IDE ATA controller problems

OK I'm working with a computer with the following problem:

In device manager -> IDE ata contollers I have the following:

! Primary IDE controller
Primary IDE controller
Secondary IDE controller
Standard dual channel PCI IDE Controller

The TWO primary channels are not a typo, and note one has a ! next to it. The reason is that the other primary is taking its resources. The one with a ! is the actual primary controller, and I have no idea what the other primary actually is. Normally I would just uninstall everything, but I am not given the option of uninstalling/or disabling the non-! primary. If I look at its properties, its location is given as "unknown", while the ! controller has a location of 0, which means its the real primary. I do have the option to update/change the non-! driver, and my choices are making it an "ultraATA channel" or "SCSI host adapter". If I do, it still takes the resources of the primary controller. This is a 2K service pack 4 system.

I am totally lost on this one. If you guys need anymore information or any ideas, let me know.

Thanks,
cack01

I'm assuming you have the two 40GB Seagates connected to the onboard HighPoint 370 controller in RAID 0, and the single 80GB Seagate connected to the native Primary controller as Master? Do you have the Yamaha CD-RW set as Master on the Secondary controller, or as Slave on the Primary controller with the 80GB Seagate?

Edit: I just reread your post...

OK I'm working with a computer with the following problem:

Click to expand...

Is this the system in your sig, or another system? If it's the system in your sig, then my response above applies. If it's a different system, what are the system specs, including how the drives are connected?

You may also want to try starting the computer in Safe Mode, and going back into Device Manager again. There may be some additional device entries that show up in Safe Mode, including possibly more duplicate entries for the Primary IDE Controller. Before actually uninstalling any duplicate entries in Device Manager, you may just want to make a note of the duplicates, then post your findings in this thread.

Sorry for the late reply. It is a different system than my sig. It is a Dell model/make unknown, and it has two harddrives and two CD-ROMs. Harddrives are masters with CD-ROMs as slaves. Its an old PIII system, with a motherboard that is old enough that it does not use drives with a larger capacity of 130GB.

I feel it is strickly a driver problem and a reinstall of windows will fix the problem, but the owner does not want to reinstall.

I have done all work in safe mode, and I just can not get this device to uninstall.

I'd probably suggest reinstalling the latest chipset drivers (INF Update Utility v.7.0.0.1025) for W2K, available from Intel here...

http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scr...e=Windows*+2000&lang=eng&strOSs=19&submit=Go!

...and see if you can find out the Dell model and/or the MB model.

Sometimes a repair will work rather than the re-install. You just have to make sure you use the correct type of CD. OEM if the current install is OEM, Retail if it's retail, upgrade if it's an upgraded version, etc... But, I'd definately try the updated INF from intel first.

Thanks for the replys. It didn't even occur to me to update the drives. I'll look into a repair optionl on the DEll CDs as well as windows, but I do not think a windows repair will do any good.

It is possible that an MS driver update has gone wrong and only partially installed.You can check this by downloading Belarc Advisor and installing.You can find it here. It shows all updates from MS and any that did not install correctly will show up in red type.If it is not the case then most likely it was a bad install by your Friend and the file should be in the My documents folder and could be reinstalled.