I have read some stuff about busmaster drivers, but I don't
feel like I have a good understanding about them. If anyone
cares to answer any of these questions, it would help me
out. Thanks.


What determines whether or not you can add a busmaster
driver? Is it the chipset? I have an HX chipset.
In the Device Manager box, Under "Hard disk controllers" it
says
Intel PIIX PCI EIDE Controller [Bus Mastering not supported]
Primary IDE controller [dual fifo]
Secondary IDE controller [dual fifo]

When buying a new mainboard, if it doesn't have a disk with
a bus master driver, should you be concerned, or is it
generally easy to obtain a compatible bus master driver
elsewhere?

If 2 different motherboards have the same chipset, will the
same busmaster driver work on both mainboards? If not, what
hardware and/or chips does a busmaster driver need to be
compatible with?

Where in the chain of events does a busmaster driver go?
Does it intercept communication  between the chipset and the
EIDE controller, telling the chipset not to send any info on
the system bus until the EIDE controller is finished with
the bus?

If you install a device on a PCI bus that is busmaster
capable, (maybe a network card?) I am assuming that once you
install the drivers for the device, that the busmaster
driver for the device will work with any modern mainboard,
regardless of the chipset. How come EIDE busmaster drivers
need different drivers depending on what chipset/mainboard
you are using?


I hope the above questions all make sense. Thanks in
advance.
Brad Britton

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