CompuServe Thread

#A4000 running SLOOWW!!

9 messages in this thread
#140892From: Clarence SaundersApr 26, 1994 9:47 AM
To anyone in the know how here… I've just added a Seagate IDE 250MB HD to my stock A4000 040 as a slave to the 120MB that was in there. On top of that, I added 4 megs of fast RAM for a total of 8 megs now. My problem is that now everything seems to be running twice as slow now. In other words, it takes longer to bring up a program, which I could attribute to the HD's data transfer rate, but programs that I believe to be CPU intensive, like VT for displaying image files, also take longer to render the picture on the screen. I've taken the defaults in setting up the second HD, but is there something that I've possibly overlooked as far as the advanced settings in the HDToolbox that could affect the whole computer in this way??? As far as the memory is concerned, the memory is recognized and I don't believe I have to mess around with jumpers on the motherboard in order for the Amiga to work the additional memory. WHAT AM I MISSING…. ;^{ BTW, I setup the 250MB HD into two 125MB partitions with 30 buffers each. Any input here is appreciated.
#140925From: Paul IdolApr 26, 1994 2:56 PM
What type of RAM did you add? I'm just stabbing in the dark, but it's a possibility. Paul
#141006From: Clarence SaundersApr 26, 1994 9:11 PM
Ooops! you got me there. I got the 4 meg SIMM board from Creative Equipment in Miami, so I trust they sold me the right type after all, they are one of the largest distributors in the U.S. so while that's a possibility, it's a stab in the dark. But the point is well taken. Catya,
#141092From: stephen verbaApr 27, 1994 7:36 AM
Hey, this sounds faliliar. I kept having similar problems, except it got worse. Sometimes on large file transfers to the larger drive the system would hang in mid-transfer. Ugly. At first I thought it was a problem in the settings in the Hardrive program (specifically, whether one drive was using FF system vs. International FF or some such obscurity). But, eventually, I gave up and rearranged the drive across machines so that I kept similar hardrives together (250+250 or 120+120). This has worked OK, but I sure wish I knew what actually happened. It felt like a timing difference between the two drives. Made me wonder if an IDE drive board or SCSI board would be better that relying on the Amiga'a internal IDE…
#141093From: Clarence SaundersApr 27, 1994 8:31 AM
That definately sounds like a possibility. That is the reason why I have not messed around with the drives' advanced features in the HDToolbox program, which determines the drives max transfer rate and various other factors. It stamps the max rate at 0xffffff for both drives even though they have different access time, I don't know… maybe I'll end up switching master/slave configs so that the bigger (250) drive becomes the master and the 120 the slave. Thanks for the input. Catya,
#141200From: Clarence SaundersApr 27, 1994 10:29 PM
There I go again, leaving a message to myself, but anyways,… I changed the buffers for the new partitions and this seemed to help a bit. How do I know, I use DISKSALV as a gauge of fast the sectors are being read by the program when doing a SCAN of the partition in UNDELETE mode. Before it was draggin along with 30 buffers, after I increased it to 60 buffers, the scan is performed at almost twice the speed , DUHHHH!!! Boy, imagine that. In any case, I still wonder if there is something else I can change in the HDToolbox advanced option screens. Anybody out there know what a MAX Transfer rate of 0xfffff means and if this can be changed to something else??? Catya,
#141222From: Robert ComerApr 28, 1994 1:00 AM
I'd change the Maxtransfer to 0x1fe00. Most IDE drives like this MUCH better. (0x1fe00 is 130560 bytes, while 0xfffff is 1048575 bytes.) I get about 2x the speed with 0x1fe00 than anything higher. Bob Comer — Cruising the nets on Autopilot! Cheyenne, Wyoming U.S.A.
#141315From: Clarence SaundersApr 28, 1994 5:07 PM
!! Excellent!! Thanks for the input. I knew I should have paid attention in class when we were doing those hex to decimal conversion programs. ;^) Catya,
#141342From: Robert ComerApr 28, 1994 8:59 PM
I just get my calculator to do things like that. Me, I can just convert binary, octal, and hex in my head. 🙂 Bob Comer — Cruising the nets on Autopilot! Cheyenne, Wyoming U.S.A.