Ide controller ? On XP Home sp2.

[ManyBeers]

Sony Vaio laptop.
I notice in device manager that my primary IDE channel is set on DMA mode
and the secondary channel is PIO mode. Is this normal? Would it be a good
idea to change the secondary channel to DMA mode too?

 

[Bjarke Andersen]

I notice in device manager that my primary IDE channel is set on DMA
mode and the secondary channel is PIO mode. Is this normal? Would it
be a good idea to change the secondary channel to DMA mode too?

It depends on the drives attached to the controller. I would guess your PIO
mode drive is an older CD/DVD drive.

Usually this is set in BIOS.

 

[ManyBeers]

It depends on the drives attached to the controller. I would guess your PIO
mode drive is an older CD/DVD drive.

Usually this is set in BIOS.

How would one find out which drives are on which controllers.My laptop is
six years old. Is that too old.for DMA mode?

 

[ManyBeers]

It depends on the drives attached to the controller. I would guess your PIO
mode drive is an older CD/DVD drive.

Usually this is set in BIOS.

Follow up info: In device manager both my hard drive and cd drive locations
are O(O). My external dvd burner which is connected via USB is location O

 

[Bjarke Andersen]

How would one find out which drives are on which controllers.My
laptop is
six years old. Is that too old.for DMA mode?

Check Diskdrive and DVD/CD-Drive in device manager.

 

[smlunatick]

Sony Vaio laptop.
I notice in device manager that my primary IDE channel is set on DMA mode
and the secondary channel is PIO mode. Is this normal? Would it be a good
idea to change the secondary channel to DMA  mode too?

Without a complete details of the motherboard, we can only give you
general answers.

On IDE ports (PATA), some manufacturer usually only place DMA controls
on the primary IDE channel. Other possibility is that the drives
connected to the secondary IDE ports may "force" PIO modem due to the
fact:

1) Not using a DMA rated IDE cable -- DMA cables are normally 80
wire / 40 pin cable. The second wire per pin is to sheild the signal
on each pin

2) Any drive itself may dump to PIO because its firmware is forcing it
or too many communication errors.

 

[ManyBeers]

Without a complete details of the motherboard, we can only give you
general answers.

On IDE ports (PATA), some manufacturer usually only place DMA controls
on the primary IDE channel. Other possibility is that the drives
connected to the secondary IDE ports may "force" PIO modem due to the
fact:

1) Not using a DMA rated IDE cable -- DMA cables are normally 80
wire / 40 pin cable. The second wire per pin is to sheild the signal
on each pin

2) Any drive itself may dump to PIO because its firmware is forcing it
or too many communication errors.

Thanks for responding. The reason i asked is this : I recently acquired
the DVD burner i referred to in my earlier post. It is connected via USB
1.1(my laptops usb port rating) and i noticed when watching a DVD movie with
it that the playback is choppy and virtually unwatchable. Before i got the
DVD player i used my laptops
built in cd/dvd player for watching dvd rentals. But the external drive is
quieter and i would prefer to use it. So i don't know if it is the usb 1.1
port that is the problem , or if the DVD burner is controlled by my secondary
channel controller being in PIO mode . I don't even know if the DVD burner is
on the secondry channel or not.

 

[smlunatick]

 Thanks for responding. The reason i asked  is this : I recently acquired
the DVD burner i referred to in my earlier post. It is connected via USB
1.1(my laptops usb port rating) and i noticed when watching a DVD movie with
it that the playback is choppy and virtually unwatchable. Before i got the
DVD player i used my laptops
built in cd/dvd player for watching dvd rentals. But the external drive is
quieter and i would prefer to use it. So i don't know if it is the usb 1.1
port that is the problem , or if the DVD burner is controlled by my secondary
channel controller being in PIO mode . I don't even know if the DVD burneris
on the secondry channel or not.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

External DVD drives should not worry about the DMA on the IDE ports.
USB and IDE channels are not related.

 

[ManyBeers]

External DVD drives should not worry about the DMA on the IDE ports.
USB and IDE channels are not related.

Ok thanks. I will just leave everything as it is.