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SingaBoiy
08-01-2006, 11:26 PM
My system has been going very slow. Especially when it tries to do something system-demanding. It is in PIO mode. I have DMA enabled in bios but in windows it is running under PIO. It takes me forever to burn discs and transfer files.

Anyone know how to force it to run how it is supposed to?
peat moss
08-02-2006, 02:27 AM
DMA is set for the Primary IDE Channel and the Secondary IDE Channel under Device Manager in Xp , have you checked there ? I seem to remember a Registry trick to enable DMA if your cd-rom supports it , I'll see if I can find it .


Found this interesting .

For repeated DMA errors. Windows XP will turn off DMA mode for a device after encountering certain errors during data transfer operations. If more that six DMA transfer timeouts occur, Windows will turn off DMA and use only PIO mode on that device.

In this case, the user cannot turn on DMA for this device. The only option for the user who wants to enable DMA mode is to uninstall and reinstall the device.

Windows XP downgrades the Ultra DMA transfer mode after receiving more than six CRC errors. Whenever possible, the operating system will step down one UDMA mode at a time (from UDMA mode 4 to UDMA mode 3, and so on).

Link : http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/storage/IDE-DMA.mspx
peat moss
08-02-2006, 02:50 AM
Found the Reg trick :

http://sniptools.com/tipstricks/getting-back-to-dma-mode-in-windows-xp
SingaBoiy
08-02-2006, 03:53 AM
Found the Reg trick :

http://sniptools.com/tipstricks/getting-back-to-dma-mode-in-windows-xp

Awesome! It worked! Thanks for your guys help. :hooray:
dedalus1
08-24-2006, 06:47 PM
Does that reg hack stop windows from attempting to drop back into PIO mode or just set it back to DMA until the next problem?
accat13
08-24-2006, 09:49 PM
Does that reg hack stop windows from attempting to drop back into PIO mode or just set it back to DMA until the next problem?
Well if its the same reg hack that talked about at the bottom of this link your answer would be NO http://www.dvdplusvideo.com/dvdguide005.html
Chewie
08-25-2006, 03:58 AM
Does that reg hack stop windows from attempting to drop back into PIO mode or just set it back to DMA until the next problem?
It doesn't set DMA mode, but forces Windows to re-assess which mode to use.