Please Help!: My DVD ROM has skip attacks while playing DVD's!

[Madcowz]

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This is extremely odd, this only started happening since a couple days ago. Strangely enough this was after I had started on a freshly reformated hard drive and just updated my motherboard bios (Asus CUSL2 w/ 1003 bios revision). What would happen is that while watching ANY dvd, ever few minutes or so it would go into skip frenzies, totally ruining the movie experience. I have so far tried this on PowerDVD 2.55, and PowerDVD 3.0 and this has lead me to believe my DVD-ROM is choking from malfunction. I know my system isn't too slow as I'm running on a underclocked (don't ask) Pentium 3 @ 466, 256 MB RAM, 64MB DDR ATI Radeon, and 16X DVD ROM. And regardless, it WAS working fine until a couple of days ago after the reformat and such. And let me start of by saying, YES, DMA is enabled on the DVDROM and all the settings are where they should be and remain the same as when DVD's worked fine. The DVDROM is alone as master on the 2ndary IDE channel. Strangely enough, when I took out the new hard drive and put on the old one (that I had been running before that 2 days ago) in which DVD's played fine, now all of a sudden I get the same skipping problem! So again, I believe it's the DVD drive itself, but I don't know what it could possibly be. Could the bios update have messed up the IDE channel somehow causing it to slow-down and skip? This is extremely annoying and I would like it fixed, but I hope I can avoid sending in the drive for RMA as that could take weeks! All suggestions and advice would be appreciated!

 

[AngelOfDeath]

<< Could the bios update have messed up the IDE channel somehow causing it to slow-down and skip? >>

Have you tried the old BIOS just to check???

Even though I don't have the slightest idea it seems to me that you are doing everything correctly and that the BIOS update might be the key...

AoD

 

[shurato]

Could it possibly be powerdvd? I ask this because i had powerdvd running and i did a fresh format and after that powerdvd would give me an illegal operation and would not even play a dvd...my settings were all the same from the previous setup before the format. I tried windvd and it worked like a charm. I can't explain why that is...it just works. strange....

 

[Madcowz]

okay, so I opened up the DVD drive to observe it while playing a dvd, and while the movie is skipping, the DVD disc does not seem to be slowing down or anything nor do I hear any choking noise of any sort from the drive. Odd... and I'll try downgrading the bios and see what happens.

 

[Madcowz]

oh and ANOTHER odd thing that I noticed is that it does not skip AT all during the credits nor in the special feature stuff (I did notice a little video skip in the special features but not sound a couple of times)... what does this suggest?

Also, to clarify the skip problem, I'll describe it a little better. You see the movie will be playing perfectly fine and than every few minutes it will randomly start choking (both sound and video) for a period of a few seconds. Then it will go back to normal until another 1-2.5 minutes for it to skip again. Strangely it skips in intervals and not exactly randomly. Perhaps each interval is the exact same amount of time but I'm sure it's between 1-2.5 minutes.

 

[Viperoni]

Doesn't opening your DVD player void your warranty?

 

[Madcowz]

as long as they don't know, I'll be fine

 

[AngelOfDeath]

Are you using win98???. Are you on a LAN or just happends to have a network???. If so then try to disable Browse Master which is found under the properties of File and printersharing protocol.

AoD

 

[Madcowz]

heh, I have 2 copies of this thread floating around, Let's keep THIS ONE up as it is the updated one. Anyways I'm running WinME and no I'm not on a network, and yes I scandisked, defraged and recleaned!

 

[Madcowz]

Somebody from another forum suggested it could be an IRQ problem:
&quot;It very likely could be an IRQ issue as well. Did you have any of your PCI slots IRQ's assigned previously. Maybe for your sound card or something. Run MsConfig and see what IRQ's are being shared. Try assigning an IRQ to the slot your SoundCard is in. Make sure Plug and Pray OS is OFF in the Bios. Also make sure nothing is trying to share with your Video Adaptor, most likely IRQ 11, i think.&quot;

I don't know if this would affect my IRQ settings but before putting in the new hard drive I DID switch PCI slots w/ my Soundblaster Live and my ATI TV Wonder card... could this have done anything? Here are my IRQ's that are shared:
05 - WDM Communication Device
05 - ATI-TV Wonder Bt878 - Audio Driver
05 - ATI-TV Wonder Bt878 - Video Driver
05 - ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
05 - ACPI IRW Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
06 - Intel 82801BA/BAM USB Universal Host Controller 1
06 - ACPI IRQ Holder for IRQ Steering (Why are there so many of these?)
09 - Intel 82801BA/BAM USB Universal Host Controller 2
09 - Creative SB Live! series
09 - ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
09 - SCI IRQ used by ACPI bus
10 - Intel 82801BA/BAM SMBus Controller - 2443
10 - ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
11 - Radeon DDR
11 - ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
14 - Intel 82801BA Ultra ATA Controller
14 - Primary Ultra ATA Controller
15 - Intel 82801BA Ultra ATA Controller
15 - Secondary Ultra ATA controller

 

[okydoky]

This may sound too simple, but have you tried disabling any programs in the background??? For instance, I've seen Norton pull stunts like that. Good Luck.

 

[Madcowz]

yes I tried disabling every single uneccessary program before loading PowerDVD and I still got the skipping. Well anyways I tried uninstalling my soundcard drivers, popped in a DVD, and guess what? No visible skipping! So I install the Live! 5.1 driver's back on and the skipping saga continues. Someone mentioned this of the SBLive:
&quot;It is sharing with the USB Controller and their has been mention of problems with that. I believe I read something over at CUSL2.com about the USB Controller being probed at fast intervals that was causing problems with other devices on the same IRQ.&quot;

Is this true? I don't seem to have any free IRQ's left, so which one should I try switching it to? Can anyone w/ the Live see which IRQ it's using and what it's sharing with if anything? Just go to system properties, device manager, and double click on computer.

 

[Madcowz]

Okay so I disabled Com Port 2 which free'd up IRQ 3 which I switched the Live! to and I STILL get the same problem! ARGH!! I Give it it's very own IRQ to do as it pleases and this is the thanks I get!? WHAT THE HECK COULD POSSIBLY BE WRONG HERE?? Between my motherboard &amp; Minidisc player pooping out on me and this I'm going to go insane!! ... well soon enough maybe :frown:

 

[AngelOfDeath]

As I said and asked have you tried to reinstall the old BIOS???

AoD

 

[Madcowz]

yea I did switch back to the old bios and that did nothing, I also tried switching PCI slots back to the slot it was previously on and still nothing. Oddly enough when I came home today I booted up my computer and tried a DVD and strangely it did not skip for a long time. About 15 minutes later it started skipping again. Maybe since the room was chilly and my computer was frozen cold stable the first 15 minutes of booting up, ya never know with this crazy ol' CUSL2! Right now the bastard of a thing is toasting my P3 700 and will only run it underclocked at 466MHz. I'm using a 14C Kryotech Renegade coldplate on my chip too (and yes it's cool as it ever was even when my chip was working at 1050MHz @ room temperature)... ARGH! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, CAN AT LEAST JUST ONE FRIGGIN THING WORK FOR ONCE!?!?

 

[noxipoo]

i had the same problem with my dxr2 creative 5x combo thing. I reboot and most of the time that would fix the problem. It seems like its more software related, try more software players. btw, i'm also running winME

 

[HaVoC]

Perhaps the switching of harddrives forces DMA to stay off even though Win98 reports it's on?

That's a long shot...but I agree that your SB Live discovery points to some IRQ issue. Try disabling DOS Emulation for the SB Live and things like that. Sometimes when you flash BIOSes, it causes Windows to &quot;redetect&quot; hardware in a way that causes conflicts.

 

[Madcowz]

Well actually, It won't let me chech DMA for my DVD-ROM in the system properties (although UDMA mode 2 is automatically set in my bios). Here is the storage report from the Intel Ultra ATA Companion program:

Operating System
Windows Millennium Edition (Build 4.90.3000)

Platform Information
Processor Type: 586
Processor level: Family 6
Processor Revision: Model 8 Stepping 3
Active Processor Mask: 1
Number of Processors: 1

Controller Information
IDE Controller: Intel 82801BA Ultra ATA Controller, ICH2
Storage Kit Build(s): 6.03.008
Storage Kit Installed: 6.03.008
Driver Build: Intel Ultra ATA Storage Driver for Windows 98
Driver Version: Version 5.02.002, 07/07/2000
VxD Build: SMART VSD for Intel Ultra ATA Storage Driver for Windows 98
VxD Version: Version 5.02.003, 09/13/2000
IDE Controller Tri-State: IDE Controller enabled
PIO Mode Support: 0 - 2 - 3 - 4
DMA SW Mode Support: 2
DMA MW Mode Support: 1 - 2
UDMA Mode Support: 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
UDMA on 80 conductor cable only: Default, Disabled
Ping Pong Enable: Enabled
Audio CD Workaround: Workaround 2

Channel Information
Primary Channel
No Data
Secondary Channel
No Data

Device Information
Primary Master: Maxtor 54098H8
Model: Maxtor 54098H8
Firmware: DAC10SC0
Device Type: ATA - Fixed - Direct-access
PIO Mode Support: 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
DMA SW Mode Support: No Support
DMA MW Mode Support: 0 - 1 - 2
UDMA Mode Support: 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
LBA: 0x04C55520
CHS: 3FFF x 0010 x 003F
CHS Sectors: 0x00FBFC10
Disk Size: 38.2 GB (40,981,118,976 bytes)
Default Transfer Mode: UDMA-5
Current Transfer Mode: UDMA-5
Transfer Mode Limit: No Limit
Cable Type (Device): 80 Conductor
Cable Type (Host): 80 Conductor
PIO PPE: Enabled
UDMA Control Register: Ultra DMA Mode Enabled
UDMA Timing Register: CT = 3 CLK / RP = 16 CLK
Base Clock: Ultra DMA 100 Timings

Primary Slave: No Device Connected


Secondary Master: AOpen Inc. DVD-ROM DVD-1640 PRO 0113
Model: AOpen Inc. DVD-ROM DVD-1640 PRO 0113
Firmware: E1.13
Device Type: ATAPI - Removable - CDROM
PIO Mode Support: 0 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
DMA SW Mode Support: 0 - 1 - 2
DMA MW Mode Support: 0 - 1 - 2
UDMA Mode Support: 0 - 1 - 2
Default Transfer Mode: UDMA-2
Current Transfer Mode: UDMA-2
Transfer Mode Limit: No Limit
Cable Type (Device): 40 Conductor
Cable Type (Host): 40 Conductor
PIO PPE: Enabled
UDMA Control Register: Ultra DMA Mode Enabled
UDMA Timing Register: CT = 2 CLK / RP = 4 CLK
Base Clock: Ultra DMA 33 Timings

Secondary Slave: No Device Connected


It all sounds right... right?

 

[Madcowz]

Okay well I uninstalled PDVD 3 and put on the 2.2 trial of WinDVD and guess what? NO skipping!... so far. The damn thing only let's you play 5 minutes and shuts down so perhaps it hasn't goten to the point of skipping yet, who knows. Also, when I loaded up the program and I got this error:
&quot;Your DVD Drive does not have DMA enabled
DMA may significantly increase performance... yadaa yadaa&quot;
Could this really be my problem? Every time I try to check DMA in the device manager it does not save when I restart windows. But my intel software shows my DVD Drive running at UDMA 2 (33MB/sec) so is this right?
In any case I'm kinda pissed b/c I actually paid for PowerDVD (2.55 at least ), and now I have to pay $50 for another one? And what if I encounter skipping problems with WinDVD 2.3 full? Maybe the trial hasn't goten a chance to skip yet (PowerDVD did not skip until 15 minutes this afternoon)... hmm, thus does not bode well for me

 

[subhuman]

This is *almost DEFINITELY* a DMA problem. It was a b*tch to get DMA enabled on my gf's Abit BP6. It would say &quot;Reboot to finish update?&quot; and when I got back into windows, DMA would still be unchecked. Here is what I did, to get it working:

1. Updated the BIOS to the newest version.
2. Installed the latest HighPoint drivers.
3. Flashed the DVD drive to the latest firmware(!)

FINALLY it worked. Try those 3 things, and report back here.