Enabling DMA on IDE drive(s) : Windows XP 1

[itsme213]

I have read some stuff about needing to manually enable DMA on some IDE drives. The advice I have read uninstalling the driver (using device manager) and then rebooting.

My questions:

1. The drive is my main boot drive (with XP on it). It is connected as the only drive on IDE channel 1. Will the machine even reboot if I uninstall the disk driver?

2. I have a second drive, a 160G Western Digital. It came with its own PCI/ATA card (to overcome some drive size limitation in the OS, I dual boot XP and 98), and that card (with its two channels) appears as a SCSI device in device manager. The drive is connected as the only device on channel 2. How do I enable DMA on that as well?

3. I also have a new DVD writer (Plextor 708), connected to
channel 1 of the above card. How do I enable DMA on that?

Thanks! Great forum!

 

[wolluf]

suspect you don't need to do anything - why do you think you do (slow hard disk transfer rate?)

 

[cdogg]

First and foremost, I agree with wolluf that you have not stated the reason why you think DMA is not enabled. What kind of slow performance are you experiencing (benchmarks like Sisoft Sandra help illustrate it)?

With that said:

1) It depends. Usually not in normal mode, but booting to safe mode may help. Removing the driver that Windows XP placed there in the first place probably isn't going to make much difference. It will more than likely just be replaced the next time you boot up. What you need to look for is the Primary IDE controller in Device Manager. Once found, double-click it and the DMA settings should be under the settings tab. "DMA if available" should be selected for each device on the channel. For example, Mode 2 is ATA/33 and Mode 5 is ATA/100.

2 & 3) This totally depends on the card's drivers. Some PCI IDE cards allow you to configure DMA from within Device Manager, and others have their own little utility for doing this. You need to go out to the card manufacturer's website and search its support knowledgebase for the answer.

~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle

 

[itsme213]

Thanks wolluf, cdogg!

Two symptoms triggered my question:
(a) hard disk slow (booting XP off my main boot drive takes much longer than before).
(b) The 8x dvd burner burning closer to 1x or 2x.

I checked the IDE controller in Device manager. The primary channel (with my single 40G C: boot drive with XP on it) has DMA enabled but is running in PIO mode. Do I dare to try uninstalling the driver and re-booting in safe mode ??

[I'll deal with the DVD burner separately, baby steps ...]

Thanks...

 

[cdogg]

Yes, the hard drive running in PIO mode is definitely the worst bottleneck in your system right now.

The fact that it's on the IDE channel by itself seems to point to a chipset driver issue. What motherboard and CPU do you have (make/model/speed)?

If you have an Intel mobo shipset, be sure to go out to their website to download and install their Application Accelerator program. What this does is allow your Intel chipset to run optimally with Windows and automatically set all IDE devices to DMA modes if available.

~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle

 

[itsme213]

Thanks cdogg. I followed your advice and did install the Application Accelerator. Seems to be working better, but now in Device Manager I no longer see the DMA status (I guess the Intel drivers don't show it?). Is there some way I can verify the drive is operating in DMA mode?

Next: onward to the dvd burner ...

 

[cdogg]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that installing the Application Accelerator takes away easy viewing in Device Manager. Instead, you should now have an Intel folder in your start menu that has a link to the Accelerator program. In the program, you should be able to easily see the modes each drive is using.

~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle

 

[itsme213]

Thanks Cdogg. Hard disk and DVD drive UDMA now working as desired.

Oh, how I wish I knew about this forum 2 years ago !

 

[cdogg]

Yeah, that's the feeling I had as well when I first joined. Great to have another satisfied member!



~cdogg
[tab]"All paid jobs absorb and degrade the mind"
[tab][tab]- Aristotle