I'm trying to restore DMA to one of my HDs. At this page
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device...e/IDE-DMA.mspx
I read:

"For repeated DMA errors. Windows XP will turn off DMA mode for a
device after encountering certain errors during data transfer
operations. If more that six DMA transfer timeouts occur, Windows will
turn off DMA and use only PIO mode on that device.

In this case, the user cannot turn on DMA for this device. The only
option for the user who wants to enable DMA mode is to uninstall and
reinstall the device."

This is what I suspect has happened to my 200GB drive J: (which is on
the IDE Primary Slave channel). But I have a couple of queries before
I attempt that:

Does "...uninstall and reinstall the device," refer to the following
Device Manager entry:

IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers
- ALi M5229 PCI Bus Master IDE Controller
- Primary IDE Channel <---- THIS ONE
- Secondary IDE Channel

Or is it
Disk drives
- Maxtor 6L200P0 <---- THIS ONE

Or both?

And - my key question! - can I use Uninstall and then let XP
automatically reinstall WITHOUT RISK TO MY DATA?

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

Terry Pinnell <terrypinDELETE@THESEdial.pipex.com> wrote:

After reassurances elsewhere I went ahead and uninstalled the
Controller. It did indeed reinstall fine. But the bad news is that
it's still showing Current Transfer Mode = PIO
http://www.terrypin.dial.pipex.com/Images/Drives1.jpg

I seem to have done what was advised here:
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/devic...ge/IDE-DMA.mspx

I've also had these two links from Wesley Vogel, to articles that I'll
study:

IDE ATA and ATAPI disks use PIO mode after multiple time-out or CRC
errors occur
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=817472

DMA Reverts to PIO
http://www.michna.com/kb/WxDMA.htm

Any other suggestions on how I might get DMA back would be greatly
welcomed. Anyway, there goes Sunday!

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK
Sun 5 February 2006, 17:57 UK time

On Sun, 05 Feb 2006 14:16:49 +0000, Terry Pinnell wrote:

Remove Master IDE controller. May get a message that you have to delete the
primary and secondary items first. If that appears, do that. Then delete
the main controller. Restart for Windows to redetect the controller and to
"refresh" the DMA settings.

While there's always risk to data (even under normal operations!), I've
performed these steps a few times without any adverse results.

Also, realize this is a bandaid approach. You need to figure out why your
hard drive would time out at least six times. Often on a desktop system,
it's due to the time required to return from a standby state. If the hard
drive is slow "spinning up" that earns a mark against the DMA tally for
that drive. Simplest approach to avoid this from happening would be to
disable standby on this system.

--
Sharon F
MS-MVP ~ Windows Shell/User

Sharon F <sharonfDEL@ETEmvps.org> wrote:

Thanks Sharon, but assume you can't have seen my later post when you
replied?

I don't use Standby/Hibernation; just switch off the monitor after 20
mins non-use.

So, still looking for ideas how to recover my DMA!

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

On Sun, 05 Feb 2006 19:19:41 +0000, Terry Pinnell wrote:

Hi, Terry. You're correct. I did not see your new post when I replied. (Had
downloaded messages earlier and did not refresh the group before replying.)

Some more suggestions for you: Check that the cable connecting the drive to
the motherboard is not crimped or damaged. It also need to be an 80wire (vs
40wire) cable. It sounds like you already have an 80wire cable since this
was working happily before. But perhaps there's something up with the
cable.

If you have the inclination, it probably would be a good idea to run some
tools on the drive to check its health. You can usually get these as a free
download at the drive manufacturer's website.

--
Sharon F
MS-MVP ~ Windows Shell/User

Sharon F <sharonfDEL@ETEmvps.org> wrote:

Thanks Sharon. Yes, I had similar advice in the storage group, and in
a minute plan to shut down and open the case and start fiddling
around.

I see I do have a few disk utility tools, such as Powermax. And
somewhere else I recall a utility called MaxBlast. The key first step
there of course is to remind myself what they do, before I make risk
making things worse! In this case, I could conceivably even reformat
the 200 GB drive, after some preparation. Do you think that would get
me a 'clean slate' though, or would XP SP1 'remember' it had trouble
with this drive and relegate it to PIO again?

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

On Mon, 06 Feb 2006 07:51:29 +0000, Terry Pinnell wrote:

I wouldn't rush to reformat the drive, I have my doubts that it will help
much. The PIO situation is more of hardware performance issue - mechanical
in nature.

--
Sharon F
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

Sharon F <sharonfDEL@ETEmvps.org> wrote:

Took your advice. I just finished replacing the newish 200 GB with its
4-year old 60 GB predecessor - and UDMA 5 is back!

So, although I suppose it *could* still be some obscure software issue
connected with the very large size of the drive, the most likely
explanation appears to be a faulty drive.

Only bought it in October (from Misco, UK). Wonder what my chances of
getting a replacement are...?

So, more than two entire days (and most of the night) fiddling and
faffing around with all sorts of obscure software stuff, and all
unnecessary! With hindsight, I suppose I should have done that first.

Many thanks for all your help - much appreciated.

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

On Mon, 06 Feb 2006 20:24:19 +0000, Terry Pinnell wrote:

Glad to hear that you've made progress on this but sorry to hear it means
the drive's health is suspect. Can't say what your chances for replacement
are. In the past (and at least here in the US), drive manufacturers were
excellent at this. Haven't had to return a drive in a few years but with
the lesser warranties, they may be more strict about documentation. Guess
all you can do is to try and see what happens. Here's hoping that getting a
replacement goes smoothly for you,

--
Sharon F
MS-MVP ~ Windows Shell/User