My Acer CDRW is slow on reading under WinXP. Help~~~

[theplanb]

I have Acer 1610A CDRW. After I upgraded to Windows XP from Win98, the drive just seem very sluggish.

I have not burned any files yet, but the drive is reading slowly.

I know it's reading slowly because it can't even read DivX movie without making it very jerky.

This didn't happen when I was using Win98. Now I'm not sure whether it's because of theWinXP or the fact that I also upgraded the firmware on it.
I think.. it was all right when I upgraded the firmware though.

I'm using the Win XP native drivers and VIA 4-in-1 driver included in WinXP.
The Writer is on the secondary master and there is no other device on that channel.
DMA is enabled (Auto) on bios and windows as well. (DMA Mode2)

I know it can go faster even under Windows XP. Once I transferred a huge file from a CD to HDD. It was slow (I know because it was very quiet) then it got real fast at about the half way. (a lo of noise). It's good.. except that the window got me an error that it can't copy the file without much reason, right after the writer finished reading and transferring.

This was the same CD that I tried to view the DivX.
So I thought the CD can be dirty. So I cleaned it, but no improvememt.

It's kinda slow when it's trying to open directory from a CD.
I hate this drive.

 

[arcenite]

Make sure DMA is enabled

 

[scooch]

I have basically the same problem with my HP CDWriter 9500. Slow transfers, and DMA is enabled.

 

[scooch]

anyone have any ideas? i have all the latest xp patches/updates installed.

 

[theplanb]

I made sure DMA is enabled. Firmeware upgraded to the latest.
I don't know what to do now.
Please help

Ok.. I've tried to run it wth CPU overclocked to 1GH. So it's not the slow CPU.. (of course, i run it at stock speed most of the time which is 850)
It just doesn't work well under Win XP I guess...

 

[theplanb]

Obviuosly this is OS incompatibility. I'm ditching Windows XP..

 

[theplanb]

O.. k... this is my last bump..

 

[Vinny N]

yech...I hate to suggest it, but perhaps it might be worthwhile to try a newer VIA 4 in 1 revision than the one(4.33) built into XP?

Also try disabling the built-in burning capability in XP for the drive?

 

[theplanb]

OOPS, I forgot to tell you that I even installed the newer Ver 4.36 VIA 4-in-one drivers to see if that makes any difference. Nop, nada..
I see they got new 4.37 ..one.. should I try that one..?

Umm. sorry. how do I disable built-in burning compatibility?

 

[Vinny N]

Just right click the drive, and bring up its properties, there should be a tab with a checkbox somewhere on the window, something like "enable cd recording"(meaning the built in cd-recording support of windows XP). I'd be more specific but I don't have XP installed on this computer.

Anyways, might be worth a shot.

I would also try the new 4.37 VIA 4in1 drivers, can't hurt right? I mean you're still having problems so you qualify to try it

 

[theplanb]

O..k
I ran the Nero CD Speed utility.

For a CD-R (DivX)
Seek times Random: 96ms, 1/3:1052ms, Full: 984ms
Transfer rate spped: 11-26x P-CAV (23.41 x Average)
Burst Rate: 1MB/s
CPU Utilisation rate:25% for 8X

For a normal data cd (you know.. machine made ones)
Seek Times Random: 89ms, 1/3:99ms, Full:162ms
Burst Rate: 1MB/s
CPU Utilisation Rate: 1x:3%, 2x :5%, 4x: 10%, 8x:18%

CD quality test on any kinds of CD was failed for unknown reason.
CD surface test was all successful on all CDs

Now, what is interesting is... just look at the Burst Rate.. 1MB/s? I thought DMA mode have theoretical 33MB/s data burst rate. Isn't this just too low?
Also, the seek times for cd I made on 1/3 and full is hugely slower than the one on manufactured CD.

I'm missing something..
Please help..