Burn Times & PC Have Sloowed Significantly - Why?

[Florida]

After more than a year. My burn times have more than tripled recently and my PC is very slow and bulky while muli-tasking with Shrink/Nero running now.

I used to be able to multitask as if Shrink were not even running in the back ground.

My PC runs normal with Shrink not burning or encoding. So it seems to be a Shrink issue for sure.

Will any of the Shrink Preference Settings influence my problem?

I have not installed any software or hardware in a long time.

The PC is a Dell Dimension 4600 2.4GHZ P4 with 768MB of Ram.

All advice appreciated.

Thank you.

[jmet]

Check your DMA settings - How ? do this -> Go to Control Panel> System> Hardware Tab> Device Manager> IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers> Right Click Primary IDE channel (and Secondary IDE channel after you finish with Primary)> Properties> Advanced Settings Tab> Transfer Mode or <a href="http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=101616">click here to learn.</a>

Do the above from both "Primary & Secondary IDE channels".

I (We) and you need to look at whats in both "Transfer Mode" and "Current Transfer Mode". Screen shot below is what I'm talking about.


You can also look here for some other solutions: http://sniptools.com/vault/getting-b...windows-xp.htm

If it is in "PIO" mode. Click the "Driver" tab, and uninstall the driver. Then reboot. Upon rebooting windows will automatically reinstall the driver and it should go back to "DMA" mode.

[Florida]

jmet,

You seemed to have pinpointed my problems exactly!

A Control Panel check per your instructions shows my PRIMARY IDE CHANNEL-Device 0, Current Transfer Mode= ULTRA DMA 5 (why would it be 5 instead of 2?) and Device 1, Current Transfer Mode= Not Applicable.

SECONDARY IDE CHANNEL-Device 0, Current Transfer Mode= Ultra DMA 2 and Device 1, Current Transfer Mode= PIO Mode.

Two years ago when I installed Shrink I had a terrible time getting both drives setup in "Ultra DMA Mode 2" and after many Dell Tech Support calls and procedure attempts I was finally able to get it right by going into the Startup BIOS settings. I am looking for the notes I made on this issue now.

Based on my past difficulty getting the DMA settings corrected do you think I should try the DMA setting correction procedure you outlined or go the BIOS route?

Thank you VERY much.

[blutach]

Try jmet's procedure first. If that doesn't work, go to the BIOS directly.

Regards

[Florida]

blutach,

Should I uninstall and reinstall the Drivers on both the Primary and Secondary Channels?

Thank you.

[jmet]

Just uninstall the driver for the "Secondary" channel, your "Primary" is fine.

Both of my "Primary" IDE Channels are "Ultra DMA Mode 5".

Both of my "Secondary" IDE Channels are "Ultra DMA Mode 2".

[blutach]

I'd actually uninstall the whole channel and reboot. See the Fix your DMA link in my sig.

Good luck

Regards

[Florida]

I checked my BIOS and those settings seemed correct. I then followed jmet's procedure and that restored my encoding, burning and multitasking performance to the pre-problem level.

If I have this problem again I will check out blutach's procedure too.

You guys are the best! It's guys like you that really make this hobby enjoyable, kudos to you!!!

Thanks again.

[jmet]

You're very welcome! Let us know if you have any more problems.

[Florida]

One more question?

Why do the DVD drives get out of DMA mode and into PIO mode on their own? (Do they do this late at night when no one is watching?)

Thank you.

[jmet]

"Why do the DVD drives get out of DMA mode and into PIO mode"

Its part of Windows. It is from the drive trying to read a scratched or dirty disc. Every time it encounters a error (trying to read a dirty or scratched disc), it will step down 1 mode (From Ultra DMA Mode 5, to 4 to 3 and so on) till it reaches PIO mode.

[cynthia]

Windows XP with SP2 installed will solve this problem.