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View Full Version : CPU usage 100% when reading from drive!!

kfarrow
5th December 2002, 23:15
Anyone help.
When i read a DVD film onto my hard drive the speed is only 2x and the cpu usage is 100%. This makes it annoying when trying to open a folder or do any other small task as it takes ages for the page to refresh or close. I used to be able to read at 8x from original dvds and do other things like open files. This is really annoying now as i hav'nt changed anything or installed anything lately. I've also had this problem on my cd writer where it would take double time to write to disc. The orange light on my Plextor would flash then turn green for a second then orange again(buffer protection i think). I have a raid setup so i don't think the problem is there. Help pleeez.
Uli
6th December 2002, 00:23
You have to enable DMA!
RTFM ;)

greetz, Uli
kfarrow
7th December 2002, 14:36
There's no option to enable it. Besides its worked fine in the past.
trodas
7th December 2002, 16:04
Something must changed since then.
The only one situation i know about when is not possible to enable using DMA on the primary/secondary channel is a situation, when you have intel "application optimizer" drivers instaled (assuming and intel chipset then) and into this case, the DMA is enabled wheather possible - but you dont have the option into the usual place, in HW settings, but inside the intel settings program.
Try to change it there.
Seatch for IntelATA exe file, usualy you can found it at c:\Program files\Intel\Intel Application Accelerator\IntelATA.exe

Best luck :D
Koepi
7th December 2002, 16:13
This can happen when you upgrade e.g. your BIOS.

Happened to me with Via KT133a chipset and Via drivers installed. Solution? Easy as this: install the via 4-in-1 driver again, reboot, and you have DMA again.

A good tool which reports the _real_ DMA status even in win2k/xp is CDRInfoTool from ahead (producers of nero), download it at their website at http://www.ahead.de/ .

I hope this helps.

Regards
Koepi
kfarrow
7th December 2002, 22:29
Spot on Mr Moderator. Downloaded the latest 4 in 1, rebooted, windows detected cd and dvd drives. Now my drives run faster and i can get on with other chores without loading the cpu. :)