Help me Force DMA

ProPatriaMori

I've just built a new rig and can't seem to get the DVD drive out of PIO mode. If the drive is doing anything, everything else crawls. This especially hurts DVD playback in VLC.

I'm running Windows XP 64 bit. So far I've tried uninstalling the drive in Device Manager and uninstalling the relevant IDE Channel entry in same. On reboot, when the drive is detected again, it goes back to PIO Only.

Help?

stigweard

Did you use a new ide cable when you put it in?

exoplasm

You have to change a registry key...

Check out these pages:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817472

http://winhlp.com/node/10

Thank FSM for SATA drives!

travathian

So you built a new rig and put WinXP on it? And an IDE drive in it? Toss the IDE drive and go buy a $25 SATA dvd burner, then blast the system and put Win7 on it. The upgrade price is dirt cheap and putting an 8 year old OS and an archaic drive in a brand new system is nuts.

ProPatriaMori

The IDE cable is the cable that comes with the case. It is new.

I had a WinXP 64 disc. The IDE drive was the only reasonably priced one at Fry's and no optical drive saturates a PATA bus.

Deleting the registry keys as indicated doesn't seem to help. Two drives now have been recognized as PIO only--one of which was doing just fine in my previous rig. Starting to suspect something's wrong at the system level, though I haven't found a suspect BIOS setting yet.

travathian

$20 too much?

http://www.frys.com/ShopCartServlet?purchase=5691321&site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

And Win7 is downloadable for free from MS and the upgrade is $50 when its released. WinXP 64 is a flaming turd of an OS with shitty driver support. But by all means, keep beating your head against the wall fighting with the thing when an easier solution exists.

ProPatriaMori

Didn't see that in the store. I should've just ordered a drive from Newegg with the rest of the rig but didn't--bought the PATA drive later, along with a USB keyboard. I may pick up a SATA drive at some point but would prefer not to spend the extra money.

I don't know why you think Win7 would fix this issue.

freakish light

Actually the $50 upgrade deal is over. It's ~$120 when it's released to upgrade.

And the WinXP64 thing may not be the source of this issue, but it is by all accounts an awful OS. It has really bad driver support... and, well, bad everything support. If you're going to have a 64-bit OS I would really, really recommend at least Vista.

travathian

27-129-038 DVD BURNER PIONEER | DVR-217DBK OEM
That is the one I got from Newegg, has worked great the last month. $27

The reason why I think XP-64 is the problem is because I find it incredibly hard to believe that a motherboard manufactured in the last couple years would ever default to putting an IDE drive in PIO mode by default, meaning it is an OS issue. XP-64 is the worst MS OS since WinMe and I'd avoid it like the plague. Win7 RC is usable until next June without a valid license, plenty of time to save up the cash for one or wait for it to go on sale again.

As to your actual problem, deleting the drive in device manager isnt going to fix the problem because the drive's listing in DM has nothing to do with PIO/DMA. You need to go under IDE/ATAPI and see if one of this is listed as PIO and try changing it from there. It should be set to automatic, and then default to DMA if available. Under that it will tell you what mode it is actually in. The only other thing I can think of is to double check the jumpers on the drive. Fry's is notorious for selling returned goods, and for all we know someone borked that drive and took it back. See what jumper settings are available and ensure they are set properly.

exoplasm

travathian wrote: »

Win7 RC is usable until next June without a valid license

Technically you would actually have a valid license if you download it from MS directly...

Anyways, Win7 probably handles PIO mode much better than XP. You'll notice in the MSKB articles about it, it only lists Win2000 through Win2003 - Vista and up are not listed.

Iconoclysm

It may be obvious, but have you installed the manufacturers own motherboard/chipset driver?
It may be as simple as XP not having a fully compatible driver in its own driver database.

Try checking the driver CD that came with the motherboard or head over to the company's website to see if there is a specific XP 64bit driver available to install

ProPatriaMori

Holy crap! What do I see on the Shuttle site but a BIOS update:

"Fixed IDE ODDs work in PIO mode only."

And here I figured that using the disc with the mobo would be enough. Thank you folks!

EDIT: and it blue screens while flashing the BIOS and now the machine won't boot. Grand!

Green Destiny

travathian wrote: »

putting an 8 year old OS in a brand new system is nuts.

Some of us like (modified for efficiency versions of) Windows XP.

ProPatriaMori

No offense, really, but please fuck off the with the OS zealotry. I have two very specific problems here and that discussion is helpful in fixing neither of them.

exoplasm

If you can't flash it from a USB stick you might be hosed. May have a bricked mobo (does it still POST?) and would have to send it in for a replacement.

ProPatriaMori

Nope, no POST that I can tell. Mobo status lights come on, fans and all, but no video and the keyboard doesn't get powered. Looks like I hosed it.

The BIOS comes on a handy-dandy little 8 pin chip of its own. I see them on eBay, so maybe Shuttle will send me one.

Mr. Buttons

Try to reset your CMOS... take out the battery and switch the jumpers like it says in the book

same thing happened to me a few weeks ago on my asus mobo when I flashed the bios

Fats

Wait, did you flash the BIOS from Windows?

What's the motherboard model, specifically? If clearing the CMOS doesn't help, there might be a BIOS boot block that you can use to fix the BIOS.

ProPatriaMori

Yeah, there's a Windows flashing tool. I should've known better.

It's the mobo that comes with the Shuttle SX48P2 Deluxe model barebones kit.

Fats

Hm, not finding much to help. It does sound like Shuttle will sell you a new BIOS chip, that might be the way to go.

ProPatriaMori

Already sent Taipei an e-mail, though they haven't responded yet (oddly enough). It's Monday afternoon over there right now.

ProPatriaMori

Last word, for anyone who might care: Shuttle sent me a new BIOS chip, flashed with the latest BIOS, and the computer works again. Unfortunately the optical drive still won't run DMA. I have a SATA drive on its way from Amazon.