IDE Keeps falling back to PIO

[Mark Turnbull]

My daughter has a Compaq Laptop its only a few months old (5 to be
precise) and twice now she has found that it suddenly runs very slowly.
On both occasions I have found the disk transfer rate is sitting about 1
MB/s rather than 20MB/s and on further investigation have found that the
Primary IDE channel device 0 has reverted to PIO rather than Ultra DMA
mode 5.

The only way it will reset itself to DMA is if I uninstall the primary
IDE Channel and let it re-detect it on start up.

Any suggestions as to why this might be happening?

TIA

 

[Bob I]

Disk errors are responsible. Is the warranty still in effect?

 

[Ghostrider]

My daughter has a Compaq Laptop its only a few months old (5 to be
precise) and twice now she has found that it suddenly runs very slowly.
On both occasions I have found the disk transfer rate is sitting about 1
MB/s rather than 20MB/s and on further investigation have found that the
Primary IDE channel device 0 has reverted to PIO rather than Ultra DMA
mode 5.

The only way it will reset itself to DMA is if I uninstall the primary
IDE Channel and let it re-detect it on start up.

Any suggestions as to why this might be happening?

TIA

Check the specifications to make sure that the Compaq is supposed
to be running under DMA. If so, then verify that the proper IDE
cable (80-conductor) is being used and that the cable is inserted
properly and cleanly for DMA.

 

[V Green]

Check the specifications to make sure that the Compaq is supposed
to be running under DMA. If so, then verify that the proper IDE
cable (80-conductor) is being used and that the cable is inserted
properly and cleanly for DMA.

Above does not compute, Will Robinson - operative word "laptop".

 

[Mark Turnbull]

Yes its covered by a warranty.

Disk errors are responsible. Is the warranty still in effect?

 

[Bob I]

Contact Compaq/HP to get it repaired/replaced.

Yes its covered by a warranty.

 

[Mark Turnbull]

Thanks

Contact Compaq/HP to get it repaired/replaced.

 

[LVTravel]

If you have to send it back to HP, make sure you back up all important
information (and erase sensitive information) before you ship it. You
probably won't get the same hard drive back.