|
End of Interactive Support
Intel is announcing the end of interactive support for the Intel® AL440LX Motherboard. See the End of Interactive Support Announcement for details.
The Intel® Bus Master IDE driver v3.02 is for use with Windows* 95 Retail and OSR1. If you have upgraded to Windows* 98 and are experiencing IDE subsystem problems, the v3.02 installer may be used to remove the Intel driver so the Microsoft* BM-IDE driver can be manually enabled. (See README.TXT for more information.)
Bus Master IDE General Overview
The transfer model for IDE devices has traditionally been PIO (programmed I/O) where data is transferred to and from IDE devices explicitly via CPU instructions. This model is straightforward and simple but requires a relatively large amount of dedicated CPU time, especially when transferring large amounts of data to and from hard disk drives.
Intel® 430 series chipsets and Intel® 440 series chipsets can reduce the CPU time required for retrieving and/or storing data on your hard disk drive (or other IDE device) via Bus Master IDE (BM-IDE) logic contained within the PIIXn IDE controller function. The PIIXn IDE controller acts as a PCI bus master on behalf of IDE DMA slave devices, performing DMA transfers to and from devices on either primary or secondary IDE channels. Additionally, Intel® chipsets incorporating the PIIX3, PIIX4, and PIIX4E devices can perform fast DMA transfers via the Ultra DMA/33 hardware interface.
The table below maps Intel chipsets to PIIXn devices and notes each chipset's IDE hardware interface.
| Chipset |
PIIXn Device |
IDE h/w interface |
| Intel® 430FX PCIset |
82371FB (PIIX) |
ATA/16 |
| Intel® 430VX PCIset |
82371SB (PIIX3) |
ATA/16 |
| Intel® 430HX PCIset |
82371SB (PIIX3) |
ATA/16 |
| Intel® 430TX PCIset |
82371AB (PIIX4) |
Ultra DMA/33 |
| Intel® 440FX PCIset |
82371SB (PIIX3) |
ATA/16 |
| Intel® 440LX AGPset |
82371AB/EB (PIIX4/4E) |
Ultra DMA/33 |
| Intel® 440EX AGPset |
82371EB (PIIX4E) |
Ultra DMA/33 |
| Intel® 440BX AGPset |
82371AB/EB (PIIX4/4E) |
Ultra DMA/33 |
| Intel® 440GX AGPset |
82371EB (PIIX4E) |
Ultra DMA/33 | |
System Requirements
The following system elements must be present to install the BM-IDE driver:
Hardware Requirements:
- BM-IDE-capable Intel chipset
- includes all Intel chipsets with a PIIXn component (430 and 440 series chipsets)
- Ultra DMA/33 interface not required, but may enhance performance
- DMA-capable IDE device(s)
- today, most IDE hard disk drives and CD-ROM drives are DMA-capable
- usually noted in HDD or CD-ROM manual as supporting DMA or UDMA
- Ultra DMA/33 h/w interface not required, but will enhance performance
Software Requirements:
- Operating system with multitasking capability
- such as Windows* 95 Retail and OSR 1
- BM-IDE device driver
- Windows 95 OSR 1 ships with a BM-IDE device driver
- Intel provides the BM-IDE driver for Windows 95 Retail and OSR 1
Which Operating Systems Does the Intel® BM-IDE Driver v3.02 Support?
To identify which version of Windows you are using, run the Start/Settings/Control Panel/Systems applet. The upper right section of the "General" tab lists the version number. Use the following table to match the version number to the common version name:
| Windows* Version |
Common Name |
Intel®
BM-IDE driver |
Microsoft*
BM-IDE driver |
| 4.00.950 |
Windows 95 Retail |
 |
|
| 4.00.950a |
Windows 95 OSR 1 |
|
|
| 4.00.950b |
Windows 95 OSR 2.0/2.1 |
|
|
| 4.00.950c |
Windows 95 OSR 2.5 |
|
|
| 4.10.1998 |
Windows 98 Retail |
|
| |
If you are using the Windows 95 retail or OSR 1 release, you should download and install the Intel BM-IDE driver for Windows 95.
If you are using the Windows 95 OSR 2, OSR 2.1, or OSR 2.5 releases, or Windows 98, you should not download the Intel BM-IDE driver, as these operating system versions already contain a BM-IDE driver from Microsoft. If the Intel driver is already installed on Windows 98 systems, the v3.02 installer may be used to replace it with the Microsoft BM-IDE driver.
| Note |
Manual intervention is sometimes required to enable the Microsoft driver to perform IDE DMA transfers. Refer to your system manufacturer or this Microsoft Knowledge Base* article for more information. | |
What's New in the v3.02 Release?
The Intel BM-IDE Driver v3.02 for Windows 95 incorporates the following enhancements:
- Installer can now remove Intel BM-IDE driver from Windows 98 systems
For users who have upgraded to Windows* 98 and are experiencing IDE subsystem problems:
The Intel BM-IDE driver was not designed for use under Windows 98. The installer program for the Intel BM-IDE driver for Windows 95 precludes installation on a Windows 98-based system.
However, a problem may occur when upgrading to Windows 98 on a system that already contains the Intel BM-IDE driver, because the driver may remain loaded following the upgrade. To fix this, use the new v3.02 installer to remove the Intel driver so the Microsoft BM-IDE driver can be manually enabled on Windows 98 systems. Then manually enable the Microsoft driver.
- Support for CD-R and CD-RW drives
- Support for LS-120 SuperDisk drives
- Support for >8.4GB hard disk drives
- Support for Ultra DMA/33-capable ATAPI CD-ROM drives
- Command parser for all ATA/ATAPI commands from ASPI to counteract indeterminate data flow direction
- Periodic flushing of hard disk drive write cache during IDE I/O and at system shutdown, to prevent data loss if the HDD loses power before its write cache is flushed to disk
**For more information on this new feature, refer to this Microsoft Knowledge Base* article.
- Driver performs multi-block data transfers from ATAPI CD-ROM devices
- Driver configures all ATAPI tape drives for fastest PIO modes. (ATAPI tape devices are no longer configured for DMA transfers)
- Support for DMA-capable BIOS Int13h routines
- Installer program no longer prompts user for location of IDEATAPI.MPD file after system reboot
Download BM-IDE Driver v3.02
This applies to:
| 
