Hard Drive Question...
 

For some reason, I am unable to enable DMA. When I go into the Device Manager, and go to the HD's properties, there is no advanced tab, or anything referring to DMA enabling. This is also the same for the DVD drive as well. There is no option to enable DMA on any of my devices. This computer is only 8 months old (at most) so I know they are DMA capable devices...and I remember a long time ago a window popped up and asked me if I wanted to enable it, but I didn't know what it was then and just disregarded it. Is there a way (possibly on startup?) to enable DMA on my drives??? PLEASE HELP ME!

What version of windows are you using?

XP Pro

I bet you're going to the Disk Drives heading in the Device Manager and right-clicking on your drive from there...

Instead, go to IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers heading in the DM and right-click on the proper IDE channel and select Properties, then click on Advanced settings. You should be able to figure it out from there...

DMA is enabled by default on XP so you shouldn't have to enable it manually.

Then why is my DVD playback still so choppy?

Ross,

Please describe the choppiness. Are the frames kinda choppy or is the audio breaking up? Is this on all DVD-ROMs or just DVD-R or some other DVD type? Please provide a description of your computer, CPU speed/type, memory speed, DVD drive model#, etfc. What software are you using for DVD playback? Are you
running other software? Try another DVD playback application.

Ok, the choppiness is almost like when you're fast forwarding a DV tape. Kinda like that. The specs on my computer:

Processor: Intel Pentium 4 2.66 Ghz
Memory: 1.00 Gb 333mhz SD Ram (I think?)
DVD Drive: Samsung DVD-ROM SD-616Q
Video Card: ATI All-In-Wonder 8500DV
Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Platinum
Hard Drive: 120gb WD1200JB-75CRA0

That's about it for that.



John: I still have no "Advanced" tabs on any of the IDE Channels either....


And while we're at the discussion of my computer: Why all of a sudden I've been playing a few games, and when I got the computer, they worked AMAZING, but now not only does it take forever to load, but the computer lags while I play the game (eg: sounds loop at certain points, the screen freezes, etc...) and the computer seems to be taking longer overall for everything.

Hi Ross, just to check - have you defraggeD & compared performance immediately b4 & after?

NO I haven't, I'll try that...

<<<-- Originally posted by Ross Weinshenker :


John: I still have no "Advanced" tabs on any of the IDE Channels either....

. -->>>


Check out the last 3 posts in this thread: http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=7625 -- I'll save you the suspense, though: "Uninstall Intel Application Accelerator"

(and while you're at it, you might as well read the first post as well -- it describes enabling DMA with accompanying pictures)

And try defragging -- I'd be kinda surprised if it fixed the problem, but if you haven't defragged in 8 months, then you never know what might happen.

EDIT: also, are you playing the games off the same questionable DVD drive? Do you have any other problems when using this drive? It may just be a dud drive that's about to die...

What does Intel Application Accelerator actually do? It came with my computer so I want to know if there are any negative effects of deleting the program. Thanks.

I'll let Intel say it for themselves:

http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/iaa/


Also, as you'll see, you can download the Accelerator from the site and reinstall it if necessary.

Sony, to cite one manufacturer, states that you *must* uninstall Intel Application Accelerator before installing firmware updates for their DVD burners ( see http://sony.storagesupport.com/dvdrw...00Aupdate.html ) -- they also say you have to disable DMA while running the upgrade app as well.

Well, I uninstalled it, and could configure DMA, but it messed up my comp, and now it freezes alot, and its not that easy to re-install it. I tried, but it says there's an error launching the setup. Now I'm in worse condition than before :(.

Is the error message in line w/ this statement from Intel's site?

"Also, any attempts to uninstall the Intel Application Accelerator after the upgrade may result in an error message after the system has been rebooted. Additional detailed information can be found on the Windows XP Upgrade Table."

from http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/iaa/tti001.htm

The information regarding installation on Intel's website looks pretty straightforward. (Although I know that looking easy and being easy are two different things!) You may also want to look at the Known Issues and Solutions section of the main iaa page.

I assume you disabled DMA once you started having problems?

I don't want to sound callous, but welcome to the wonderful world of futzing with your PC! Trust me, this is a fine entry for you; I've been there before. Don't worry, you'll get that PC running normal again soon enough! Good luck -- ask for help if you need it...

(By the way, did you ever consider my suggestion that the drive may be bad?)