Hi I read an article the thread of which is now closed, about a problem with Windows XP regarding DVDs n9ot being able to use Ultra DMA mode. Mine was on Ultra DMA 4, (my HD works fine on Ultra DMA 5)but it was not being recognised by XP. After days of searching for solutions I finally found that the difference between safe mode where the drive was recognised and a normal boot, was the DMA mode. The drive works fine and is recognised when I select PIO, but not DMA. I gather from the previous postings I referred to that this mode will affect the speed of the drive but little else. Should I leave it the way it is, or is there a better solution? Thanks Siobhan
Try this to change the transfer mode. Go to Device manager> IDE ATAPI controllers> Check the 1st and secondary IDE controller. One at a time, please. This is how. Double click the 1st IDE controller, now under the advanced tab, be sure the transfer mode is at DMA if available. If not, change it to that. Do the same for the 2nd controller. Then reboot. Now check and see that it took by going back into Device Manager. If this doesnt change the transfer mode to DMA, then you will have to uninstall the IDE controllers. Right click the IDE controllers and left click uninstall. Also uninstall your burner using the same method, right click the burner and left click uninstall. You can do this for both. Then reboot. Xp will automatically reinstall them and this should fix the slow burn issue.
I've tried the first option. There's no problem in changing the mode to DMA except after this the drive is no longer recognised by XP as a DVD. Under PIO it has all its region tabs etc. but under DMA these all disappear and the drive is out of use. I'll try the second option of uninstalling and get back. Thanks
Hi again Sorry it has taken a while to get back. I have just changed the secondary IDE controller to "DMA mode if available", no problems in doing that. BUT when I do this, I effectively lose the DVD. It's region tab is no longer available under its hardware properties, but when I click the secondary IDE controller back to PIO mode the DVD and it's full range of properties tabs are restored. What's happening here and what can I do? Thanks
