dvd burner running slow

[steve]

shop owner tells me my new burner is running slow due to windows being in a certain mode after having failed a number of attempts to read or write from scratched discs. told i need to do a reinstall of windows to get it out of this mode. is this really necessary? is this a less drastic solution? please advise.

[NHH]

Hi Steve,

I would class the shop owner's advice as pure guessing, which in such situations usually ends with them "advising" you to reinstall Windows.

In Windows XP, to actually check to see if your drive is using 'Ultra DMA' mode (which it should be), do the following.

• Hold down the Windows key and press the Pause/Break key.
  
• In the 'SYstem Properties' windows which opens, click the Hardware tab
  
• Click on the Device Manager button.
  
• In 'Device Manager' click on the little plus sign next to IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers
  
• Double click on the Primary IDE Channel
  
• In the 'Primary IDE Channel Properties' windows, click on the Advanced Settings tab
  
  • The 'Device Type' boxes should show Auto
    
  • The 'Transfer Mode' boxes should show DMA if Available
    
  • The 'Current Transfer' boxes will show which transfer mode is currently running on the drives. Ideally this should be 'Ultra DMA Mode'. If it shows 'PIO Mode' then that could be why things are running slow
  
  
• Once done click OK and do the same checks with the Secondary IDE Channel in 'Device Manager'

There can be many causes of poor performance on CD/DVD writers but that is how to check & change IDE transfer modes (without reinstalling Windows )

If it's on PIO, uninstall the drive in Device Manager and reboot. Windows will reinstall automatically.

You could also try updating/installing the ASPI drivers HERE.

[steve]

thanks for the advice on solving my slow burn dvd problem
i am stcuk in pio mode and through device manager have been unable to slelect dma mode.(it wont alow me to)

will a reinstall solve this as shop owner told me it would? or is there still something else i could try? ive tried swopping the drive posistion on other ide slots but with little success,.i have managed to get it to run in ultra dma mode 2 but it is still not as fast as it should be.

please help steve

[NHH]

Hi again,

Good to hear it's now using 'Ultra DMA'.

The next common step is to update the drive's firmware.
To do this you need to know the exact make & model of the drive.
Go to the manufacturers website, download the latest firmware & follow their instructions to the letter.

Note:
The firmware must be the correct firmware for the exact model of drive. If not, the drive will be ruined.

Let me know how it goes.