Hi, I posted on here with a problem about 2 years ago and it was sorted brilliantly so I am trying again, however I am not particularly technologically minded, so straight off let me apologise in advance for any stupid questions/foolish errors that I will make! Please bear with me! My problem is to do with a new DVD drive I have installed. My computer is a Dell Dimension 5150 and it has 2 DVD/CD drives, for which I had been using one to rip information and the second to burn it to a new dvd. One of the drives stopped working recently so I bought a Lite-On DH-20A4H DVD RW RAM drive to replace it. I took out the old drive and put the new one in myself. My problem now is that it takes far longer to burn a new dvd, whereas with the old drives it took about 20 minutes. I searched this site for some answers and found some information about DMA mode and PIO mode, and how PIO is much slower. I checked my device manager and, sure enough, windows has switched me to PIO. I followed all the prompts on this site to switch it back to DMA, but every time I try to burn a disk it switches it back to PIO. The first 4 or 5 minutes it burns really quickly, like it used to, then it slows down and when I check it has gone to PIO. I have tried a few things. I have switched the DVD drives around to see if that helps, but no. I have uninstalled the Primary IDE channel and then rebooted for windows to try and install it again, but the same thing happens. It starts out on DMA but switches to PIO after about 4 minutes. I have even followed a thread which talked about typing regedit into the run box, but to be honest I didn't really understand what to do on this, so couldn't follow it through. Does anybody have any advice as to how I can get my computer back to DMA for good, so that burning DVD's does not take hours on end? Many thanks!
Even that seems way to long for modern equipment. Are your opticals on the Primary channel? FWIW in the past I've found Dell's work best using CS (cable select). Are you using an 80 wire IDE cable? Have you tried installing one drive at a time as a test? You might give this little app a try: http://club.cdfreaks.com/1712827-post3.html
I'm not sure what you mean by "Are your opticals on the primary channel?" How would I check this? and then fix it if it is wrong? I have got both drives set to cable select, CS. Do you think setting them as master and slave respectively would make a difference? I couldn't tell you what type of IDE cable it is. It is the one that came in the machine. I do know, however, that this problem has only happened since I took out the old faulty drive and put in the new one. I will try and take out the new drive and see what happens if i just use the old one and leave the other drive out. If this works does that mean my new drive is faulty or just incompatible with my system? Could I replace it with one that doesn't cause my system to switch from DMA to PIO? Also, it is fairly easy to switch it back to DMA when it changes to PIO. This isn't a problem. The problem is that when i then go to burn a disk, it switches back to PIO after a few minutes and I am faced with the long wait again. I am really confused.
You said you re-installed the Primary, most folks have their opticals/burners on the Secondary channel. Where are yours? If they are on the Secondary that is the one to uninstall-> reboot to see if DMA is re-enabled. No it isn't. If you are just fooling around in Device manager with check boxes. How are you doing it? Many new burners are faster, 80 wire cables are always a good idea (even on older devices). 80 wire cables usually have colored connectors and fine wires. 80-wire cables contain 40 more ground wires that sit in-between the hot wires that carry data; these extra ground wires add insulation and stability to high-speed communications. Since the newer 80-wire cables have the same 40-hold plug, they fit into the same 40-pin socket. Detection technology is built into the Ultra ATA controller to detect which cable is used and which speeds are safe. I'd get an 80 wire cable and then make sure DMA is enabled and try again. A program like this will tell you for sure. http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php Here's one of mine: > Number of CD-ROM Drive : 1 >> Informations CD-Rom ATAPI DVD A DH20A4P IDE Channel : #1 - Master Drive (my HDs are SATA) Manufacturer : ATAPI Model : ATAPI DVD A DH20A4P Revision : 9P59 Serial ATA : No Support : ATA/ATAPI-7 IORDY : Yes LBA Mode : Yes DMA Mode : Yes NCQ Mode : No SCT Mode : No DCO Mode : No NV Cache : No TCQ Mode : No CFA Power Mode : No SETMAX : No Multiword DMA Mode : 2 PIO Mode : PIO 4 UDMA Mode max. : 4 (ATA-66) UDMA Mode Enabled : 4 (ATA-66) SMART : No SMART Self-Test : No You are looking for UDMA Mode Enabled.
Right! In terms of enabling the DMA: I have gone into Control Panel, System, Hardware and then Device Manager. I then click to expand the section on IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers. When I do that I right click on Primary IDE Channel (although it shows 2 of these as well as Secondary IDE Channel and then 2 things for Intel (R)). Then I click on Properties and I can see the transfer mode and the current transfer mode. When I have started to burn a DVD the current transfer mode has been DMA (5 I think) but soon switches to PIO. I then cancel the burning so as not to have to sit there for an hour and either: 1) Set the Transfer mode to PIO, click Ok, reboot the computer, then repeat the process but set it to DMA and reboot again. or 2) Uninstall the Primary IDE Channel and then reboot to let the computer detect it again. When it does this it asks me to reboot once more, then it is installed with DMA settings as current transfer. (Also I have un-installed the Primary IDE Channel like this and both of the Intel drives to see if that made any difference. I have not, I have to admit, uninstalled the secondary IDE channel, but only because the PIO setting only comes up on the first Primary IDE Channel.) Both of these measures have lead me to find that the DMA is enabled on my system, so I put a DVD in to try and burn it and it starts off going really quickly, then after about 5 minutes ... Bang! Same problem. It switches to PIO and I start all over again. I downloaded the PC Wizard program you linked and it tells me that my new drive the UDMA mode enabled is 2 (ATA 33) and that the other drive (one of the originals) is also UDMA enabled 2 (ATA 33). As for the cable, I am not sure if it is 40 or 80. It looks the same as the one in your picture with how wide and flat it is, but it has a grey and a black head (rather than blue) and no pink trim on the sides. (I have no idea if I'm being really stupid here. I don't know if these are universally colour coded or each brand has its own etc. Sorry.) Again, my apologies if I am being ridiculously stupid, but what do you think? I'm beginning to think that it is maybe DMA enabled but that the cable isn't doing what it should be doing, maybe not able to cope with the speed of the new drive, forcing the computer to slow down to PIO mode. Does this sound possible? If I take out the new drive and just test it using the old drive and it works fine, would this prove that? Or could it be nothing to do with it? Once more, many thanks for the help.
Well for what's it's worth that sounds like 40 wire (ATA 33) speeds. Your new drive should be running at a higher at a higher speed like mine, and NOTE in the info I provided 80 wire cables are much better shielded. Get a 80 wire, just to be sure. And only hook up your new burner to test (at the end connector). Check you DMA again with PCWizard then try a burn. If it works then attach your old burner and test again. All this might all be due to a $3 cable. http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/confCable80-c.html
