Dvd writer - slow - new pc!! Help

[thelocalman]

My dvd writer has gone to a crawl, takes an hour to write a dvd. Its a new pc and didnt take that long before. What could have happened?

[Ace007]

Check it's not in PIO mode... It should be in DMA Mode.

[thelocalman]

thanks

[thelocalman]

Check it's not in PIO mode... It should be in DMA Mode.


where do I check please?

[raymondlin]

RIght click my computer - Hardware - device manager - IDE Channels, check primary and Secondary depends where your dvd drive is. and its the second tab.

Just reselect it, if that doesn't work, remove the drive in device manager and reboot.

[thelocalman]

IDE secondary is set to PIO but says DMA when available but its on PIO currently

[raymondlin]

then put it to DMA then.

[thelocalman]

dma if available BUT says current transfer mode is PIO

[raymondlin]

dma if available BUT says current transfer mode is PIO

RIght click my computer - Hardware - device manager - IDE Channels, check primary and Secondary depends where your dvd drive is. and its the second tab.

Just reselect it, if that doesn't work, remove the drive in device manager and reboot.

[thelocalman]

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a4/thelocalman/Untitled-1.jpg

[raymondlin]

Then its not DMA..............................and it does say Current Transfer Mode - PIO

[thelocalman]

Great then, Im stuck now!!

[Chris Locke]

Are you on XP? Is it SP2? Are you using an 80 conductor cable, or 40?

[thelocalman]

well its a new pc, xp sp2

[Chris Locke]

Do you know if all the motherboard drivers are installed for it?
As Ray said, you could try deleting the drive controller and letting Windows redetect it. Probably best to do that in safe mode though (F8 just as Windows boots)

You might want to check the event log (start -> run -> eventvwr) to see if there are any errors or warnings - check the application / system log, especially around the time the machine booted up.

[thelocalman]

thanks

[raymondlin]

Great then, Im stuck now!!

Why exactly are you stuck? I told you one possible solution about 3 hours ago. Did you not see my big text?


RIght click my computer - Hardware - device manager - IDE Channels, check primary and Secondary depends where your dvd drive is. and its the second tab.

Just reselect it, if that doesn't work, remove the drive in device manager and reboot.

[thelocalman]

Post number 10 shows the answer to your big red writing.

[raymondlin]

Then did you uninstall the drive ? and then reboot ?

[Uncle Nick]

*coughs politely*

It's a controller issue with XP, not a device issue. Removing and reinstalling your IDE controller (under safe mode as Chris Locke says) is the joint-best bet, along with installing the latest drivers for your motherboard (including IDE controller). What motherboard/chipset is it?

[Chris Locke]

It's a controller issue with XP, not a device issue. This was common with pre-SP1 XP dropping the transfer mode down if it got errors, and not bringing it back up again, but I thought this was sorted in SP1.
It could also be if the cable if 40 conductor (olde stylee) rather than a UDMA-able 80 conductor. Unfortunately, thelocalman hasn't answered my query on that one. I don't know if the eventlog has been checked yet either - its sometimes reported in there too.

[thelocalman]

Hiya, just removed and rebooted, still the same as per the screen grab above. This is a brand new pc from Packard Bell so I'd have hoped the wiring would be ok (its born date is 12th october 2005 and was less than 2 weeks old when I brought it)

[thelocalman]

Where is the log and ill check it out?

[thelocalman]

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a4/thelocalman/Untitled1.jpg

is the spec of the machine

[Chris Locke]

Where is the log and ill check it out?See post #15.

Have you updated the BIOS? If its 'born date' was 12 Oct, that web page you've got a screenshot from, shows a BIOS update on 28 Oct. Check the readme and see what that fixes - might be a DMA issue!

[raymondlin]

You can always swap the drives around and see if its still happens, just remember to swap the master/slave jumpers round too and you'll be fine.

[amkhan]

simple solution to this..

I get it now and again (usually after a pc restore from image).

Figure out which interface the drive is on (hopefully second one as master or sale), then in device manager remove that IDE interface. WinXP should then find it again (hit the refresh button in device manager), and you'll have DMA goodness..

None of this malarky with a real OS btw (Linux) :-)

[Uncle Nick]

This was common with pre-SP1 XP dropping the transfer mode down if it got errors, and not bringing it back up again, but I thought this was sorted in SP1.
If only life was that simple. Nope, it still cacks out randomly even with SP2.


It could also be if the cable if 40 conductor (olde stylee) rather than a UDMA-able 80 conductor.

40-pin cables *are* UDMA capable, just not UDMA5 or 6. You can still get UDMA 2/3/4 (IIRC) on a 40-way cable. Also, XP drops to "Multi-Word DMA" before it resorts to PIO, in cases of "that's too fast for this cable". A straight drop to PIO is still most likely to be the controller.

As someone has mentioned BIOS... perhaps leafing through the BIOS pages for the IDE setup might reveal a telling setting such as "Dead slow mode:ON"? (or in reality, UDMA mode: Disabled)


thelocalman: you don't need to hide the URL on your screenies. We all know it's a Knackered Bell, and we're just assuming you're going for the required therapy after fixing this issue. ;)

[thelocalman]

simple solution to this..

I get it now and again (usually after a pc restore from image).

Figure out which interface the drive is on (hopefully second one as master or sale), then in device manager remove that IDE interface. WinXP should then find it again (hit the refresh button in device manager), and you'll have DMA goodness..

None of this malarky with a real OS btw (Linux) :-)

Works - cheers

Slightly worrying though that it wont let me update bios.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a4/thelocalman/U.jpg

is the error I get. Thanks to all so far.

[thelocalman]

thelocalman: you don't need to hide the URL on your screenies. We all know it's a Knackered Bell, and we're just assuming you're going for the required therapy after fixing this issue. ;)

Its a media centre, it was cheap and until this week, worked really well. I like the knackered bell bit though :clap:

[Chris Locke]

Works - cheersJust out of interest, why didn't you do that when raymondlin said the same thing in post #5? :p

As for the BIOS update, you might need to do it in 'naked' DOS, ie, with a boot disk. Most nowadays are Windows progs, but I noticed the prog you use is called 'Command Line Based ....' - just check the instructions.

If you need a boot disk, just yell, as I've one on my site you can download (either a floppy image, or a CD .iso)

[thelocalman]

I did what post 5 said but it was to remove the cd drive not the ide channel!! and yes, Id love a boot disc please

[Chris Locke]

I think he meant the IDE channel - anyway. Irrelevant - its sorted. Hope your burn speeds improve!!

A floppy disk image is here:
http://www.creapsoft.co.uk/download?id=437a6307

You need RawWrite to copy that to a floppy disk.
http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/rawwrite.htm

Or you can download an .iso and burn to CD using Nero (or similar)
http://www.creapsoft.co.uk/download?id=437a62bf

[thelocalman]

ta