DMA Mode : Will not switch

Question

I have the jiitery playback issues on my 4600. The DVD drive had been working fine but it seems to be having playback issues now. I made sure that the Trasnfer mode was set to 'DMA if available' but no matter what I do, reboot etc. the Current Transfer Mode stays set at 'PIO Mode'. Is it possible that some software for writing DVD's could be forcing the setting to stay at PIO Mode. I use Studio 8 to edit and burn home movies, could this be related. I also have Roxio CD/DVD installed which by the way has never worked well along with Studio.

Predator · Answer

Hi Flemo,Click on the CD/Rw gif in my post and scroll to Section 15, article 13, see if this Utility will work.Best Regards God, grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do and the eyesight to tell thedifference.

flemo999 · Answer

Thanks, this fixed my immediate problem. Device 0 (DVD) on my Secondary IDE channel has been switched to Ultra DMA Mode 2 and plays DVD's correctly. Device 1 a CD-ROM drive remains set to PIO Mode. How do these things get set and reset within Windows? This seems like a problem that is likely to keep coming back.

tuck23 · Answer

Hey flemo999,

I had this problem also, i used the dell utiltiy that would force devices to DMA mode, after a couple of days passed Device 0 went back to PIO mode. I don't think this utility actually changes to DMA mode. Follow these steps:

1. Uninstall the channel that the DVD is on

2. Reboot

Windows will reload the IDE channel

This is what I did to solve my problem. Hope this helps you out.

tuck23 · Answer

Hey flemo999,

I had this problem also, i used the dell utiltiy that would force devices to DMA mode, after a couple of days passed Device 0 went back to PIO mode. I don't think this utility actually changes to DMA mode. Follow these steps:

1. Uninstall the channel that the DVD is on

2. Reboot

Windows will reload the IDE channel

This is what I did to solve my problem. Hope this helps you out.

FAIELLO · Answer

I am having this same problem with jittery playback for DVD audio and video on my Memorex DVD burner. CSR at Memorex says that the unit should be at DMA 2 which it is, and I need at least a 300 watt power supply if I have a CD rom and this DVD burner.  I have a Dimension 8200 with a 250 watt power supply. Do you believe this may be the problem? I have burned several DVD's and they have played back fine on my Home Theater System DVD player. Also I had a NEC DVD player in this bay before with no play back problems. I am using Power DVD 5 for my playback software.

flemo999 · Answer

If your DVD wasn't getting enough power it may cause play back issues but I sense that is unlikely to be the problem with your system.

I have seen the issue with the DVD being installed in the Slave position on the IDE cable.Switching it to the Master position fixed the problem. I'm not a hardware expert but the Master is usually the last connector on the cable versus the one half way down the cable. Remember you may also have to switch the jumpers on both the DVD and the other drive (if installed) and possibly move the physical positions of the drives to make the new cable connections. I know my 4600 uses the Cable Select settings but I'm not sure about the 8200.

The other possibility is that both drives have the jumpers set to Master which would also cause a problem. Most drives come set as Master off the shelf.

Storage, Drives & Media

DMA Mode : Will not switch

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