The AL440LX has been plagued with Window 95 shutdown problems, most of which have been traced to Intel's Bus Master IDE drivers. Using the Microsoft drivers seems to cure these shutdown problems, but the question still remains -- which drivers are better?

I did some benchmarking on my system using Adaptec's Threadmark 2.0. While Threadmark doesn't seem to be the most popular benchmark, I like it better because it provides real world data. Ziff Davis's Winstone/Winbench programs are more popular, but don't provide good data in my opinion. The benchmarks are rated in arbitrary numbers, which are hard to compare. I often find myself asking, "What does that number really mean?" Threadmark measures "multithreaded hard disk performance" and is "specifically designed to indicate how well a disk subsystem handles the periods of high I/O activity." It provides data transfer rates and CPU utilization in numbers that people can understand.

The tests I ran were "real world tests." One of the first rules of benchmarking is to close all of your programs and have Windows 95 running "lean and mean." But lets be real here -- who uses their computer like that? There are several programs in my startup group that are always running on my machine. I don't exit these programs just so that I can start working. So, I ran these tests using my normal system configuration. I tested two hard drives in my machine, an IBM Deskstar 5 and a Western Digital AC31200. The IBM is an Ultra DMA drive, while the WD is not. If you'd like to run your own tests, you can download the software from my site. But enough of this, on to the benchmarks:

My system configuration:

Intel AL440LX motherboard with audio
BIOS 4A4LL0X0.86A.0023.P09
Intel Pentium II 266
64 MB ECC SDRAM
Windows 95 4.00.950B (OSR2.1)
Windows 98 4.10.1998
Diamond Viper v330 AGP
Creative Labs AWE64

IBM Deskstar 5 DHEA 36480
PIO Mode 4, DMA Mode 2, Ultra DMA/33

Intel's Bus Master IDE drivers v.3.0

Data Transfer Rate:        3.98 MB/sec
Avg. CPU Utilization:     30.37%

Microsoft's Windows 95 Bus Master IDE drivers

        Data Transfer Rate:        4.69 MB/sec            15% faster than Intel's driver
        Avg. CPU Utilization:     22.61%                    25.5% lower average CPU utilization

Microsoft's Windows 98 Bus Master IDE drivers

        Data Transfer Rate:        4.81 MB/sec            17.3% faster than Intel's driver
        Avg. CPU Utilization:     29.54%                    02.8% lower average CPU utilization

Western Digital AC31200
PIO Mode 3, DMA Mode 1

Intel's Bus Master IDE drivers v.3.0

Data Transfer Rate:        0.93 MB/sec
Avg. CPU Utilization:     35.23%

Microsoft's Windows 95 Bus Master IDE drivers

        Data Transfer Rate:        1.24 MB/sec            25% faster than Intel's driver
        Avg. CPU Utilization:     42.08%                    16% higher average CPU utilization

Microsoft's Windows 98 Bus Master IDE drivers

        Data Transfer Rate:        1.38 MB/sec            32.6% faster than Intel's driver
        Avg. CPU Utilization:     46.54%                    24.3% higher average CPU utilization
 

So what is the bottom line? Use the Microsoft drivers.

If you decide to run these benchmarks on your system, I'd appreciate if you share the data with me. I'll post it to this page in order to help more AL440LX owners make informed decisions. 

So the next question is....how do I install the Microsoft drivers?

Windows 95:

If you've run the PIIX4 INF Update, also known as SETUPEX.EXE, and haven't installed the Intel drivers, you should be using the Microsoft drivers. If you have installed Intel's Bus Master IDE drivers, you can uninstall them using Intel's utility available at http://developer.intel.com/design/chipsets/drivers/busmastr/. To check which drivers you are using, open up the device manager. You should see the following entries for the respective drivers:

Windows 95 Microsoft drivers:

Hard Disk Controllers

Intel 82371AB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller

Manufacturer: Intel
Date: Date of Windows installation

Primary IDE Controller (dual fifo)

Manufacturer: (Standard Hard Disk Drivers)
Date: Date of Windows installation

Secondary IDE Controller (dual fifo)

 Manufacturer: (Standard Hard Disk Drivers)
Date: Date of Windows installation

Intel drivers:

Hard Disk Controllers

Intel 82371AB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller

Manufacturer: Intel
Date: 05-22-1997

Primary Bus Master IDE Controller

Manufacturer: Intel
Date: 05-22-1997

Secondary Bus Master IDE Controller

 Manufacturer: Intel
Date: 05-22-1997

If there is any confusion, you can always run the PIIX4 INF Update again, which will install the correct drivers.

The Microsoft drivers are the default drivers that are loaded. As long as you didn't install the Intel Bus Master drivers by downloading them from the Intel site, you will have the Microsoft drivers installed. The Windows 98 Microsoft drivers will have the following entries in the device manager:

Windows 98 Microsoft drivers:

Hard Disk Controllers

Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller

Manufacturer: Intel
Provider: Microsoft
Date: 5-11-1998
Driver file details: C:\windows\system\vmm32.vxd (configmg.vxd)

Primary IDE Controller (dual fifo)

Manufacturer: (Standard Hard Disk Drivers)
Provider: Microsoft
Date: 5-11-1998
Driver file details: c:\windows\system\iosubsys\esdi_506.pdr
                            c:\windows\system\vmm32\ios.vxd
File version: 4.10.1998

Secondary IDE Controller (dual fifo)

 Manufacturer: (Standard Hard Disk Drivers)
Provider: Microsoft
Date: 5-11-1998
Driver file details: c:\windows\system\iosubsys\esdi_506.pdr
                            c:\windows\system\vmm32\ios.vxd
File version: 4.10.1998

If you are using a Maxtor hard drive, you may experience some difficulty getting the DMA option to work. If you're having problems, contact Maxtor at: 1-800-2MAXTOR or at their website:  http://www.maxtor.com/satisfaction/contact.html
 

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