quick help: setting Ultra DMA or PIO in BIOs on HP-8670C

[duuuma]

HP Specs


I just bought this HP computer for my dad and I'm trying to set up the DMA or PIO settings in bios. Right now in BIOS for the CDRom AND CD-RW it's set as:

Type: Auto (choices None, Auto, User Type HDD, CD-ROM, LS120, Zip100, MO, Other ATAPI)
PIO Mode: 4 (choices 0-4)
Ultra DMA: Disabled (choices 0-4)

I do not have an option for ultra dma or dma in Device Manager, and I noticed my burner is burning quite slow for a 48x. It took about 6 minutes to burn a 500mb CD.

The Burner is a Cendyne 48x and the CD-Rom is a Samsung 32x. I'm also using my own tiny 4gb HD and Win2k pro on it. Any guidance would be appreciated, Thanks!!

 

[kursplat]

you should be fine if you set everything to "auto" in the bios , then check in windows to see if DMA is enabled for everything. the higher the number it's detected as supporting , the better.
good luck

 

[duuuma]

auto is setting it as PIO-4 and ultra DMA is disabled.

Within windows, I can't even find where to see what DMA is set at.

 

[kursplat]

go to device manager ,it looked like the comp is win98-se ?, and look at the properties for the cd-rom's. you should be able to "select DMA if available".
good luck

 

[duuuma]

well i'm running Windows 2000.....under properties, i don't have the ability to see any DMA settings. It's probably b/c my DMA is disabled. I'm wondering what are the correct settings in BIOS.

 

[microAmp]

To see DMA properties, look in the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers. Then choose Primary IDE Channel.

Same thing for Secondary IDE Channel.

 

[duuuma]

duh, that's where i should've been looking. Thanks motoamd! Now my question really is, what mode can I set DMA in BIOS? Should I set PIO to 0 or something?

 

[tcsenter]

duh, that's where i should've been looking. Thanks motoamd! Now my question really is, what mode can I set DMA in BIOS? Should I set PIO to 0 or something?

PIO should be no less than 4, UDMA should be the highest available. I was playing with a COMPAQ BIOS (same thing) a couple months ago and remember the UDMA option wasn't available for the CDRW drive. This may be by design for ATAPI devices.

At any rate, this setting only sets the maximum UDMA mode permitted for that device. It should not impact the driver's ability to detect whether the drive is busmaster capable. Even if the UDMA option is not available or set to disabled, the driver should be able to use Multi-Word DMA Mode 2 (MWDMA-2) as the transfer mode, as long as the DMA option is toggled in Device Properties and the hardware supports it. MWDMA-2 is still the standard for most ATAPI devices.

Multi-Word DMA Mode 2 is busmastering mode @ 16.7MBytes/sec. maximum throughput. Multi-Word DMA mode 2 is also known as UDMA Mode 0.

 

[kursplat]

duh, that's where i should've been looking. Thanks motoamd! Now my question really is, what mode can I set DMA in BIOS? Should I set PIO to 0 or something?

HPSpecs.
glad you got it , but next time say what OS is having the trouble up front.
good luck

 

[duuuma]

The exact explanation I was asking for. Thanks so much tcsenter!

Originally posted by: tcsenter

duh, that's where i should've been looking. Thanks motoamd! Now my question really is, what mode can I set DMA in BIOS? Should I set PIO to 0 or something?

PIO should be no less than 4, UDMA should be the highest available. I was playing with a COMPAQ BIOS (same thing) a couple months ago and remember the UDMA option wasn't available for the CDRW drive. This may be by design for ATAPI devices.

At any rate, this setting only sets the maximum UDMA mode permitted for that device. It should not impact the driver's ability to detect whether the drive is busmaster capable. Even if the UDMA option is not available or set to disabled, the driver should be able to use Multi-Word DMA Mode 2 (MWDMA-2) as the transfer mode, as long as the DMA option is toggled in Device Properties and the hardware supports it. MWDMA-2 is still the standard for most ATAPI devices.

Multi-Word DMA Mode 2 is busmastering mode @ 16.7MBytes/sec. maximum throughput. Multi-Word DMA mode 2 is also known as UDMA Mode 0.