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  #1  
Old 03-01-2002, 04:54 PM
T Kowalsky T Kowalsky is offline
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Default DMA option for hard drives

Hello folks. I was looking around the answer base and saw a section on errors and the DMA enable option for hard discs. It said if the Intel ATA storage controller was using the Intel driver and not the Microsoft driver you would not see a DMA option box in the device manager / settings dialoge for your IDE hard drives. I checked and sure enough mine was using the Intel driver . I also noticed three hard disc controllers in the device manager. The Intel Ultra ATA 82801BA 244B plus a primary ultra ATA controller as well as a secondary IDE controller (fifo)in that order. When I check my three hard drives a fujitsu 66 8.4 gig system a Maxtor 30 gig ATA 100 audio only and a Maxtor 60 gig ATA 133 audio only, none show the DMA enable option. They do however show the following options. Disconnect (checked) Sync data transfer (checked) and Int 13 unit (checked but greyed out) I followed the instructions to try to force the Intel ATA controller to find the Microsoft driver off of the Win 98 SE CD but to no avail. All I did was basically mess up my system. (fortunately I have the boot drive cloned and all was well again in 4 mins ) How do I get the DMA enable option to appear or better yet do I need to ? I would hate to not be running at full throughput capacity and if there is more available I would love to have it. Any thoughts on this any one ? Allen ? HELP thanks folks.
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  #2  
Old 03-01-2002, 06:36 PM
Mark_Knecht Mark_Knecht is offline
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Default Re: DMA option for hard drives

Tom,
(Right? Tom I think!) Generally speaking, if it isn't showing you're probably running DMA. However, even if the option was there and checked, you wouldn't KNOW it's running DMA without testing.

I use a little app called HDTach to look at a drive's performance. It's a free download. If you'r getting >15MB/S and using lass than about 8% CPU, then you're running DMA.

Cheers,
Mark
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  #3  
Old 03-02-2002, 07:32 AM
T Kowalsky T Kowalsky is offline
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Default Re: DMA option for hard drives

Yes it's Tom. thanks Mark I will download and see whats up.
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  #4  
Old 03-02-2002, 09:58 AM
B.Ray B.Ray is offline
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Default Re: DMA option for hard drives

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by Mark_Knecht:
..Generally speaking, if it isn't showing you're probably running DMA...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That may be true for VIA or AMD chipsets but it's not true for the Intel chipsets I've used (440BX & i815). On those, if DMA is not checked, you're not running in DMA mode.

Tom, what's your motherboard/chipset?

If its indeed an Intel chipset, search the DUC - you'll find clear instructions on how to solve this.
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Old 03-02-2002, 10:10 AM
JMS40 JMS40 is offline
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Default Re: DMA option for hard drives

It has less to do with chipset and more to do with MB & BIOS.
My board has an Intel 440 chip with onbaord controller.
When the controller is enabled in BIOS, using the drivers provided for that controller, there is no DMA option. But, I am running in DMA mode.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by B.Ray:


That may be true for VIA or AMD chipsets but it's not true for the Intel chipsets I've used (440BX & i815). On those, if DMA is not checked, you're not running in DMA mode.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
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Old 03-02-2002, 10:27 AM
B.Ray B.Ray is offline
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Default Re: DMA option for hard drives

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by JMS40:
It has less to do with chipset and more to do with MB & BIOS.
My board has an Intel 440 chip with onbaord controller.
When the controller is enabled in BIOS, using the drivers provided for that controller, there is no DMA option. But, I am running in DMA mode.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Didn't know that was possible based on all the DMA problem posts over the years.

My 440BX & i815 mobos are both made by Intel. What brand is yours?
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  #7  
Old 03-02-2002, 01:09 PM
JMS40 JMS40 is offline
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Default Re: DMA option for hard drives

Hi B.Ray-
I have an Abit BX-133 RAID with the Highpoint controller that caused others so many problems.
It's worked like a champ for me.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by B.Ray:


Didn't know that was possible based on all the DMA problem posts over the years.

My 440BX & i815 mobos are both made by Intel. What brand is yours?
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
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  #8  
Old 03-02-2002, 01:21 PM
B.Ray B.Ray is offline
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Default Re: DMA option for hard drives

I almost bought the Abit BX 133 but then Intel released the i815 board so I decided to go with that. I had an ISA modem that I wanted to keep using but since the i815 doesn't have ISA slots I had to get a PCI modem.

I was also afraid of a 133MHz FSB BX chipset. (This was stretching the limits of the Intel BX Spec). It obviously is working for you.
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  #9  
Old 03-02-2002, 02:40 PM
zboy2854 zboy2854 is offline
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Default Re: DMA option for hard drives

Workin for me too. I've got the same Abit BX-133 mobo, and am running the audio drives as one RAID drive. Never crashes, never has a problem (knock on silicon). [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
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  #10  
Old 03-02-2002, 05:18 PM
T Kowalsky T Kowalsky is offline
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Default Re: DMA option for hard drives

Hey Mark thanks for the tip on HDTach. I am a little confused though . You state 15 mps and tach measures in kps. Here are my results

Fujitsu 8.4 gig system drive ultra 66
access time 15 ms
read speed 13197.0 kps/sec
cpu usage 8.5 %

Maxtor ata 100
access time 12 ms
read speed 30,000 kps/sec
cpu usage 11.8 %

Maxtor ata 133
access time 8.5 ms
read speed 40,000 kps/sec
cpu usage 9.9 %

what do you think ?
Tom
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