Does anybody know any either DOS or Win tool that wold be able
1. to set the chipset registers for the desired transfer speed
2. to set the hdd itself for the right transfer speed
?

This task is usually done by BIOS, but if the disk is too large and BIOS will freeze without setting the disk to NONE, then the disk speed is set to the lowest possible.

I had the same problem long time ago on my Linux server - but there aresimple tools that can do these tasks:
1. setpci for setting the chipset registers
2. hdparm for setting the hdd

But what to use with Windows 9x? Now we have ESDI_506.PDR driver that supports >137GB disks, if BIOS supports them too, then everything is OK. But on older boxes, it is necessary to set the disk to NONE in BIOS, Windows 9x still finds the disk if it is partitioned correctly, even without DDO, but the speed is very low. I think there may be many people that would appreciate big second disk on their old systems.

I can test this on my PC with GA-586HX motherboard and maybe also with GA-686BX motherboard with PIIX3 and PIIX4 IDE controllers.

Other possibility is to modify BIOS to support at least detection of the >137GB hard disks, it should be not so big problem, but the solution would be specific for every motherboard.

Petr

It would not be difficult to write a short code that sets the registers appropriately, and is called from AUTOEXEC.BAT while in DOS mode (before Windows loads).

I believe TweakBIOS [freeware + registered versions available] can do this from native DOS, and registered version allows loading preset configs from autoexec.bat:
http://www.mdgx.com/speed.htm#BIO
The catch is TweakBIOS hasn't been updated in years, and doesn't recognize newer chipsets.

* TweakBIOS v1.53b 16-bit ultimate BIOS, CPU, chipset + video configuration tool for MS-DOS 5/6/7/8 + Windows 3.1x/9x/ME [freeware + $20 registered versions]:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download244.html
Direct download [160 KB, freeware version]:
http://www.miro.pair.com/tweakbios/twk153b.zip
Works with ALL X86 AMD, Intel + Cyrix CPUs and (but not restricted to) these:
Motherboard chipsets:
- Intel: 430xX, 440xX, 450xX, 810, 820 + 840
- VIA: VP-1, VP-2, VP-3, MVP-3 + Apollo Pro
- AMD: AMD-640 + AMD-750
- SiS: 551x, 557x, 558x, 559x, 85C50x, 496, 530, 540, 560, 600 + 620
- OPTi Viper + Vendetta
- ALi Aladdin II, III, IV + V
- UMC 881
- ITE 8330G
Video chipsets:
- Tseng Labs ET6000
- Matrox Mystique
- Intel i740
A MUST for all PC performance tweakers, no matter what type of motherboard, CPU or BIOS you might have. Fine tunes without need for reboot tons of hidden settings not available in BIOS Setup.

Scren shots:
http://www.tecchannel.de/imgserver/bdb/344...34/original.jpg
http://images.softonic.com/s2/15000/15119//0_15119.jpg
http://www.nickles.de/biosguide/bilder/fullsize/tweaks.jpg

FYI:
Looks like TweakBIOS is still available for purchase [$20]:
http://www.digibuy.com/cgi-bin/order.html?336911

HTH