[Ham-Computers] RE: Installing a new motherboard

[Hsu, Aaron (NBC Universal)]

Loren,

What version of Windows were you installing?  Often times, the drivers
shipped with a particular motherboard is older than the version shipped
with Windows (e.g. chipset drivers on the CD older than WinXP w/SP2).
In these cases, you should use what shipped with Windows.

On the other hand, the chipset manufacturer might have drivers for their
chipsets that are newer than what shipped with the motherboard.  This is
why I *always* download the latest chipset support directly from the
chipset manufacturer rather than from the motherboard vendor.  Current
chipset companies are Intel, VIA, SIS, and NVidia.

For reference, by using the Windows drivers, the system is working with
"safe" drivers - drivers certified and signed by WHQL.  Although these
drivers are "safe", they may limit or restrict the performance of the
device you're using.  For example, the "generic" Windows IDE drivers are
not optimized for any particular chipset and run in a "compatible" (aka
"safe") fashion.  Also, some motherboard functionality may not be
detected (or work properly) until the proper chipset support drivers are
installed.  For example, when installing Windows from "scratch", you
might see a "PCI Bridge" device listed under "System Devices" in the
Device Manager - Windows installed it's generic support for this "PCI
Bridge".  But, if you install the vendor's driver for this device, it
might then be re-discovered/listed as "Intel 82801BA/CA PCI Bridge -
244E", and Windows starts discovering a bunch of other devices that were
connected to this bridge.

In your case with IDE drivers, it's possible that Bus Mastering (DMA
modes) may not be available with the Windows IDE drivers.  One thought
that occurs to me is...did you check to see if DMA was enabled or
disabled on the IDE controllers when Windows couldn't detect the CD-ROM
drive?  It's possible that the drive will only work properly in either
DMA or PIO mode - if the wrong mode is selected, then the drive won't
work.

Anyways, if you're willing to give it a shot, I would suggest
downloading the chipset drivers directly from the chipset manufacturer
and not BIOSTAR.  VIA chipsets have been notorious for causing device
problems - especially timing issues on the bus.  Downloading the latest
"4-in-1 Hyperion" chipset drivers directly from VIA usually solves these
issues.

73,

  - Aaron, NN6O



-----Original Message-----
Sent: Sunday, November 27, 2005 5:09 PM
Subject: [Ham-Computers] Installing a new motherboard

*** snip ***

Upon trying to install the drivers for the new motherboard at boot up I
found that Windows wouldn't recognize the CD ROM even when booting up
with support. The BIOS saw it but not Windows. Upon asking the computer"
What do you really want, I thought about it and said to myself...I bet
its the old Biostar drivers for IDE ports doing it.

So I proceeded to find the Biostar INF file and deleted it. Low and
behold upon boot up..Windows saw the CDROM and installed the drivers.

*** snip ***