smlunatick said:
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.