AB9 Pro JMicron performance

[d3fiant]

I recently upgraded to the AB9 Pro and have noticed that the 'nicely placed -not' IDE port using the JMicron chip is a VERY VERY bad performer. I used to have an IC7-Max 3 and have a very standard build, XP Pro fully patched followed by a few games, BF2, C&C Generals etc. When installing games, or for that matter the OS I notice that install times for large files such as map packs take 10-15 times longer than they used to ON THE EXACT SAME DVDRW. Two friends also recently bought the AB9 Pro and they have exactly the same issue. Why is the JMicron IDE controller so slow and is there a way to improve on this.

TIA

D3fiant

[d3fiant]

Found this little gem, apparently UDMA isnt turned on by default for the JMicron, found the following on another site

The JMicron controller on this and any motherboard that used the ICH8/ICH8R southbridge has to be specifically configured to use UDMA modes. If not, then performance will be slow and you will not be able to burn CDs or DVDs. To do this you can perform the following procedure: 1) install JMicron by running the AsusSetup.exe (JMB363 dir of P5B CD) 2) right click My Computer and select Properties 3) in Systems Properties select Hardware tab, then click on Device Manager 4) in Device Manager expand SCSI and RAID controllers entry 5) right click on Jmicron controller entry and select Update Driver 6) in "Can Windows connect to Windows Update" select "Yes, this time only" and click Next 7) in "What would you want the wizard to do?" select "Install the software automatically" and click Next 8) the wizard lists all the Jmicron drivers and "Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller" driver, select the "Standard" driver for installation 9) When done, the system will be using standar

I also found a much more recent driver, WHQL as well. Hope this info helps, I am going to test it when I get home

[ab9]

isn't that a vista driver?!

[d3fiant]

link says win2k_xp_vista, contains pre-install floppy, driver and RAID app for all of the OS's as well as 32/64bit

Driver version is JMB36X_WinDrv_WHQL_R1.17.08, newest I have found and comes directly from the JMicron website

[RAYK47]

It took me about 45mins to install BF2

[lfoggy]

I am going to test it when I get home

Did it work ?

[Richh]

Did it work ?

d3fiant is broadly correct Ifoggy. With the default OS "standard IDE" drivers, the JMicron controller only offers basic, PIO-only functionality.

In order to get this controller, and any drives connected to it, working to their full potential, you need to install the driver.

The very latest version available from JMicron is, at time of writing, 1.17.11. This driver works great performance-wise, but, on my system at least, prevents the system resuming from S3 or S4, causing it to reboot in both cases.

Abit are currently offering the 1.17.10.5 build - but this also breaks STR and hibernate on my system.

IMO the best driver to use at the moment is the 1.17.08 build mentioned by d3fiant. As this has been superceded at JMicron's download address, you can still find it at Station Drivers.

Install the driver with the included setup.exe, not via Device Manager's update driver utility, and if the installer asks you whether you want to install the IDE or SCSI driver, choose SCSI.

If your motherboard's BIOS also allows you to choose the mode the JMB363 runs in, the best one to set, unless you absolutely need the extra functionality, is usually IDE.

[lfoggy]

Thanks richh, I've just insatalled 1.17.08 as you suggested. Seems to have resolved my problems.

[[woob]Robbo]

The very latest version available from JMicron is, at time of writing, 1.17.11. This driver works great performance-wise, but, on my system at least, prevents the system resuming from S3 or S4, causing it to reboot in both cases.
IMO the best driver to use at the moment is the 1.17.08 build mentioned by d3fiant.

Just to clarify, are you saying that this driver solved the S3 problems?

Were you already on BIOS 16 when trying this? It's supposed to have a fix for the JMB going wrong after S3, but it's made no difference to me.

[Richh]

Just to clarify, are you saying that this driver solved the S3 problems?

Were you already on BIOS 16 when trying this? It's supposed to have a fix for the JMB going wrong after S3, but it's made no difference to me.

I'm using an AB9 QuadGT, not a Pro, so can't comment on this specific aspect. However, I have been testing a number of beta BIOSes for this board recently, and in all cases the 1.17.08 driver allowed successful resume from S3/S4 when the newer JM driver builds didn't.

[[woob]Robbo]

It didn't do the trick for me.

I then disabled the JMB controller completely in the BIOS... still won't resume from standby - black screen with the mouse pointer is as far as it gets before it reboots.

Off topic I know, but any tips on diagnosing what's stopping the resume? Is there a log somewhere perhaps?

[Agent]

Event viewer?

[[woob]Robbo]

Event viewer?

Nope, not a thing in the application nor system logs.

Just all the services coming up, then the next one is the event log starting up again after the reboot.