Windows 2000 doesn't support ATA66 'Out of the Box'

March 1, 2002

FutureProof, our CD Freaks Forum moderator, used our newssubmit to tell us some handy information:

By default, Windows 2000 does not enable ATA 66 (also called UDMA-66) even if the hardware is able to support this mode. Out-of-the-box all IDE hard discs run in ATA 33 mode.

But Windows 2000 can be configured to enable ATA 66 using a registry tweak (MS KB Article Q247951). It is the same tweak as XSET uses for the UDMA/66 plug-in (HardwareHard DiskWindows 2K/XP UDMA). However, this tweak does only apply for ATA 66, not for ATA 100.

If your computer supports ATA 100, you need a hotfix from Micrsoft to activate this mode (MS KB Article Q260233). You do not need to activate the ATA 66 tweak to enable the ATA 100 mode.

Finally, Windows 2000 before Service Pack 2 (SP2) does always displays that the system is using PIO mode even if it's using ATA (UDMA) mode (MS KB Article Q269555). This is only a display bug so you can simply ignore the incorrect display. Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 can be downloaded from microsoft.com.

Solutions

for Windows 2000 (no service pack)

system runs in ATA 33 mode out-of-the-box
to activate ATA 66: use X-Setup plug-in or registry tweak
to activate ATA 100: not possible
Device Manager shows "PIO" Mode instead of "ATA/UDMA" Mode

for Windows 2000 (Service Pack 1)

system runs in ATA 33 mode out-of-the-box
to activate ATA 66: use X-Setup plug-in or registry tweak
to activate ATA 100: install ATA 100 hotfix
Device Manager shows "PIO" Mode instead of "ATA/UDMA" Mode

for Windows 2000 (Service Pack 2)

system runs in ATA 33 mode out-of-the-box
to activate ATA 66: use XSET plug-in or registry tweak
to activate ATA 100: install ATA 100 hotfix
Device Manager shows correctly "ATA/UDMA" Mode

This could be very handy information for a lot of people using Win2k. If you have other problems you can always find some help on our forum. You can find the Xteq website on www.xteq.com/products/xset.

Source: Xteq