Corrupt FS. HDD (Deskstar) or my ATA controller?

[MadSkillzMan]

hey guys, before i go ripping out my computer (cause its always a paiN) i just figured out why my promise ultra 100 ata controller wasnt working right. IDE80 cables have specific spots for the drives to be..alright..i was geting CONSTANT timeout errors, corruption, so i used ide 40. no problems once so ever.

so i set the jumpers to CSEL, put the IBM Quantum Deskstar on master, and it works PERFECT!! i was so happy. So i did this with my other drives, instant speed boost, but some windows ini errors. oh well, i needed to reformat anyways ..so i do, install winxp (MUCH faster than usual) all is good. go to install 3dsmax and combustion to my 20gig, install success...trying to execute, now thatsa different story. nothing but missing files, errors, etc. CHkdsk kept crashing due to an "unexpected error"

so i switch back to IDE40, reformat the drive itself, problems go away.

So what the heck??? its only IDE80 gives me problems!

so ive read (since ibm drives SUCK) that this COULD be the problem. i dont have much of a way of testing though, since this controller doesnt really support optical drives, and i refuse to take a risk with my other drives since theres much important stuff on them.

any ideas guys? any ways to test for this? thanks in advance.

[Xaotic]

Move the Deathstar to a local IDE port and run the DFT. If this shows error, then it'd definitely be the drive. The messages tend to point to a bad controller, but this will check the drive quickly. The DFT may be able to read the drive across the Promise controller, so it's worth a shot to test it there as well.

[MadSkillzMan]

DFT?

I moved it to a regular IDE and unhooked my CDROMs...no issues. for more of a test i hooked up one of the most finiky CDROMs ever that my bro bought used at a computer show to my promise controller. It was REALLY responsive and worked pretty darn good, only when i tried to use an audio CD it lagged something terrible, but promise said optical support is null yet it worked for me..

i think fo kicks im gonna connect my system drive to it really quick and see if it even boots.