dma mode vs. pio mode

B

badgolferman

WXP PRO SP2
Western Digital 40 GB and 80GB drives installed on Primary Controller.
The 40 GB one is the master and the other is the slave -- selected
through Cable Select.
The master is transferring in PIO mode and the slave is transferring in
Ultra DMA 5 mode. No matter what I do I can't make Device 0 in Primary
Controller work in DMA mode.

I have changed drive jumper settings, cables and IDE controller driver
(Intel 82801BA Ultra ATA Storage Controller), there are no conflicts
and the drives have been diagnosed by WD diagnostics as Pass.

Why can't I change the drive mode to DMA? PIO is too slow and the
drive is rated for Ultra DMA 5. Any ideas please?
 
A

Admiral Q

badgolferman said:
WXP PRO SP2
Western Digital 40 GB and 80GB drives installed on Primary Controller.
The 40 GB one is the master and the other is the slave -- selected
through Cable Select.
The master is transferring in PIO mode and the slave is transferring in
Ultra DMA 5 mode. No matter what I do I can't make Device 0 in Primary
Controller work in DMA mode.

I have changed drive jumper settings, cables and IDE controller driver
(Intel 82801BA Ultra ATA Storage Controller), there are no conflicts
and the drives have been diagnosed by WD diagnostics as Pass.

Why can't I change the drive mode to DMA? PIO is too slow and the
drive is rated for Ultra DMA 5. Any ideas please?


How old is the 40GB? If it is more than a few years old, then maybe PIO
mode is the fastest it was designed to run at -or- maybe the drive interface
is damaged reducing the mode to PIO -or- the wrong IDE cable (80-pin) that
comes with newer IDE drives is incompatible with an older 40-pin DMA
interface on the 40GB, again reducing the drive to PIO mode.
 
B

badgolferman

Admiral said:
How old is the 40GB? If it is more than a few years old, then maybe
PIO mode is the fastest it was designed to run at -or- maybe the
drive interface is damaged reducing the mode to PIO -or- the wrong
IDE cable (80-pin) that comes with newer IDE drives is incompatible
with an older 40-pin DMA interface on the 40GB, again reducing the
drive to PIO mode.

This is the drive:
http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/products.asp?DriveID=8
It is designed for ATA 100 Ultra DMA mode 5

The ribbon cable has been changed.

The WD diagnostics is happy with the drive.

What else do you suggest I do?
 
A

Anna

badgolferman said:
WXP PRO SP2
Western Digital 40 GB and 80GB drives installed on Primary Controller.
The 40 GB one is the master and the other is the slave -- selected
through Cable Select.
The master is transferring in PIO mode and the slave is transferring in
Ultra DMA 5 mode. No matter what I do I can't make Device 0 in Primary
Controller work in DMA mode.

I have changed drive jumper settings, cables and IDE controller driver
(Intel 82801BA Ultra ATA Storage Controller), there are no conflicts
and the drives have been diagnosed by WD diagnostics as Pass.

Why can't I change the drive mode to DMA? PIO is too slow and the
drive is rated for Ultra DMA 5. Any ideas please?


I'm *nearly* (but not absolutely!) certain that that Intel controller
chipset requires the Intel Application Accelerator. Check Intel's website to
determine if that's so, and if so, download & install the IAA (assuming you
haven't previously installed it).
Anna
 
J

Jonny

Anna said:
I'm *nearly* (but not absolutely!) certain that that Intel controller
chipset requires the Intel Application Accelerator. Check Intel's website
to determine if that's so, and if so, download & install the IAA (assuming
you haven't previously installed it).
Anna

No, it does not.

In my case, I tried it. New 3rd party software installations were crapping
out. Uninstalled the application accelerator, and all was fine.
 
J

John Jay Smith

It that what starfleet of the continum teach you? Perhaps you were too busy
watching galaxies going down
the blackhole drains you created from time to time?
Get that book (HDD 101) from the shelf and blow off the stellar dust! 40 gb
drives are extreamly modern to have onlyPIO mode....
 
P

Pete

Wesley said:
IDE ATA and ATAPI disks use PIO mode after multiple time-out or CRC errors
occur
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=817472

DMA Reverts to PIO
http://www.michna.com/kb/WxDMA.htm

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

Assuming that Windows is installed on the C:\ drive attached to the primary
IDE port, if you uninstall the primary IDE port or the driver for the primary
port and reboot, how does Windows restart enough to reinstall the port/driver?
 
W

Wesley Vogel

Glad to hear it. Keep having fun. :)

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In
 
C

Cymbal Man Freq.

If two hard drives are hooked up to a Promise 100 ATA controller card: the first
drive has Win ME and the second drive has Win XP (dual boot situation over two
drives), can the XP drive be slowed down to PIO mode? How would I know? There is
a lot of stuttering with sound on the XP side that isn't apparent on the ME
side. So if XP can slow down the drive, but ME cannot...WTF?!!?...what should I
do? I have not been able to copy files to my external USB 2.0 HDD from Win XP in
4 months and I've been getting Event 51 errors, and it may just be because the
XP drive is running at PIO mode and cannot accommodate the speed of a USB 2.0
drive. Direction please...
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top