Question about DMA-PIO mode

#1

this was posted in response to a Windows slowing your rig down to PIO mode but never got an answer to my post so…

ok…
Understand windows is the problem and kick’s it into PIO mode during dirty or un-readable disk time via after x amount of retrys but my question is
what is windows protecting?

If the reading portion gets hung up and stops reading,
usually a user in the case of most random “frozen” programs will cntrl-alt-delete and re-boot or try to close the program or whatever.
So for real… enlighten me.
What does windows actually protect by putting you into PIO mode.?
is it your rom or reader overheating or what…?
I never knew why…

#2

Who can really know for sure with Windows because Windows does some strange things on its own.
The only person that could probably answer your question with the definitive answer would probably
be Bill Gates or one of his lackys. :bigsmile: Every Windows I’ve ever ran from 98 to XP has always done it
with scratched/unreadable discs when using a IDE drive. Now when I suspect a disc is going to be a
little bit probmatic I’ll just stick it in one of my Samsung SATA drives and no more going down to PIO
mode when using SATA. :wink:

#3

http://club.cdfreaks.com/2015739-post14.html from the other thread

[QUOTE=troy512;2015739]this is not a program issue, if a drive has reading errors then a drive has reading errors. windows will downgrade the udma mode by one for each set of six errors. so if you are in udma mode 2 and receive 12 consecutive CRC errors your transfer mode has now been changed to PIO.[/QUOTE]

okay so you understand this is happening but want to really know why.

crc is [I]cyclical redundancy checking[/I]. what this means is when your dvd drives sends data there is also a small error checking code attached. when the information is received, the crc is checked and if the information does not match the crc code then your system assumes there was a data transfer error. the data is sent upto 5 more times, then the data transfer rate is decreased. the udma mode is decreased until you reach pio mode. with udma the dvd drive itself does the work of transferring data, with pio mode your processor and controller does the work.

so you are not really PROTECTING anything. your system is trying to read the data but errors are occuring. so the transfer mode is reduced, ultimately getting to pio which will direct the transferring of data away from you drive.

this is just the way it is. :confused:

http://www.pcguide.com/index.htm

#4

As Troy really has said.

Ask Billl Gates

#5

ok…
I think too much emphasis was put on the word ‘protect’.

Maybe I read that word too many times when a discussion of “why am I going into PIO mode” thread was started and began associating Pio mode more as a protection…
Prob not alone there…
Thanks for clearing it up…

#6

1 last question:

my plextor 716A 16X is on DMA 2.
I thought I have seen it higher before like 4…
should it be 4 or higher?

note:
I just checked and it’s only burning at 2x…
talk about post timing…
so the 2nd storage controller is the one I un-install?

#7

this drive is capable of transfer udma mode 4. :iagree:

have a 80 wire 40 pin cable?

please uninstall the ide controller, not the ide channel.

#8

Troy,
your talking about un-installing the main IDE ATA/ATAPI controller with the + next to it?

If you exspand the + there are:

2 Intel[R]82801EB Ultra ATA storage controllers under it followed by

2 sets of Primary IDE channels [harddrives?
2 sets of secondary IDE channels. [dvd drives?
sorry but not sure here…
don’t want to mistakenly un-install hard drive [drives]

#9

the one titled controller. your may have a different name than mine.

for information from luk on deleting the controllers please read here.

edit//hey you can see the image in preview post. didnt know that. :cool:

device_view.jpg697x466 44.7 KB

#10

how do u get a screen shot?

#11

press the “print screen” button on keyboard.

open irfanview, http://www.irfanview.com/, or what every program you have. mspaint will work.

click edit, paste

cut and save the portion i want to post.

then below a reply post click on “manage attachments”.

#12

i didnt want to post a reply to your question in the other thread, as my other reply was really for the other poster. so i found this one. :slight_smile:

I just want to know why the hell it keeps jumping back to multi-read DMA 2.

can you post a screen shot of your ide controllers? have you followed all the suggestions? such as uninstall your ide controllers (not the secondary channel)? have you checked your ide cable? is it kinked, torn, burned, frayed, twisted, chewed by a gremlin…? be sure you have an 80 wire 40 pin cable? check the connections? are they loose? are the connectors loose? have you updated your drivers for your motherboard? have you updated the drivers for you ide controller? (i recommend using windows drivers). are you [B]100%[/B] sure this is only problem with dvdfab?

all disks I backup can’t all be dirty or scratched

i agree, i hardly ever get the error message. and when i do, i always hit abort, take the disc out and clean it (again if necessary). i do this just to try and avoid the trouble you have been complaining of. i set my dvdfab read settings to ignore 3 times and skip 64 sectors. if the read error cant be passed with three tries i figure it is unrecoverable. if after the cleaning (again) of the disc i still get the read error, then i will use nero drive speed to control the speed at which dvdfab will read the disc. which doesnt always make things better.

#13

I checked all cables.
Not sure which controller to un-install.

I noticed that when my secondary burner which I use as my disk source starts to read the disk very very slow or after I get the read error screen, I check in device manager and my burner,[primary] which I haven’t used yet since Fab is still trying to read, has dropped to Multi-read DMA 2…??
the slave reader which is reading slow doesn’t show up as PIO… It shows DMA if enabled… only shows PIO when things really get messy…lol
either way, the read becomes slow and the16x burner will only write around 2x.
All because of a read error after or during analysis…

this is where I;m getting confused with Primary/secondary.
In this screenshot,
the 1st Primary IDE channels are my 2 hard drives…
the secondary channels are my 2 plextors writers.
And the 2nd line that says,“Intel 82801EBUltra ATA storgage Controllers” is the dvd writers controllers you keep telling me to un-install. is this correct?

Image1hardware.jpg719x536 67.3 KB

#14

to determine exactly which channels your drives are on. reboot and enter your BIOS. depending on which BIOS you have you may need to press F2, F8 or DEL repeatedly at startup. look in your standard CMOS settings and it should show what devices are connected. be sure to exit without saving changes. post back with what you find.

yes uninstall Intel 82801EBUltra ATA storgage Controllers. :iagree:

#15

ok… I’ll check Bios tomorrow.
btw:
Shows 2 Intel 82801EBUltra ATA storgage Controllers.
which one do I un-install?
I assume 1 is for hard drive and 1is for cd/dvd units…

#16

both, dont worry its ok. :iagree:

#17

For real?
why would I uninstall the hard drives?

btw:
have appreciated your help …

#18

uninstall the Hard Drive :confused:
wouldn’t that be like uninstalling the Operating System :frowning:

#19

Nope… Uninstall the driver, Reboot, and it automatically finds it all and installs properly.

Troy is totally correct.

Sorry SJ, my friend, you lucked out here…