What is ultra-dma Mode?

Look in the Device Manager - IDE ATI/ATAPI controllers - Primary IDE Channel - and make sure it is using DMA and not PIO mode.

John, his hdd is already using dma hence ultra dma 2.
that hdd should allow udma5 transfers.
are you viewing the mode using the intel AA program?

Windows XP downgrades the Ultra DMA transfer mode after receiving more than six CRC errors. Whenever possible, the operating system will step down one UDMA mode at a time (from UDMA mode 4 to UDMA mode 3, and so on).

To correct the problem, you have to uninstall the Primary IDE channel and reboot. Windows XP will reinstall the IDE drivers and redetected the hard drive. To uninstall the Primary IDE channel, go to Control Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager > IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers and select "Primary IDE Channel". Right click on it and select uninstall. Reboot one more time with 'Use DMA if Available'. The hard drive access will once again use the correct DMA mode.

http://www.bay-wolf.com/harddrive.htm#15

 

Thank for the info Bay Wolf. 

I had been having trouble capturing video on my Inspiron 8200.  I noticed the cpu maxing out.  After turning things off and trying to give a much of the resources to capturing video it still dropped frames.  I figured the 1.8Ghz CPU should be plent for video capture.  In fact that is the main reason I got the 8200.

Decide to give the boards a try and didn't  find anyone reporting the issue with maxing the CPU with Movie MAker.  Did more searching found out how to check the DMA settings for my hard drive using XP.  It was PIO.  Thought my drive must not support DMA since XP was set to use DMA if available.  Didn't realize that once it dropped it wouldn't try again on nect reboot.  Found this thread, followed your instruction and the DMA is back to level 5.  The CPU utilization went for 100% down to under 10%.  Video not captures without dropping frames.  Can't believe it turned out to be something so easy to correct.

Bay Wolf:  I've tried that on my Inspiron 8600 running WinXP Pro and it works, but only temporarily.  On the very next reboot my hard drive is back into PIO mode.

Any suggestions?

 

I've got the very same problem. In the past, when XP stepped down to PIO, I could simply uninstall the Primary IDE Controller (as suggested by BayWolf), but now it never goes back to DMA. It stays at PIO and my computer is very slow.. Any ideas or suggestions are most appreciated.