-mode by default (CONFIG_IDEDISK_MULTI_MODE) [Y/n/?]
Auto-Geometry Resizing support (CONFIG_IDEDISK_STROKE) [N/y/?]
Include IDE/ATAPI CDROM support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDECD) [M/n/y/?]
Include IDE/ATAPI TAPE support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDETAPE) [N/y/m/?]
Include IDE/ATAPI FLOPPY support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEFLOPPY) [N/y/m/?]
SCSI emulation support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDESCSI) [M/n/?]
IDE Taskfile Access (CONFIG_IDE_TASK_IOCTL) [N/y/?]
*
* IDE chipset support/bugfixes
*
CMD640 chipset bugfix/support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CMD640) [N/y/?]
RZ1000 chipset bugfix/support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RZ1000) [N/y/?]
Generic PCI IDE chipset support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEPCI) [Y/n/?]
Sharing PCI IDE interrupts support (CONFIG_IDEPCI_SHARE_IRQ) [Y/n/?]
Generic PCI bus-master DMA support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA_PCI) [Y/n/?]
Boot off-board chipsets first support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_OFFBOARD) [N/y/?]
Force enable legacy 2.0.X HOSTS to use DMA (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA_FORCED) [N/y/?]
Use PCI DMA by default when available (CONFIG_IDEDMA_PCI_AUTO) [Y/n/?]
Enable DMA only for disks (CONFIG_IDEDMA_ONLYDISK) [N/y/?]
ATA Work(s) In Progress (EXPERIMENTAL) (CONFIG_IDEDMA_PCI_WIP) [N/y/?]
AEC62XX chipset support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_AEC62XX) [N/y/?]
ALI M15x3 chipset support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_ALI15X3) [N/y/?]
AMD Viper support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_AMD74XX) [N/y/?]
CMD64X chipset support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CMD64X) [N/y/?]
CY82C693 chipset support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CY82C693) [N/y/?]
Cyrix CS5530 MediaGX chipset support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_CS5530) [N/y/?]
HPT34X chipset support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_HPT34X) [N/y/?]
HPT366/368/370 chipset support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_HPT366) [N/y/?]
Intel PIIXn chipsets support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_PIIX) [N/y/?]
NS87415 chipset support (EXPERIMENTAL) (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_NS87415) [N/y/?]
OPTi 82C621 chipset enhanced support (EXPERIMENTAL) (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_OPTI621) [N/y/?]
PROMISE PDC202{46|62|65|67|68|69|70} support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_PDC202XX) [N/y/?]
ServerWorks OSB4/CSB5 chipsets support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SVWKS) [N/y/?]
SiS5513 chipset support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SIS5513) [N/y/?]
SLC90E66 chipset support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SLC90E66) [N/y/?]
Tekram TRM290 chipset support (EXPERIMENTAL) (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_TRM290) [N/y/?]
VIA82CXXX chipset support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_VIA82CXXX) [Y/n/?]
Other IDE chipset support (CONFIG_IDE_CHIPSETS) [N/y/?]
IGNORE word93 Validation BITS (CONFIG_IDEDMA_IVB) [N/y/?]
Support for IDE Raid controllers (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_ATARAID) [N/y/m/?]

[LeoiD]

Whoa!
You got all that in your kernel!?!

Well, I've been trying out some different kernels now but only come up with this:
hdparm -t gives 1.74 Mb/s for both drives.
I've also unplugged the CD-ROM. And when attempting to change any settings with hdparm the system hangs. Seems I've ran out of luck today...

[JP83]

I did "small" mistake with that not all that are enabled only those are are marked as Y (build in) or M (module) like this:

Include IDE/ATA-2 DISK support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDISK) [Y/m/n/?] This is enabled as build in.

Auto-Geometry Resizing support (CONFIG_IDEDISK_STROKE) [N/y/?] This is disabled.

Include IDE/ATAPI CDROM support (CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDECD) [M/n/y/?] And this is module.

Kernel image size is now about 844KB because xfs filesystem patch (without patch maybe around 600KB).

[LeoiD]

Now I got a kernel with the same configuration as yours, and it still doesn't help...
What's left to do?

[JP83]

Sorry slow reply. I donno. Maybe you can try to use
hdparm -Tt /dev/hda (tests the speed before enabling dma)
hdparm -d1 /dev/hda (this enables dma transfer) then
hdparm -Tt /dev/hda (this tests the speeds send results in here)