Enabling DMA in XP?

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SuperCheetah

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Ok, I can't figure this one out. I did the steps below, but I do not have the Advanced Settings Tab when I right click. Why is this? I want to find out if my raid array is performing up to spec and make sure that DMA is enabled, but I can't seem to do this. Can anyone help me with this problem? I've installed the latest VIA IDE miniport drivers. I have a KG7-RAID board with a 1.4G Athlon, 512 Crucial CAS 2 DDR2100, 2 IBM Deskstars GXP75 60Gb Raid 0, GeForce 2 Pro, Audigy Gamer, etc. etc.

Ultra DMA
Next you should ensure DMA is enabled for all IDE devices on your PC. As described earlier, load Device Manager, expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers tree & highlight (select) Primary/Secondary IDE Channel (NOTE – If you’ve updated your IDE Bus Mastering Drivers this may be re-named, or the options shown beneath unavailable). Right click on the highlighted item & select Properties, then the Advanced Settings button. The following should be completed for both Primary & Secondary IDE Channel.

Device Type. Set this to Auto Detection (default) to enable Windows XP to detect any IDE devices attached to the IDE Channel (Master or Slave). Setting this to None will disable checking for IDE devices on the Master &/or Slave IDE Channel, which will improve system startup time a few seconds. Do not set this to None if there is an IDE device attached to that particular Channel or it will be disabled.

Transfer mode. For optimal IDE device performance set this to DMA if available. Only if you are using a rather old or slow IDE device should you need to set this to PIO Only (Be sure to attempt using DMA if available first of course though).

Click Ok & Restart your system for the changes to take effect.

I would greatly appreciate any help you guys could give!!!
 
DMA Enabled

Hey man,
I may be off here but I'm fairly certain that if you have your HD's set up under a raid array or through a promise controller as a SCSI interface you would _not_ have the option of enabling/disabling DMA. That feature is only applicable to IDE devices such as a CDROM, CDRW, DVDROM or a HD(s) set up on a regular master/slave IDE setup..
If you're using your HD as a SCSI device it should automatically be functioning as effiecient as possible - assuming of course your HD is being detected properly (I had to enable ata100 on my HD with a bootable disk that came with it).
When your computer boots and the drives are detected it doesn't tell you they're running under dma mode?

Hope it helps,
Jeremy
 
Your right Falcon. I found this out yesterday while looking for a solution. I looked in the bios and it was set to Auto when enabling UltraDMA so I guess it already is running at its max efficiency. I'm just looking for some more tweaks to speed up my raid array, because I don't think it is up to par yet. If you know any good sites I would be greatly appreciative!

Thanks again for your help!!!
 
yeah.... i believe that if its listed under SCSI devices as a mass storage controller then the DMA option is not available... probably because IDE is not yet associated in folk's minds with mass storage yet.... this will probably change in subsequent versions of windows as onboard IDE RAID becomes more popular....

So with mass storage being more associated with SCSI solutions, and DMA being an IDE technology, the option is not included. I imagine that, perhaps, your IDE controller is already driving the disks with DMA enabled already....
 
Also, if you aren't using the default windows drivers the DMA options won't appear either. Well, for the most part anyway they don't, with the Intel ones for example
 
Originally posted by Phantasm66
probably because IDE is not yet associated in folk's minds with mass storage yet....

actually, if you get right into the nitty gritty on a tech level, IDE is rubbish as an drive system for more than 2 or so devices... SCSI is still the superior tech....!

IDE RAID might have reached workstations, but its a baby mass storage system. Just see a Hot Swappable RAID Level 5 SCSI array!!!! It leaves IDE standing....
 
Originally posted by Phantasm66


actually, if you get right into the nitty gritty on a tech level, IDE is rubbish as an drive system for more than 2 or so devices... SCSI is still the superior tech....!

IDE RAID might have reached workstations, but its a baby mass storage system. Just see a Hot Swappable RAID Level 5 SCSI array!!!! It leaves IDE standing....
And only cost 1 arm & 1 Leg (2 of each for a really good system);)

Yes It has some advanages, and some disadvanges.
 
Originally posted by Phantasm66
As in most of life, you get what you pay for.
:)

So then.. Did I get what I paid for?

closeview.jpg


3 bucks and 15 minutes.
 
What is it with everyone here and that picture :D

On a Serious Note, there is a registry value you need to enter under Win2K/XP to enable UDMA66/100 on IDE devices. I can't remember it at the moment, but I will include it in the next release of my tweaking program.
 
Originally posted by Th3M1ghtyD8
there is a registry value you need to enter under Win2K/XP to enable UDMA66/100 on IDE devices. I can't remember it at the moment, but I will include it in the next release of my tweaking program.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ System \ CurrentControlSet \ Control \ Class \ {4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318} \ 0000.
Add a new DWORD value called EnableUDMA66. Set the value to 1 to enable UDMA/66. It probably has to be added to other keys, too, ie. \0001, \0002 &c
 
Yeah, that is the one. It will be in the next version of my tweaking program if anyone still needs it. Anyone else got any suggestions ?
 
Originally posted by Th3M1ghtyD8
What is it with everyone here and that picture :D

On a Serious Note, there is a registry value you need to enter under Win2K/XP to enable UDMA66/100 on IDE devices. I can't remember it at the moment, but I will include it in the next release of my tweaking program.
That values *only* needed for Windows 2000 "without" Service Pack 2 installed.

Service Pack 2 & XP support ATA 100/66 just fine.
 
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