Problems enabling DMA in Windows XP

[dodecahedron]

the problem:
when trying to enable DMA in windows XP
(Device Manager: IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers -> Primary/Secondary IDE Channel -> Advanced Settings tab -> Device 0/1, Transfer Mode pull-down menu, choosing "DMA if available".
for detailed instructions look here: How to enable DMA in Windows XP (with pictures))
windows refuses to enable DMA, stays in PIO mode.

a possible solution:
to uninstall that IDE channel (right click Primary/Secondary IDE Channel -> Unintsall)
BE VERY CAREFUL your OS drive isn't on the channel your'e uninstalling!!!
then scan for new hardware (Action -> Scan for hardware changes), and let windows redetect and reinstall the IDE channel and the devices on it.
usually after this operation selecting "DMA if available" enables DMA.

Note:
some members of the forum reported that it is possible to uninstall the IDE channel on which the OS drive is located without problems. after doing so windows asks for a reboot after which it redetects and reinstalls the IDE channel. i have'nt tried this myself (yet) though. so do it at you own risk.

[dodecahedron]

another solution:

First, set the device that keep stuck in PIO mode to PIO mode only. Reboot.
Then set the device again to Use UDMA if available. Reboot.... Wowlah! The hard drive is no in UDMA mode!

[cfitz]

And another alternative, courtesy of Han with some additional elaboration by Null (this applies to both XP and 2000):

If deleting the IDE channel and your burner from Device Manager doesn't help, open the Registry (Start -> Run -> Regedit) and open the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SYSTEM \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Class \ {4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

Within this key you will find several subkeys. Most likely you will see the following:

0000 (for the IDE controller)
0001 (for the Primary IDE channel)
0002 (for the Secondary IDE channel)

Each of these subkeys has a named valued called "DriverDesc" that will make it clear to you to which component they correspond. Open the subkey corresponding to the channel on which your troublesome drive is located. Then, if the troublesome drive is the master, delete the "MasterIdDataChecksum" named value. Or, if the troublesome drive is the slave, delete the "SlaveIdDataChecksum" named value.

Reboot. The OS will redetect the device DMA capabilities after reboot.

Note that for many older CD-ROM drives DMA can not be enabled in Windows 2000/XP, so be sure to check the capabilities of your particular drive if you continue to have problems.

[Anne-Cécile Wolf]

Hello ! I tried everything you sais, and it still didn't work... But I finally found a solution, which is installing new drivers for the IDE channels.
I can tell you what can be done for VIA motherboards (I don't know about others) :

-go on the site viaarena.com
- download the VIA miniport drivers
- install them
- reboot your computer... taddaaa !!! It works (although for me only in mutiword DMA mode 2, but it is enough to view my DVDs without anymore problems )

I guess the same might be done with other motherboards, you need to install some of the latest drivers, check on their website (and on their own forums, the answer might be there... )

Good luck to everyone.
AnnC

[Latzab]

Hello,

I had the same problem but none of the tips here worked for me.

I have my cd-rw (dma33) and my dvd(dma66) on the secondary IDE.

This is what I discovered:

When the settings for the secondary IDE channel in my BIOS are set to NONE/NONE, the OS will not enable DMA33/66 but forced it to MULTI-WORD DMA mode 2.

I changed the settings to AUTO/AUTO and voila!, XP enables DMA33 and DMA66.

Hope this can help.

[cvermeer]

Hey Thanks for the info
I have a gsa-h22n with xp and stuck in PlO
I fixed it by deleting the line "SlaveIdDataChecksum" with regedit
Now it I hope it works well
thanks for your help

[bsc249]

Thanks for the tips guys!!

I've had a Dell Dimension 8300 for about 3 years now and it came with the samsung DVD-Rom SD 616t. I added the Lacie (samsung) internal d2 DVD burner with lightscribe and both were working great for the past year. Recently I started developing choppy/stuttering playback but all other functions were fine.

I came across a post to check my DMA settings and violla: PIO. First tried to update drivers - nuthin... Next uninstall from device manager, reboot - nuthin... Next, change DMA setting's via device mgr as outlined at top of page - reboot - nuthin...

Finally followed cfitz's directions for editing the registry and Presto, All Systems Go.

Thanks for the post!

[dodecahedron]

you guys aren't reading the FAQ Forum Guidelines.
http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=19673
the FAQs are for FAQs. not for asking questions, for help or commentary. such posts should be made in other forums (DVD Writers Forum for instance).

your posts will be deleted in a while (a week or so).

[Iow]

Hi all,

Just wanted to let you know, I experienced the same problem (IDE channel in PIO mode and not able to change it). After many times banging my head on the table finally a IDE/RAID driver update solved the problem. I have a MSI P096 Neo motherboard and downloaded the latest JMicron RAID Drivers from the MSI website. Hope this will help someone.

[Born2Burn]

Driver updates and registry fixes are almost always the fix for this kind of issue. Otherwise you are going to have to consider disaster recovery software of some kind. I have had about four years of guess and check experience so I stand by my comments. For me it was always an issue of staying poorly organized. I would send you a copy, but for some reason I don't feel as safe using dvd burning codecs for software as I do for movies and shows.