i have very new Dell workstation running RedHat 9.0 and everything works fine except that the hard drive access is very slow. here is the data below from hdparm

hdparm -i /dev/hda

Model=WDC WD800JB-00JJA0, FwRev=05.01C05, SerialNo=WD-WMAM91114663
Config={ HardSect NotMFM HdSw>15uSec SpinMotCtl Fixed DTR>5Mbs FmtGapReq }
RawCHS=16383/16/63, TrkSize=0, SectSize=0, ECCbytes=66
BuffType=unknown, BuffSize=8192kB, MaxMultSect=16, MultSect=16
CurCHS=16383/16/63, CurSects=16514064, LBA=yes, LBAsects=156301488
IORDY=on/off, tPIO={min:120,w/IORDY:120}, tDMA={min:120,rec:120}
PIO modes: pio0 pio3 pio4
DMA modes: mdma0 mdma1 mdma2
UDMA modes: udma0 udma1 udma2 udma3 udma4 *udma5
AdvancedPM=no WriteCache=enabled
Drive conforms to: device does not report version: 1 2 3 4 5 6

hdparm -t /dev/hda

Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 27.58 seconds = 2.32 MB/sec

the best i could do with hdparm was with

hdparm -c3 /dev/hda

and then i got :

Timing buffered disk reads: 64 MB in 15.80 seconds = 4.05 MB/sec

is there anything else i can do ?

You probably already checked connections and jumpers. An irq conflict could cause really poor performance. Just a guess though.

Welcome to LQ. Do you have any other devices on that same IDE channel? That could be an issue. Also, this article was very helpful to me when I was dealing with hdparm. Hope it helps. Good luck with it -- J.W.

Jumper issues? BIOS settings inappropriate?

Those numbers are spectacularly bad.

In terms of Jumpers settings, etc. what should i look for ? and how can one tell of IRQ conflicts under linux ?

Sorry to sound daft, but have you done hdparm /dev/hda to see if DMA is enabled? I'm asking because the numbers you get are the same that I get when DMA is off.