poor hdd performance even with hdparm tuning

[Sash]

Hi everyone,
another "poor hdd performance thread", but this time a little different...

when I run "hdparm -tT /dev/hda"
I get this results. ok, wrong settings one might think.

/dev/hda:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 128 MB in 1.30 seconds = 98.46 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 7.35 seconds = 8.71 MB/sec

but after "hdparm -a1 -A1 -c1 -d1 -m16 -u1 /dev/hda"

/dev/hda:
setting fs readahead to 1
setting 32-bit IO_support flag to 1
setting multcount to 16
setting unmaskirq to 1 (on)
setting using_dma to 1 (on)
setting drive read-lookahead to 1 (on)
multcount = 16 (on)
IO_support = 1 (32-bit)
unmaskirq = 1 (on)
using_dma = 1 (on)
readahead = 1 (on)

still:
hdparm -tT /dev/hda

/dev/hda:
Timing buffer-cache reads: 128 MB in 1.26 seconds =101.59 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 7.32 seconds = 8.74 MB/sec

hdparm -i /dev/hda tells:

Model=IC35L060AVVA07-0, FwRev=VA3OA52A, SerialNo=XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec Fixed DTR>10Mbs }
RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=52
BuffType=DualPortCache, BuffSize=1863kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
CurCHS=4047/16/255, CurSects=16511760, LBA=yes, LBAsects=120103200
IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:240,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
PIO modes: pio0 pio1 pio2 pio3 pio4
DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 *udma2 udma3 udma4 udma5
AdvancedPM=yes: disabled (255) WriteCache=enabled
Drive conforms to: ATA/ATAPI-5 T13 1321D revision 1: 2 3 4 5

IBM Deskstar 60GB (new version) on a Gigabyte GA6BXD board

It is the only HDD in the system. The CD-ROM is attached to /hdc on the other IDE channel.
The PC is a dual PII 400, not overclocked.
Kernel is Linux Kernel v2.4.19-xfs-r1

Any hints/suggestions ?

[dreamer3]

Just a note... what are the capabilities of the IDE on-board adapter? I'd think your drive should at least be running in udma4, as opposed to udma2. My 30gig IBM Deskstar (very fast) is running udma4, no tweaking required.

Also, is the correct IDE chipset compiled into your kernel?

How about some hdparm -i output before the tweaking?

[Kenta]

hdparm -X68 /dev/hda if your hd is ata 66

or

hdparm -X69 /dev/hda if your hd is ata100

[Sash]

The hdparm -i output is exactly the same before and after the tweaking
the -X command didnt change anything at all. Still UDMA 2

I'm starting to think hdparm doesnt change anything (not sure why).

My Kernel options are:

Include IDE/ATA-2 DISK support [yes]
Use multi-mode by default [yes]
Include IDE/ATAPI CDROM support [yes]
Generic PCI IDE chipset support [yes]
Sharing PCI IDE interrupts support [yes]
Use PCI DMA by default when available [yes]
Intel PIIXn chipsets support [yes]
PIIXn Tuning support [yes]
all other options are deaktivated

I think Intel PIIXn chipset is the right option for my board.
The board supports UDMA/33 Bus Master

[Sash]

Now, I'm absolutely confused.

I booted from my older gentoo stage 1 boot cd, mounted my system, chrooted into it and run a hdparm -tT.

You can imagine my surprise when I saw
Timing buffer-cache reads: 128 MB in 1.08 seconds =118.52 MB/sec
Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 2.19 seconds = 29.22 MB/sec

Again, playing with hdparm didnt change anything (not even slower).
Looks like it's some problem with the kernel (parameters).

Is there a way to get the kernel parameter settings from the boot cd?