Ide Help!!

[kopes]

I have an AOPEN 1608/arr writer and it is burning really slow. I have tried to enable the DMA to no avail. My hard drives are on the Primary IDE and the DMA is enabled with ULTRA DMA running. My secondary IDE stays on PIO. Can I switch so that my writers are on the Primary IDE and the hard drives on the Secondary? I'm a newbie so your help is appreciated.

Thanks.

[locoeng]

Have you tried this?

http://forum.digital-digest.com/showpost.php?p=255583&postcount=3

[kopes]

yeah, the primary shows DMA, if available, and is showing ULTRA DMA. The secondary shows DMA, if available but is showing PIO. I have re-installed both IDE. I guess what I'm asking is: Will it harm my computer or the performance if I put my hard drives (which have my operating system on it, obviously) on the secondary channel so that I can have my writer on the primary where I know the DMA will work? Thanks.

[Chewy]

something else is wrong, sure you uninstalled the secondary ide controller
right and rebooted?

Bad cable?

[locoeng]

I'm with the hairy one...

[geno888]

I think that switching your HD on secondary will not solve your problem, because secondary IDE will become DMA and primary PIO.

Maybe your problem is due to nvidia or intel IDE drivers. Usually they cause this sort of problems because don't manage correctly ATAPI.

Anyway, some mainboards require to activate DMA also in BIOS. Take a look to see if this solve.

[benbryant]

Please download and read the PDF file. Hopefully it will be able to give a hand about DMA problem

DMA Reverts to PIO.pdf

Regards

[kopes]

UPDATE:
I finally got both IDE channels to be DMA, I bought some new media (Sony). Right before I insert the media, I check the DMA, everything is good. I put the disc in to burn, check again and it is PIO. I went to the AOPEN web site for media list and the Sony ones are on it. I'm going to buy some new cables for both primary and secondary. We'll see what that does. The registry change did the trick as far as DMA mode.

[kopes]

It took some time but I have changed the IDE cable and still no luck. I tried backing up some files with Nero and here is the log:

Log1.txt

[Chewy]

Free physical memory: 16MB (17160kB)

128megs is the minimum for windows xp, forget video work and dvd's

[kopes]

I thought RAM might be a problem. This computer has RDRAM (64mb x 2= 128). Are you saying its only showing 16mb available? RDRAM is quite expensive, but would it be worth it to buy more or go for the new computer? 256mb of RDRAM would be $160 canadian dollars ($137 USD).

Summary:
1. Is there an error with my computer as far as RAM goes that can be fixed?
2. Should I increase RDRAM?
3. Should I buy new computer?

[Chewy]

3. Should I buy new computer?

Yes

[spuddog]

At least a new motherboard, depending on your other equipment. My son bought a motherboard with RD-ram when it was the "next big thing" turned out to be a dead end.

[kopes]

Here is my system info:

Computer:
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
OS Service Pack Service Pack 2
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Computer Name JAMIE-OFFICE
User Name Jenn and Jamie

Motherboard:
CPU Type Intel Pentium 4, 1500 MHz (15 x 100)
Motherboard Name Intel Garibaldi D850GB (5 PCI, 1 AGP, 4 RIMM)
Motherboard Chipset Intel Tehama i850
System Memory 128 MB (PC800 RDRAM)
BIOS Type AMI (04/02/01)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port Printer Port (LPT1)

Display:
Video Adapter NVIDIA RIVA TNT2/TNT2 Pro (Microsoft Corporation) (32 MB)
3D Accelerator nVIDIA RIVA TNT2
Monitor Samsung SyncMaster 750(M)s(T) [17" CRT] (HCCR801218)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter Creative SB Live! Sound Card

Storage:
IDE Controller Intel(R) 82801BA Ultra ATA Storage Controller - 244B
Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive WDC WD300BB-00AUA1 (27 GB, IDE)
Disk Drive WDC WD800BB-00CAA1 (74 GB, IDE)
Optical Drive AOPEN DUW1608/ARR (DVD+R9:2.4x, DVD+RW:16x/4x, DVD-RW:8x/4x, DVD-ROM:16x, CD:48x/32x/48x DVD+RW/DVD-RW)
Optical Drive LG CD-RW CED-8120B (12x/8x/32x CD-RW)
SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Is it worth upgrading motherboard and RAM?

[Chewy]

pull the burner and the bigger hard drive and build another computer

and what's left will be a good kid's computer