Windows XP disables Ultra DMA

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PeterCH

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This happened to me yesterday. I was trying to read a rather damaged old
CDRW and I guess the drive gave a CRC error or two, next thing when I tried
watching a DVD the playback was horrendously slow. I discovered that
Windoze had reset my DVD Superdrive to PIO mode and my attempts at resetting it
manually did not work. At the end I found a script to manually reset these
parameters, rebooted and voila Ultra DMA 2 again. I had no idea that Microsoft Windows could suck this badly.

The site is winhlp.com
 
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it is because the disc had errors...

after a certain threshhold of errors has been reached, windows will disable dma mode for that ide interface (primary or secondary ide controller) to workaround the problem (their logic...)

just go to device manager, find the interface your cdrom is on, remove it and reboot. that will clear the errors (tally is kept in the registry)

i'm more suprised you only found this out now
 
Renamed20070410 said:
it is because the disc had errors...

after a certain threshhold of errors has been reached, windows will disable dma mode for that ide interface (primary or secondary ide controller) to workaround the problem (their logic...)

just go to device manager, find the interface your cdrom is on, remove it and reboot. that will clear the errors (tally is kept in the registry)

i'm more suprised you only found this out now
Click to expand...

Dude. That's a stupid way of doing things (what MS did). Just because I had one bad CDRW (which I knew about anyway) Windows had to screw up the whole Microsoft Multimedia experience
and turn my R21.000 laptop into a Pentium 1 (without MMX nogal).

I'm using Mac OSX on my main desktop. My next lappy will be a MBP too.
Windoze sucks. I mean how can they just disable stuff and not let you turn it back on again. That is so stupid. To hell with MS.

Another thing about Macs, you don't need to learn such technical BS to use your computer for your work. If I wasn't as internet/Google savvy I would
be stuck with an artificially crippled computer, because some dufus at Microsoft decided what they should do with my machine. IDIOTS.
 
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dablakmark8 said:
you learn something new everyday.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I actually didn't know MS were such a bunch of a-holes as to cripple stuff permanently because of some data error. Amazing that they can't just assume its bad media, because slowing the drive to PIO mode - did sweet all nothing to recover the damaged info.
 
Also if you have installed a game that uses Starforce your dive is more likly to revert to PIO mode. If that's the case search for the Starforce removal tool.
 
Renamed20070410 said:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;817472
explains what is going on, and why it happens.
Click to expand...

Whatever their reasong is, its flawed. They are artificially disabling hardware on your machine, hardware which comes from a reputable vendor, without even telling you this. When they do disable it, it's impossible to re-enable DMA in Control Panel - you have to EDIT the registry. You basically have to have a degree in IT to play DVDs on a computer if running Windoze.
THAT is STUPID. Sorry. This predates the Windows Vista DRM BS.
 
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