DMA drops to multi-read2

[rago88]

My plextor 16x burner [E] periodically will drop to multi-read 2 when burning a disk.
It normally is at ultra DMA 4...

I have un-installed my secondary channel, rebooted and it will go back to DMA 4 but not permanantly.
below is my device mngr shot.
the 1st primaries are my hard drives..C-D
The secondary's are my master/slave plextors E-F.

I was told to totally un-install the IDE ATA ATAPI controller
since un-installing the secondary doesn't fix the problem 100%..

Is this the correct move and do I reboot windows after the un-install or do a complete shutdown after?

I ask this because my primarys are my 2 hard drives and Idon;t want to screw that up..
It looks like everything under the IDE ATA ATAPI controller would be removed.
XP SP 2..

[Chewy]

You probably have a corrupt driver problem, there should only be one primary and one secondary controller

are any of these devices sata? emulation mode?

do you have the intel application accelerator installed?

more clues

[rago88]

no....
Have SATA slots on the motherboard but not using any for hardrives or Burners..
All are IDE hardware.......


do you have the intel application accelerator installed?

not sure what that is....

[rago88]

chewey,
those "duplicates" have been on my PC for a few years now and the problem just started recently..

this might explain:

the motherboad BIOS dictates that Channel 1 and
> > Channel 2 IDE are for normal IDE activity; one Master and one Slave
> > each. The MB also has IDE Channels 3 and 4 (Master only) in the
> > BIOS - to house the SATA devices.
> > Windows picks this up and translates it to Primary - Primary,
> > Secondary - Secondary. Having them "duplicated" is an expected
> > outcome and so it's normal to see this on an ABit MB.

btw:
The change in DMA comes after a reboot...
I don't think I am re-installing my burner correctly because usually after it finds a device it will ask to restart windows again..
I don't get that screen...

[Chewy]

ok the dups are the sata running in ide emulation mode

that's probably not causing your problem

I assume you have dvd burners sharing a cable, what are their positions on the cable and jumper settings?

[ed klein]

If you have the software program Plextools Professional associated with your Plextor optical drive on your computer.

Be sure the options/settings in Plextools Professional software program match the settings on your computer in device manager/Plextor optical drive.

I used to run Plextools Professional on this computer with 3 Plextor optical drives and a miss-match in options/settings did cause problems.

[rago88]

Plextor 716A is set as master as always has been.
[1st connector
2nd plextor 716A is set as slave as always has been.

jumpers have not been changed or moved.

Now this is what has happened in past hour.
I was looking in my BIOS..[more bout that later]
I exited bios and when pc rebooted back to windows,
the 1st Plextor went back into multi read DMA 2.

What I did a few minutes ago in response to this was to un-install my 2nd plextor [slave]..
I shut down,opened box up and un-plugged the connector and power connector to it.
Powered back up and for now my 1st plextor is back to
Ultra dma 4 since it is the only optical device connected..

I'm thinking something changed in my bios.
I will try to snapshot it for you..

I just may need to re-install both my burners 1 at a time.
could be since both are identical burners something went amiss recently..
or I un-installed the master plextor itself instead of the secondary channel.

.

[Chewy]

are you sure the cable is not going bad?

it is an 80 wire?

[rago88]

are you sure the cable is not going bad?

it is an 80 wire?

yes it is 80 wire...
Just when I thought I nailed it, it happened again.
the previous post was about un-installing the slave burner and re-booting and Ultra DMA 4 being restored.

Well, I shut down again a few minutes ago and after booting up the damn thing went back to multi-read2,,
This is now with only 1 burner installed.
I un-installed the secondary channel,
shut down again, restarted and it's back to Ultra DMA 4..
The BIOS wasshowing the plextor as Master on the secondary channel before this last time that it changed back to multi read 2 and before I un-installed the secondary channel

I guess an 80 pin connector can go bad just sitting there day after day I'm told.
If this keeps happening again I will replace the cable..
Is removing the secondary channel the correct procedure for restoring DMA?
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[rago88]

Chewey or Klein:
I'm not telling the whole story.
what I forgot to mention [duh] is about a week ago I noticed my burner was slowing down meaning it was set to 8x but was struggling to maintain 2.0 burning.
I hit cntrl=alt-delete and noticed my performance was 100% and all red!!!
I quick shut down, opened my PC and blew out alot of dust around the heatsink.
I turned the pc back on with the cover off and saw the heatsink fan was not turning...
long story short...
replaced the fan and burning went back to normal.
could this have screwed up the cable or god forbid, something else?
[when I am in Ultra DMA 4 all reading and burning appear normal and barely showing any CPU draw] if that helps your diagnosis..

Can't believe I forgot to mention this

[Chewy]

it might be related but I would think the heat may have attacked the cable, what happens with losing dma in windows is related to too many errors, since sp2 it's got to be consecutive errors that trip the change

if the southbridge chip had fried(unlikely) they are usually not even protected with a heatsink, the chipset would not work at all, that chipset is what manages the transfers when dma is enabled, offloading the work from the cpu

http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?t=61905

or

http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=44808

[rago88]

ok....
I'm pretty sure I have a couple 80 pin connectors here so I will give it a try tommorrow..

[ed klein]

You need the 80 LEADS at 40 PIN connector

Not the 40 LEADS at 40 PIN connector

You can easily physically see the difference.

Be sure to replace BOTH the primary and seconday IDE cables

My new computer has only one IDE pin slot on the motherboard (primary) and no master/slave IDE cable, just six SATA connections.

[rago88]

Replaced the cable today..
Also just using 1 Plextor for a while[ have the other disconnected] to see what happens..

[rago88]

Well,
so far so good...
only running 1 burner for now so see what happens.

My plextor is showing up in the BIOS as master on the secondary channel which is correct..