A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Shadow
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Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

Franc Zabkar wrote:
| On Sun, 6 Jul 2008 18:20:51 -0400, "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> put
| finger to keyboard and composed:
|
|>Franc Zabkar wrote:
|>| On Sun, 06 Jul 2008 07:26:37 +1000, Franc Zabkar
|>| <fzabkar@iinternode.on.net> put finger to keyboard and composed:
|>|
|>|>On Sat, 05 Jul 2008 10:16:44 -0300, Shadow <sh@dow> put finger to
|>|>keyboard and composed:
|>|
|>|>> Does it write any faster ?
|>|>
|>|>The maximum write speed (2x) is limited by design, so whether the
|>|>drive is in PIO mode or DMA mode would make no difference. One would
|>|>expect an improvement in read performance, though.
|>
|>Remember that article...?...
|>http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=159560
|>DMA Check Box Does Not Remain Checked
|>.......Quote......................
|>MORE INFORMATION
|>
|>DMA (also referred to as bus mastering) reduces CPU overhead by
|>providing a mechanism for data transfers that do not require
|>monitoring by the CPU. The transfer rate for a particular data
|>transfer event will not noticeably increase. However, overall CPU
|>overhead should be reduced using DMA mode.
|>.......EOQ.........................
|
| Thanks, that makes sense, although PIO mode 3 is spec'ed for 11.1 MB/s
| and MW DMA 2 for 16.6 MB/s.
|
|
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atapi#ATA_standards_versions.2C_transfer_rates.2C_and_features

Alright. That article does state there is some variance in what speed
may actually be attained for any of the modes, due to clock cycle
considerations & bus congestion. But those were probably much the same
for your PIO 3 vrs. MW DMA 2 test. As far as whether the CPU was busy
(which the MS article implies gives DMA the edge because the IDE device
will do the transfer)... you do say you had no apps running. (Naturally,
the OS itself is always running, but CPU usage from that alone can often
show up as zero in System Monitor.)

Nevertheless -- because these various DMA modes have different speed
ratings (although that could be because devices got quicker themselves
by the time the UDMA modes came out)-- I'm beginning to wonder whether a
busy CPU is all that should make DMA quicker. I'm tempted again to turn
mine off & see what happens-- but I see PIO 4 & MW DMA 2 have the same
16.6 MB/s rating. So, that won't help!

Anyhow, let me start Process Explorer. That has made CPU Usage jump to
the 70's! With DMA still on, let me copy that 300 MB's again to see
whether it still takes only about 8 minutes....

YIKES, it took 19 minutes that time!!! Why???

(Well, I normally won't have a CPU that busy during CD-ROM usage,
anyhow.)

|>... I copied about 300 MB from
|>my "IDE-CD R/RW 4x4x24" to HDD in about 8 minutes-- with DMA turned
|>on. All the while I was online with OE open & running.
|
| I had no apps running during the test.
|
|>I can't look up any
|>specs-- I don't know precisely what that thing is! I recall seeing a
|>Philips in the box-- but can't recall where I may have written its
|>model number. And I hesitate to turn that DMA off again for another
|>test! Here is about all my Compaq Diagnostics says about it...
|>
|>IDE-CD R/RW 4x4x24 CD-RW
|> Firmware Revision . . . . C12a
|
| This discussion ...
|
| http://discussions.virtualdr.com/archive/index.php/t-101564.html
|
| ... suggests that you have a "CompaQ CDD4401/71 CD-RW, which is
| basically a Philips PCRW404K".
|
| I found these Philips support URLs:
| http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/p/pcrw404k_00/
| http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/p/
|
| ... and this discussion ...
|
| http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/remark,16350636
|
| ... which suggests that the following C1.8 firmware upgrade is for
| your CDD4401 drive:
| ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/softpaq/sp16501-17000/sp16704.exe
| ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/softpaq/sp16501-17000/sp16704.txt
|
| This is the Identify Packet Device data I extracted from the C18
| firmware:
| http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/DVD/C18.txt
|
| It indicates that your drive supports MW DMA mode 2 and PIO mode 4,
| but it does not support UDMA. It powers up in MW DMA mode 2. The "DMA
| supported" bit is set.

Thanks for all of that. I took the download. That SP16704 wasn't among
the many I once downloaded for this Compaq 7470. It wasn't listed for
this computer, but I see now not all of them came with a Philips inside.
I wish my Compaq Diagnostics would precisely spell out which Philips
I've got-- in case more than one is a possibility. I only know I've got
a Philips at all because I vaguely recall seeing it in the box.

|>| I tried this again. I used the Debug method (in real DOS) to
|>| configure the drive for multi-word DMA mode 2 and then typed "win".
|>| This time the machine didn't hang but booted into Windows (the DMA
|>| box was ticked beforehand). The same test now took 13m 16s. <shrug>
|>|
|>| The above transfer rate works out as 0.72 MB/s. The transfer rate
|>| for my DVD 10x drive is 2.0 MB/s. The latter is configured for
|>| UDMA-2.
|>
|>Mine comes to about 0.625 MB/s. But it seemed quick enough for me.
|>Part of that was "preparing to copy". Also, the device seemed to
|>power down & up again at least once in the midst of the copy.
|
| My FSB is set to 75MHz, so that means my PCI bus is running at
| 37.5MHz. Yours is probably set to 33MHz. Therefore I would expect a
| 13% speed advantage for the same transfer mode.

I'm not sure of my figure. In the BIOS, IDE Devices requestor, I see
that "Ultra 33/66" is enabled. My processor speed is written: 533/97
MHz. I did kept avast! running & it scanned all the executables during
the copy process.

Neither of us got 16.6 MB/s for MW DMA 2-- but I'm not really sure when
they start/stop counting! Are they speaking of the device already has
everything set & is about to move its heads? And as soon as the heads
stop moving they are done counting? We are going through "preparing to
copy", watching the CD-ROM spin down & up again midst the copy, & even
waiting for Explorer to update its display after the copy is done.
Nevertheless, it all seemed quick enough for me. Possibly the highest
figures will only apply to hard drives, I'm thinking.

|>| After all my experimentation, I finally found this Ricoh FAQ:
|>| http://www.ricoh.com/drive/asia/support/faq/allmodels/dma_d.html#04
|>|
|>| DMA transfer mode supported by each model:
|>|
|>| * MP6200A 11.11 MB/sec. (Max.) PIO mode 3
|>| MP7040A 16.7 MB/sec. (Max.) Multiword DMA mode 2, PIO mode 4
|>| ....
|>| MP5240A / MP5125A / MP5120A 33 MB/sec. (Max.) Ultra DMA mode 2
|>|
|>| Now why doesn't the user manual have this information, and why does
|>| the drive allow M-W DMA modes 0,1, and 2 to be set via the Set
|>| Features command if it doesn't support them?
|>
|>Can it be they had early plans to support them but later aborted
|>without undoing the prep work?
|
| Maybe. Or maybe the programmers used the same basic code for several
| models and just disabled the modules they didn't need.

Now I'm thinking the drive software is just not looking at the time the
Set Features command puts info into the PCI Register. It could put
anything in there, probably. When Windows & the drive are ready to use
it to determine what mode to use, its up to them what to do if/when an
invalid value is found. Apparently, neither will correct the value, but
possibly they will ignore it & use a default that is valid-- who knows?

|>| And why does the DMA
|>| checkbox remain ticked in Device Manager if the drive is in PIO
|>| mode?
|>
|>Maybe there is something non-standard about one of the PIO modes that
|>makes it look a lot like one of the DMA modes.
|
| - Franc Zabkar
| --
| Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
Should things get worse after this,
PCR
pcrrcp@netzero.net
 
Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

Oops-- ignore! It's the same as the other!

--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
Should things get worse after this,
PCR
pcrrcp@netzero.net
"PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote in message
news:%23nrNT2L4IHA.1952@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
 
Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

On Tue, 8 Jul 2008 01:44:50 -0400, "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> put
finger to keyboard and composed:

>Franc Zabkar wrote:


>|... PIO mode 3 is spec'ed for 11.1 MB/s and MW DMA 2 for 16.6 MB/s.


>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atapi#ATA_standards_versions.2C_transfer_rates.2C_and_features
>
>Alright. That article does state there is some variance in what speed
>may actually be attained for any of the modes, due to clock cycle
>considerations & bus congestion. But those were probably much the same
>for your PIO 3 vrs. MW DMA 2 test. As far as whether the CPU was busy
>(which the MS article implies gives DMA the edge because the IDE device
>will do the transfer)... you do say you had no apps running. (Naturally,
>the OS itself is always running, but CPU usage from that alone can often
>show up as zero in System Monitor.)
>
>Nevertheless -- because these various DMA modes have different speed
>ratings (although that could be because devices got quicker themselves
>by the time the UDMA modes came out)-- I'm beginning to wonder whether a
>busy CPU is all that should make DMA quicker. I'm tempted again to turn
>mine off & see what happens-- but I see PIO 4 & MW DMA 2 have the same
>16.6 MB/s rating. So, that won't help!


I just realised that my 2x writer reads at 6x which is only 0.9 MB/s.
That probably explains why neither a 16.6 MB/s nor a 11.1 MB/s ATAPI
mode has any effect on transfer rates. <smacks forehead> I also notice
that my CPU usage is not perceptibly affected during read testing in
PIO mode at this low transfer rate (DMA box not ticked).

We both forgot that the 11.1 MB/s spec applies to "bursts" of data,
not sustained data transfers, ie it reflects the speed at which data
can move down the IDE cable, not how fast it can be read from the
disc. The OP has both a high speed drive *and* a high speed interface,
whereas our drives are slow but with medium speed interfaces. That
said, I don't understand why his transfer rate in PIO mode (3.9 GB in
93 min = 0.7 MB/s) is so much worse than that for my DVDROM drive (2.2
MB/s). <shrug>

>Anyhow, let me start Process Explorer. That has made CPU Usage jump to
>the 70's! With DMA still on, let me copy that 300 MB's again to see
>whether it still takes only about 8 minutes....
>
>YIKES, it took 19 minutes that time!!! Why???


Maybe Process Explorer intercepts each file I/O operation and adds its
own overhead ???

Anyway I tried an alternative test. I copied 168 MB of data from my
UDMA-2 10X DVD-ROM to my UDMA-2 hard disc under various conditions.
During these tests I was running CpuIdle (a CPU cooler utility) and
nothing else. CpuIdle reports an "idle" percentage for the CPU. This
figure is normally 98%. With DMA on, and the copy in progress, the CPU
averages about 85% idle. With DMA off, this figure drops to around
60%. So clearly there is less CPU usage in UDMA mode.

Here are my test results:

Transfer mode Transfer time
--------------------------------------------------------------
UDMA-0 73s modes set with Set Features in DOS mode
UDMA-1 75s & DMA box ticked
UDMA-2 81s "
UDMA-0 77s "
UDMA-1 75s "
UDMA-2 82s "
PIO (DMA off) 76s DMA box not ticked
PIO (DMA off) 79s "
PIO (DMA off) 76s "
DMA on 85s modes set by BIOS (UDMA-2) and Windows
DMA on 73s & DMA box ticked

The numbers suggest that there is no real difference in the transfer
rates between PIO and UDMA modes. They all work out at about 2.2 MB/s,
which is about 15X in CDROM terms. I guess this figure must represent
some hardware limit external to the drive.

BTW, I repeated the first three measurements to ensure that disc
fragmentation was not affecting the results.

>| This discussion ...
>|
>| http://discussions.virtualdr.com/archive/index.php/t-101564.html
>|
>| ... suggests that you have a "CompaQ CDD4401/71 CD-RW, which is
>| basically a Philips PCRW404K".
>|
>| I found these Philips support URLs:
>| http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/p/pcrw404k_00/
>| http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/p/


>I only know I've got
>a Philips at all because I vaguely recall seeing it in the box.


There are JPEGs at the Philips links above. At least you will know if
your drive looks the same. Anyway I didn't expect you to flash your
firmware, I only wanted to see what your drive's specs were.

>|>| I tried this again. I used the Debug method (in real DOS) to
>|>| configure the drive for multi-word DMA mode 2 and then typed "win".
>|>| This time the machine didn't hang but booted into Windows (the DMA
>|>| box was ticked beforehand). The same test now took 13m 16s. <shrug>


I now notice that Windows hangs if I use the Set Features command to
change to another mode, eg from PIO to multiword DMA, or from UDMA to
multiword DMA, but not when I switch from UDMA-2 to UDMA-0. Maybe the
IDE controller's registers need to be reconfigured to match the
changes to the drive ???

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
 
Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

I think you may be ignoring or failing to fully consider the *enumeration*
activities concerning the devices.

As with any adapter/device, descriptors such as: VID{vendor ID}, PID{product
ID}, DD{device descriptor}, RD{Report descriptor}, SD{string descriptor},
ID{interface descriptor}, ED{end point descriptor}, and CD{configuration
descriptor} are all crucial in both software coding and the hardware/chipset
coding during the communication process and device setup.

Were this a discussion on HID{human interface device} or coding for say USB
devices, perhaps it would be more clear, but these same issues come into
play during the DMA/PIO BIOS > OS determinations, and speed related
activities. For some reason, Windows "users" forget that the
controller/controlling chips WITHIN the devices *have been* hard coded.
Franc modified a segment of the flash for his device, but that was in the
*FLASH* portion/memory [modification portion] of the chip, not its base
master code [sometimes referred to as the BOOT BLOCK{like in a BIOS} or
otherwise]. That master chip code would be considerable more difficult to
modify as that would require an understanding of the actual
physical/theoretical support and limitations of ALL the parts used within
the device.
For instance:
Does the motor puke out at 12X when writing, or is it actually the I/O of
one of the chips which fails, or maybe its actually a physical limitation of
the laser assembly. Then again, it could be a combination of any or all of
the above in conjunction with the physical device *cache memory* and actual
memory speed/capability, the speed of the bus [on device and via
connection], the FSB and chipset of the motherboard, AND the processor..

As for the testing of the CDROM, using a tool such as Nero's CD Speed Test
[www.cdspeed2000.com], would give a better representation of the actual
capabilities of the system as configured. It might also be instructive to
view the FAQ http://www.cdspeed2000.com/faq.html


In news:12r874hb7v2f580v49i2f0sqe3g1h57bl7@4ax.com at ,
Franc Zabkar contemplated and posted:
| On Tue, 8 Jul 2008 01:44:50 -0400, "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> put
| finger to keyboard and composed:
|
|>Franc Zabkar wrote:
|
|>|... PIO mode 3 is spec'ed for 11.1 MB/s and MW DMA 2 for 16.6 MB/s.
|
|>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atapi#ATA_standards_versions.2C_transfer_rate
s.2C_and_features
|>
|>Alright. That article does state there is some variance in what speed
|>may actually be attained for any of the modes, due to clock cycle
|>considerations & bus congestion. But those were probably much the same
|>for your PIO 3 vrs. MW DMA 2 test. As far as whether the CPU was busy
|>(which the MS article implies gives DMA the edge because the IDE
|>device will do the transfer)... you do say you had no apps running.
|>(Naturally, the OS itself is always running, but CPU usage from that
|>alone can often show up as zero in System Monitor.)
|>
|>Nevertheless -- because these various DMA modes have different speed
|>ratings (although that could be because devices got quicker themselves
|>by the time the UDMA modes came out)-- I'm beginning to wonder
|>whether a busy CPU is all that should make DMA quicker. I'm tempted
|>again to turn mine off & see what happens-- but I see PIO 4 & MW DMA
|>2 have the same
|>16.6 MB/s rating. So, that won't help!
|
| I just realised that my 2x writer reads at 6x which is only 0.9 MB/s.
| That probably explains why neither a 16.6 MB/s nor a 11.1 MB/s ATAPI
| mode has any effect on transfer rates. <smacks forehead> I also notice
| that my CPU usage is not perceptibly affected during read testing in
| PIO mode at this low transfer rate (DMA box not ticked).
|
| We both forgot that the 11.1 MB/s spec applies to "bursts" of data,
| not sustained data transfers, ie it reflects the speed at which data
| can move down the IDE cable, not how fast it can be read from the
| disc. The OP has both a high speed drive *and* a high speed interface,
| whereas our drives are slow but with medium speed interfaces. That
| said, I don't understand why his transfer rate in PIO mode (3.9 GB in
| 93 min = 0.7 MB/s) is so much worse than that for my DVDROM drive (2.2
| MB/s). <shrug>
|
|>Anyhow, let me start Process Explorer. That has made CPU Usage jump to
|>the 70's! With DMA still on, let me copy that 300 MB's again to see
|>whether it still takes only about 8 minutes....
|>
|>YIKES, it took 19 minutes that time!!! Why???
|
| Maybe Process Explorer intercepts each file I/O operation and adds its
| own overhead ???
|
| Anyway I tried an alternative test. I copied 168 MB of data from my
| UDMA-2 10X DVD-ROM to my UDMA-2 hard disc under various conditions.
| During these tests I was running CpuIdle (a CPU cooler utility) and
| nothing else. CpuIdle reports an "idle" percentage for the CPU. This
| figure is normally 98%. With DMA on, and the copy in progress, the CPU
| averages about 85% idle. With DMA off, this figure drops to around
| 60%. So clearly there is less CPU usage in UDMA mode.
|
| Here are my test results:
|
| Transfer mode Transfer time
| --------------------------------------------------------------
| UDMA-0 73s modes set with Set Features in DOS mode
| UDMA-1 75s & DMA box ticked
| UDMA-2 81s "
| UDMA-0 77s "
| UDMA-1 75s "
| UDMA-2 82s "
| PIO (DMA off) 76s DMA box not ticked
| PIO (DMA off) 79s "
| PIO (DMA off) 76s "
| DMA on 85s modes set by BIOS (UDMA-2) and Windows
| DMA on 73s & DMA box ticked
|
| The numbers suggest that there is no real difference in the transfer
| rates between PIO and UDMA modes. They all work out at about 2.2 MB/s,
| which is about 15X in CDROM terms. I guess this figure must represent
| some hardware limit external to the drive.
|
| BTW, I repeated the first three measurements to ensure that disc
| fragmentation was not affecting the results.
|
|>| This discussion ...
|>|
|>| http://discussions.virtualdr.com/archive/index.php/t-101564.html
|>|
|>| ... suggests that you have a "CompaQ CDD4401/71 CD-RW, which is
|>| basically a Philips PCRW404K".
|>|
|>| I found these Philips support URLs:
|>| http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/p/pcrw404k_00/
|>| http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/p/
|
|>I only know I've got
|>a Philips at all because I vaguely recall seeing it in the box.
|
| There are JPEGs at the Philips links above. At least you will know if
| your drive looks the same. Anyway I didn't expect you to flash your
| firmware, I only wanted to see what your drive's specs were.
|
|>|>| I tried this again. I used the Debug method (in real DOS) to
|>|>| configure the drive for multi-word DMA mode 2 and then typed
|>|>| "win". This time the machine didn't hang but booted into Windows
|>|>| (the DMA box was ticked beforehand). The same test now took 13m
|>|>| 16s. <shrug>
|
| I now notice that Windows hangs if I use the Set Features command to
| change to another mode, eg from PIO to multiword DMA, or from UDMA to
| multiword DMA, but not when I switch from UDMA-2 to UDMA-0. Maybe the
| IDE controller's registers need to be reconfigured to match the
| changes to the drive ???
|
| - Franc Zabkar

--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com
--
_________
 
Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

Franc Zabkar wrote:
| On Tue, 8 Jul 2008 01:44:50 -0400, "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> put
| finger to keyboard and composed:
|
|>Franc Zabkar wrote:
|
|>|... PIO mode 3 is spec'ed for 11.1 MB/s and MW DMA 2 for 16.6 MB/s.
|
|>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atapi#ATA_standards_versions.2C_transfer_
rates.2C_and_features
|>
|>Alright. That article does state there is some variance in what speed
|>may actually be attained for any of the modes, due to clock cycle
|>considerations & bus congestion. But those were probably much the same
|>for your PIO 3 vrs. MW DMA 2 test. As far as whether the CPU was busy
|>(which the MS article implies gives DMA the edge because the IDE
|>device will do the transfer)... you do say you had no apps running.
|>(Naturally, the OS itself is always running, but CPU usage from that
|>alone can often show up as zero in System Monitor.)
|>
|>Nevertheless -- because these various DMA modes have different speed
|>ratings (although that could be because devices got quicker themselves
|>by the time the UDMA modes came out)-- I'm beginning to wonder
|>whether a busy CPU is all that should make DMA quicker. I'm tempted
|>again to turn mine off & see what happens-- but I see PIO 4 & MW DMA
|>2 have the same
|>16.6 MB/s rating. So, that won't help!
|
| I just realised that my 2x writer reads at 6x which is only 0.9 MB/s.
| That probably explains why neither a 16.6 MB/s nor a 11.1 MB/s ATAPI
| mode has any effect on transfer rates. <smacks forehead> I also notice
| that my CPU usage is not perceptibly affected during read testing in
| PIO mode at this low transfer rate (DMA box not ticked).
|
| We both forgot that the 11.1 MB/s spec applies to "bursts" of data,
| not sustained data transfers, ie it reflects the speed at which data
| can move down the IDE cable, not how fast it can be read from the
| disc. The OP has both a high speed drive *and* a high speed interface,
| whereas our drives are slow but with medium speed interfaces.

Alright. Yea, that has the ring of truth to it. I was just about to
formulate a thought like that. I think we've got it now. BUT I DID
somewhere question just what it was those rates were measuring-- when
they began/stopped the computation, & whether they were speaking of
CD-ROM or HDD. Also, I said somewhere things could be different with a
quick DVD. I see now it is a burst across a wire that is measured-- not
the actual reading/writing of data. But you are right neither of us knew
precisely what we were talking about at the time, sure. And MEB has
arrived too late to say he did, either!

| That
| said, I don't understand why his transfer rate in PIO mode (3.9 GB in
| 93 min = 0.7 MB/s) is so much worse than that for my DVDROM drive (2.2
| MB/s). <shrug>

Shadow's situation was extremely odd in that he had to make the DVD a
slave alone on its cable to make DMA Mode work. Could be PIO wasn't
functioning quite right too until the thing was made a slave. Also,
along the way, he was switching cables too. (But, if I were him, I'd
probably just let it be now & not revert to PIO just to see!)

|>Anyhow, let me start Process Explorer. That has made CPU Usage jump to
|>the 70's! With DMA still on, let me copy that 300 MB's again to see
|>whether it still takes only about 8 minutes....
|>
|>YIKES, it took 19 minutes that time!!! Why???
|
| Maybe Process Explorer intercepts each file I/O operation and adds its
| own overhead ???

I'm not sure how Process Explorer works. It certainly can slow
everything down as it updates its various process displays-- it slows my
typing to the point the letter I see displayed was typed 5 letters ago!
I guess it can be doing more than just keeping the CPU busy. It may
cause intermittent interrupts or such that slows the DMA read/write
process. It may have been a poor choice to run Process Explorer. As far
as intercepting files, avast! does that each time an executable is read.
But that was the same for each test. Not sure whether Process Explorer
did any itself. No, I wasn't being quite scientific with that!

| Anyway I tried an alternative test. I copied 168 MB of data from my
| UDMA-2 10X DVD-ROM to my UDMA-2 hard disc under various conditions.
| During these tests I was running CpuIdle (a CPU cooler utility) and
| nothing else. CpuIdle reports an "idle" percentage for the CPU. This
| figure is normally 98%. With DMA on, and the copy in progress, the CPU
| averages about 85% idle. With DMA off, this figure drops to around
| 60%. So clearly there is less CPU usage in UDMA mode.

Hmmm... good thinking! Right, instead of looking for a speed difference
in the copy process-- you just directly measured CPU Idle time. Very
good! I will try that with Wintop by tomorrow!

| Here are my test results:
|
| Transfer mode Transfer time
| --------------------------------------------------------------
| UDMA-0 73s modes set with Set Features in DOS mode
| UDMA-1 75s & DMA box ticked
| UDMA-2 81s "
| UDMA-0 77s "
| UDMA-1 75s "
| UDMA-2 82s "
| PIO (DMA off) 76s DMA box not ticked
| PIO (DMA off) 79s "
| PIO (DMA off) 76s "
| DMA on 85s modes set by BIOS (UDMA-2) and Windows
| DMA on 73s & DMA box ticked
|
| The numbers suggest that there is no real difference in the transfer
| rates between PIO and UDMA modes. They all work out at about 2.2 MB/s,
| which is about 15X in CDROM terms. I guess this figure must represent
| some hardware limit external to the drive.

Hmm. My understanding still is that in DMA mode... the DVD drive
firmware takes data from a DVD disc & puts it into a shared memory area
(SMA). Then, the CPU takes the data from the SMA & puts it into another
SMA between it and the HDD. The HDD firmware than retrieves that &
writes it to its disc.

In PIO mode the CPU does more of the work. But the savings may be less
in data transfer time (remember some PIO rates actually equal DMA rates)
& more in the fact that the CPU is free more of the time to do something
else. So, for instance, if you were printing a large document while
doing the data transfer-- THAT would seem to print faster!

| BTW, I repeated the first three measurements to ensure that disc
| fragmentation was not affecting the results.
|
|>| This discussion ...
|>|
|>| http://discussions.virtualdr.com/archive/index.php/t-101564.html
|>|
|>| ... suggests that you have a "CompaQ CDD4401/71 CD-RW, which is
|>| basically a Philips PCRW404K".
|>|
|>| I found these Philips support URLs:
|>| http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/p/pcrw404k_00/
|>| http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/p/
|
|>I only know I've got
|>a Philips at all because I vaguely recall seeing it in the box.
|
| There are JPEGs at the Philips links above. At least you will know if
| your drive looks the same. Anyway I didn't expect you to flash your
| firmware, I only wanted to see what your drive's specs were.

I'll get back into that box one day & copy out the model number again.
I'm all for running the flash-- if/when I'm absolutely certain it is
right! Thanks again. One of those others who did it in the threads you
posted had a more pressing reason for it. But I'm not quite positive
even he really had to do it, as later he found something else amiss.

|>|>| I tried this again. I used the Debug method (in real DOS) to
|>|>| configure the drive for multi-word DMA mode 2 and then typed
|>|>| "win". This time the machine didn't hang but booted into Windows
|>|>| (the DMA box was ticked beforehand). The same test now took 13m
|>|>| 16s. <shrug>
|
| I now notice that Windows hangs if I use the Set Features command to
| change to another mode, eg from PIO to multiword DMA, or from UDMA to
| multiword DMA, but not when I switch from UDMA-2 to UDMA-0. Maybe the
| IDE controller's registers need to be reconfigured to match the
| changes to the drive ???

I don't know. Can it have to do with enumeration? Maybe MEB has the
answer, then-- go read his post thrice! And remember what I wrote
elsewhere about the properties of the various components in Device
Manager & implications of your particular boot/reboot method. The way
you leave DOS for Windows & visa versa likely has an effect-- but I
can't quite come up with precisely what!

| - Franc Zabkar
| --
| Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
Should things get worse after this,
PCR
pcrrcp@netzero.net
 
Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

In news:%239QttAg4IHA.4908@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl at ,
PCR contemplated and posted:
| Franc Zabkar wrote:
|| On Tue, 8 Jul 2008 01:44:50 -0400, "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> put
|| finger to keyboard and composed:
||
||>Franc Zabkar wrote:
||
||>|... PIO mode 3 is spec'ed for 11.1 MB/s and MW DMA 2 for 16.6 MB/s.
||
||>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atapi#ATA_standards_versions.2C_transfer_
||>rates.2C_and_features
||>
||>Alright. That article does state there is some variance in what speed
||>may actually be attained for any of the modes, due to clock cycle
||>considerations & bus congestion. But those were probably much the
||>same for your PIO 3 vrs. MW DMA 2 test. As far as whether the CPU
||>was busy (which the MS article implies gives DMA the edge because
||>the IDE device will do the transfer)... you do say you had no apps
||>running. (Naturally, the OS itself is always running, but CPU usage
||>from that alone can often show up as zero in System Monitor.)
||>
||>Nevertheless -- because these various DMA modes have different speed
||>ratings (although that could be because devices got quicker
||>themselves by the time the UDMA modes came out)-- I'm beginning to
||>wonder whether a busy CPU is all that should make DMA quicker. I'm
||>tempted again to turn mine off & see what happens-- but I see PIO 4
||>& MW DMA 2 have the same
||>16.6 MB/s rating. So, that won't help!
||
|| I just realised that my 2x writer reads at 6x which is only 0.9 MB/s.
|| That probably explains why neither a 16.6 MB/s nor a 11.1 MB/s ATAPI
|| mode has any effect on transfer rates. <smacks forehead> I also
|| notice that my CPU usage is not perceptibly affected during read
|| testing in PIO mode at this low transfer rate (DMA box not ticked).
||
|| We both forgot that the 11.1 MB/s spec applies to "bursts" of data,
|| not sustained data transfers, ie it reflects the speed at which data
|| can move down the IDE cable, not how fast it can be read from the
|| disc. The OP has both a high speed drive *and* a high speed
|| interface, whereas our drives are slow but with medium speed
|| interfaces.
|
| Alright. Yea, that has the ring of truth to it. I was just about to
| formulate a thought like that. I think we've got it now. BUT I DID
| somewhere question just what it was those rates were measuring-- when
| they began/stopped the computation, & whether they were speaking of
| CD-ROM or HDD. Also, I said somewhere things could be different with a
| quick DVD. I see now it is a burst across a wire that is measured--
| not the actual reading/writing of data. But you are right neither of
| us knew precisely what we were talking about at the time, sure. And
| MEB has arrived too late to say he did, either!

06/27/08 - MEB

"98 supports DMA but may disable it if your 98 system fails certain tests.
Specifically when the drivers:
1. query the motherboard chip set,
2. query the drive itself, and,
3. test a short pattern of disk reads and writes to see if they are reliable
at DMA speeds.
If any of the three or combination fail, DMA will be disabled upon reboot.
After errors, driver or software, the system may downgrade [permanently].
Particularly true for newer OSs [XP, VISTA].""
---------
** The above hints and indicates the activities used during the enumeration
process and the resultant assignments.
Those "hints" should have brought with them the chip and software.... had
that avenue been followed, this discussion may have entered a different
phase; which has now been done when it was appropriate to enter.
-------

" ONE WAY that WILL kill DMA is to attempt to read a badly burnt or
scratched disk multiple times... another, errors during the copy/burn
process

There MAY be a difficulty between the default CDROM drivers supplied
[default IDE INFs] and the actual drive when accessed.
There MAY be BIOS issues, using ACPI in some BIOSs may allow DMA to be
used if not already set.

* It may depend upon other drives attached to the channel, try: DVD-RW as
Device 0 (1st) as Master and the other CD-RW/hard drive as Device 1 (2nd) as
Slave."
------

** This segment indicated both the actual fix to try; by changing channels
and device selection and that the device is/would be *re-enumerated* if
done.
Now let's see if it can be defined WHERE and HOW the system holds
enumeration information, and what effect it would have within the
system...AND how one can remove old or spurious information.
This would seem to provide a better understanding of the issue...

|
|| That
|| said, I don't understand why his transfer rate in PIO mode (3.9 GB in
|| 93 min = 0.7 MB/s) is so much worse than that for my DVDROM drive
|| (2.2 MB/s). <shrug>
|
| Shadow's situation was extremely odd in that he had to make the DVD a
| slave alone on its cable to make DMA Mode work. Could be PIO wasn't
| functioning quite right too until the thing was made a slave. Also,
| along the way, he was switching cables too. (But, if I were him, I'd
| probably just let it be now & not revert to PIO just to see!)
|
||>Anyhow, let me start Process Explorer. That has made CPU Usage jump
||>to the 70's! With DMA still on, let me copy that 300 MB's again to
||>see whether it still takes only about 8 minutes....
||>
||>YIKES, it took 19 minutes that time!!! Why???
||
|| Maybe Process Explorer intercepts each file I/O operation and adds
|| its own overhead ???
|
| I'm not sure how Process Explorer works. It certainly can slow
| everything down as it updates its various process displays-- it slows
| my typing to the point the letter I see displayed was typed 5 letters
| ago! I guess it can be doing more than just keeping the CPU busy. It
| may cause intermittent interrupts or such that slows the DMA
| read/write process. It may have been a poor choice to run Process
| Explorer. As far as intercepting files, avast! does that each time an
| executable is read. But that was the same for each test. Not sure
| whether Process Explorer did any itself. No, I wasn't being quite
| scientific with that!

Depending upon the update cycle [how often it queries for information] it
may completely take over the primary process area... a slow system will be
degraded severely..
It MAY have been better to use something like filemon or regmon... the GDI
impact is less severe. It would depend upon what exactly you were attempting
to obtain/monitor..

|
|| Anyway I tried an alternative test. I copied 168 MB of data from my
|| UDMA-2 10X DVD-ROM to my UDMA-2 hard disc under various conditions.
|| During these tests I was running CpuIdle (a CPU cooler utility) and
|| nothing else. CpuIdle reports an "idle" percentage for the CPU. This
|| figure is normally 98%. With DMA on, and the copy in progress, the
|| CPU averages about 85% idle. With DMA off, this figure drops to
|| around 60%. So clearly there is less CPU usage in UDMA mode.
|
| Hmmm... good thinking! Right, instead of looking for a speed
| difference in the copy process-- you just directly measured CPU Idle
| time. Very good! I will try that with Wintop by tomorrow!
|
|| Here are my test results:
||
|| Transfer mode Transfer time
|| --------------------------------------------------------------
|| UDMA-0 73s modes set with Set Features in DOS mode
|| UDMA-1 75s & DMA box ticked
|| UDMA-2 81s "
|| UDMA-0 77s "
|| UDMA-1 75s "
|| UDMA-2 82s "
|| PIO (DMA off) 76s DMA box not ticked
|| PIO (DMA off) 79s "
|| PIO (DMA off) 76s "
|| DMA on 85s modes set by BIOS (UDMA-2) and Windows
|| DMA on 73s & DMA box ticked
||
|| The numbers suggest that there is no real difference in the transfer
|| rates between PIO and UDMA modes. They all work out at about 2.2
|| MB/s, which is about 15X in CDROM terms. I guess this figure must
|| represent some hardware limit external to the drive.
|
| Hmm. My understanding still is that in DMA mode... the DVD drive
| firmware takes data from a DVD disc & puts it into a shared memory
| area (SMA). Then, the CPU takes the data from the SMA & puts it into
| another SMA between it and the HDD. The HDD firmware than retrieves
| that & writes it to its disc.
|
| In PIO mode the CPU does more of the work. But the savings may be less
| in data transfer time (remember some PIO rates actually equal DMA
| rates) & more in the fact that the CPU is free more of the time to do
| something else. So, for instance, if you were printing a large
| document while doing the data transfer-- THAT would seem to print
| faster!
|
|| BTW, I repeated the first three measurements to ensure that disc
|| fragmentation was not affecting the results.
||
||>| This discussion ...
||>|
||>| http://discussions.virtualdr.com/archive/index.php/t-101564.html
||>|
||>| ... suggests that you have a "CompaQ CDD4401/71 CD-RW, which is
||>| basically a Philips PCRW404K".
||>|
||>| I found these Philips support URLs:
||>| http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/p/pcrw404k_00/
||>| http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/p/
||
||>I only know I've got
||>a Philips at all because I vaguely recall seeing it in the box.
||
|| There are JPEGs at the Philips links above. At least you will know if
|| your drive looks the same. Anyway I didn't expect you to flash your
|| firmware, I only wanted to see what your drive's specs were.
|
| I'll get back into that box one day & copy out the model number again.
| I'm all for running the flash-- if/when I'm absolutely certain it is
| right! Thanks again. One of those others who did it in the threads you
| posted had a more pressing reason for it. But I'm not quite positive
| even he really had to do it, as later he found something else amiss.
|
||>|>| I tried this again. I used the Debug method (in real DOS) to
||>|>| configure the drive for multi-word DMA mode 2 and then typed
||>|>| "win". This time the machine didn't hang but booted into Windows
||>|>| (the DMA box was ticked beforehand). The same test now took 13m
||>|>| 16s. <shrug>
||
|| I now notice that Windows hangs if I use the Set Features command to
|| change to another mode, eg from PIO to multiword DMA, or from UDMA to
|| multiword DMA, but not when I switch from UDMA-2 to UDMA-0. Maybe the
|| IDE controller's registers need to be reconfigured to match the
|| changes to the drive ???
|
| I don't know. Can it have to do with enumeration? Maybe MEB has the
| answer, then-- go read his post thrice! And remember what I wrote
| elsewhere about the properties of the various components in Device
| Manager & implications of your particular boot/reboot method. The way
| you leave DOS for Windows & visa versa likely has an effect-- but I
| can't quite come up with precisely what!

DOS box activities WILL cause issues, and so will running DOS first and
starting Windows manually. Both leave residual aspects in memory, be it DOS
drivers or access methods used while in DOS. Run the old *mem /d /p* while
in DOS verses DOS box will show some of the differences related to memory
management, but a more accurate portrayal of differences would be shown in
some old DOS program like Diag2000, InfoPlus, or the like, when compared to
Windows eventual settings...
There was a discussion in this group related to QModem in a Windows Dos Box
which discussed with some of those issues and potentials..

|
|| - Franc Zabkar
|| --
|| Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.

Believe it or not, there is a method and reason to my "madness"...
sometimes its just a little hard to keep up with...

--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com
--
_________
 
Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

On Wed, 9 Jul 2008 18:06:44 -0400, "MEB" <meb@not here@hotmail.com>
put finger to keyboard and composed:

>" ONE WAY that WILL kill DMA is to attempt to read a badly burnt or
>scratched disk multiple times... another, errors during the copy/burn
>process


>** This segment indicated both the actual fix to try; by changing channels
>and device selection and that the device is/would be *re-enumerated* if
>done.


> Now let's see if it can be defined WHERE and HOW the system holds
>enumeration information, and what effect it would have within the
>system...AND how one can remove old or spurious information.
> This would seem to provide a better understanding of the issue...


I have a feeling that Win98 doesn't limit itself by remembering past
DMA failures. In the case of my Ricoh writer, I hacked its firmware to
change the "DMA not supported" bit to "DMA supported". After I did
this, Windows automatically ticked the DMA box.

Furthermore, after reading several hundred MBs of data, the box
remained ticked, suggesting that the drive did in fact support DMA
mode, even though its manufacturer said not.

<shrug>

BTW, here are the text strings I found inside Microsoft's esdi_506.pdr
port driver:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/esdi_506.txt

Judging by the list of controllers and drive brands/models, it appears
that MS had to work around quite a few misbehaving (?) items of
hardware.

As stated elsewhere, the "IDEDMADRIVE" and "DMACurrentlyUsed" strings
suggest that esdi_506.pdr is at least partly responsible for adding
the DMA checkbox to Device Manager. There are other interesting
strings such as "GOODOEM1DMA" and "NonStandardATAPI" for which I can
find no documentation.

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
 
Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

On Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:33:35 +1000, Franc Zabkar
<fzabkar@iinternode.on.net> put finger to keyboard and composed:

>> As for the testing of the CDROM, using a tool such as Nero's CD Speed Test
>>[www.cdspeed2000.com], would give a better representation of the actual
>>capabilities of the system as configured.


I downloaded NeroDiscSpeed, but it appears to be written for Windows
2000/XP/Vista only:
http://www.cdspeed2000.com/files/NeroDiscSpeed_41120.zip

Running the executable results in an error:

"The DISCSPEED.EXE file is linked to missing export
ADVAPI232.DLL:RegOpenCurrentUser".

My version of ADVAPI232.DLL is 4.80.0.1675.

>>It might also be instructive to view the FAQ http://www.cdspeed2000.com/faq.html


- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
 
Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

In news:2p6b74ttp939ektq79rvu997ftrm5usch7@4ax.com at ,
Franc Zabkar contemplated and posted:
| On Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:33:35 +1000, Franc Zabkar
| <fzabkar@iinternode.on.net> put finger to keyboard and composed:
|
|>> As for the testing of the CDROM, using a tool such as Nero's CD
|>>Speed Test [www.cdspeed2000.com], would give a better representation
|>>of the actual capabilities of the system as configured.
|
| I downloaded NeroDiscSpeed, but it appears to be written for Windows
| 2000/XP/Vista only:
| http://www.cdspeed2000.com/files/NeroDiscSpeed_41120.zip
|
| Running the executable results in an error:
|
| "The DISCSPEED.EXE file is linked to missing export
| ADVAPI232.DLL:RegOpenCurrentUser".
|
| My version of ADVAPI232.DLL is 4.80.0.1675.
|
|>>It might also be instructive to view the FAQ
|>>http://www.cdspeed2000.com/faq.html
|
| - Franc Zabkar


Try these:

Nero DriveSpeed 1.60 - set CD speed
http://www.cdspeed2000.com/files/NeroDriveSpeed_160.zip

Nero CD Speed 1.01.3 - tests/diagnostics - this is the one you'll need
http://www.cdspeed2000.com/files/NeroCDSpeed_1013.zip

Nero InfoTool 1.02 - information tool
http://www.cdspeed2000.com/files/NeroInfoTool_102.zip

--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com
--
_________
 
Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

In news:49pa74549k8h6ip7r6iknvhj5su3q7nppa@4ax.com at ,
Franc Zabkar contemplated and posted:
| On Wed, 9 Jul 2008 18:06:44 -0400, "MEB" <meb@not here@hotmail.com>
| put finger to keyboard and composed:
|
|>" ONE WAY that WILL kill DMA is to attempt to read a badly burnt or
|>scratched disk multiple times... another, errors during the copy/burn
|>process
|
|>** This segment indicated both the actual fix to try; by changing
|>channels and device selection and that the device is/would be
|>*re-enumerated* if done.
|
|> Now let's see if it can be defined WHERE and HOW the system holds
|>enumeration information, and what effect it would have within the
|>system...AND how one can remove old or spurious information.
|> This would seem to provide a better understanding of the issue...
|
| I have a feeling that Win98 doesn't limit itself by remembering past
| DMA failures. In the case of my Ricoh writer, I hacked its firmware to
| change the "DMA not supported" bit to "DMA supported". After I did
| this, Windows automatically ticked the DMA box.
|
| Furthermore, after reading several hundred MBs of data, the box
| remained ticked, suggesting that the drive did in fact support DMA
| mode, even though its manufacturer said not.
|
| <shrug>

Big shrug,, could be the setting for the most compatability [supposed no
DMA]... run the tests using that Nero test tool I linked and find out for
sure.. of course your hack will give the impression that DMA is being used
even though it may be using PIO,, looking at CPU usage may provide a clue,
maybe not.

|
| BTW, here are the text strings I found inside Microsoft's esdi_506.pdr
| port driver:
| http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/esdi_506.txt
|
| Judging by the list of controllers and drive brands/models, it appears
| that MS had to work around quite a few misbehaving (?) items of
| hardware.

Right. And Microsoft later updated it to address various other issues
[through both public and special "private" versions]. MSFN has issued a
couple modified esdi_506 mods to "unofficially" address even more, including
137 gig [big hard drives] issues and other..

|
| As stated elsewhere, the "IDEDMADRIVE" and "DMACurrentlyUsed" strings
| suggest that esdi_506.pdr is at least partly responsible for adding
| the DMA checkbox to Device Manager. There are other interesting
| strings such as "GOODOEM1DMA" and "NonStandardATAPI" for which I can
| find no documentation.
|
| - Franc Zabkar

Not un-typical of Microsoft, is there ANYTHING fully documented,, I think
not... then again we have had discussions related to HDrives concerning
NoIDE issues and numerous other registry entries...

AND we must remember/consider that ASPI is also involved when dealing with
CDROM/DVD issues...

--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com
--
_________
 
Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

Ah, it may be time to re-start this discussion under its own heading. Not
only is this deep [message-wise], its also likely not being reflected as it
should be.. no sense wasting our time ... and others may actually partake in
a new thread,, maybe not..

--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com
--
_________
 
Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

MEB wrote:
| In news:%239QttAg4IHA.4908@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl at ,
| PCR contemplated and posted:
|| Franc Zabkar wrote:
||| On Tue, 8 Jul 2008 01:44:50 -0400, "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> put
||| finger to keyboard and composed:
|||
|||>Franc Zabkar wrote:
|||
|||>|... PIO mode 3 is spec'ed for 11.1 MB/s and MW DMA 2 for 16.6 MB/s.
|||
|||>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atapi#ATA_standards_versions.2C_transfe
r_
|||>rates.2C_and_features
|||>
|||>Alright. That article does state there is some variance in what
|||>speed may actually be attained for any of the modes, due to clock
|||>cycle considerations & bus congestion. But those were probably much
|||>the same for your PIO 3 vrs. MW DMA 2 test. As far as whether the
|||>CPU was busy (which the MS article implies gives DMA the edge
|||>because the IDE device will do the transfer)... you do say you had
|||>no apps running. (Naturally, the OS itself is always running, but
|||>CPU usage from that alone can often show up as zero in System
|||>Monitor.)
|||>
|||>Nevertheless -- because these various DMA modes have different speed
|||>ratings (although that could be because devices got quicker
|||>themselves by the time the UDMA modes came out)-- I'm beginning to
|||>wonder whether a busy CPU is all that should make DMA quicker. I'm
|||>tempted again to turn mine off & see what happens-- but I see PIO 4
|||>& MW DMA 2 have the same
|||>16.6 MB/s rating. So, that won't help!
|||
||| I just realised that my 2x writer reads at 6x which is only 0.9
||| MB/s. That probably explains why neither a 16.6 MB/s nor a 11.1
||| MB/s ATAPI mode has any effect on transfer rates. <smacks forehead>
||| I also notice that my CPU usage is not perceptibly affected during
||| read testing in PIO mode at this low transfer rate (DMA box not
||| ticked).
|||
||| We both forgot that the 11.1 MB/s spec applies to "bursts" of data,
||| not sustained data transfers, ie it reflects the speed at which data
||| can move down the IDE cable, not how fast it can be read from the
||| disc. The OP has both a high speed drive *and* a high speed
||| interface, whereas our drives are slow but with medium speed
||| interfaces.
||
|| Alright. Yea, that has the ring of truth to it. I was just about to
|| formulate a thought like that. I think we've got it now. BUT I DID
|| somewhere question just what it was those rates were measuring-- when
|| they began/stopped the computation, & whether they were speaking of
|| CD-ROM or HDD. Also, I said somewhere things could be different with
|| a quick DVD. I see now it is a burst across a wire that is measured--
|| not the actual reading/writing of data. But you are right neither of
|| us knew precisely what we were talking about at the time, sure. And
|| MEB has arrived too late to say he did, either!
|
| 06/27/08 - MEB

No, no-- I only meant you never specifically stated you knew precisly
what those speed ratings meant! [That was supposed to be a joke: I know
you never said anything at all about it. :-).] Seriously, I know you
have a lot to contribute in all the rest of this! Furthermore, this
thread is no longer exclusively about Shadow's original problem. He
remains pleased (as well he should) with his own personal solution to
it. His DMA activated with a spectacular performance boost when he
jumpered the DVD to be slave-- & it's alone on its cable!

| "98 supports DMA but may disable it if your 98 system fails certain
| tests. Specifically when the drivers:
| 1. query the motherboard chip set,
| 2. query the drive itself, and,
| 3. test a short pattern of disk reads and writes to see if they are
| reliable at DMA speeds.
| If any of the three or combination fail, DMA will be disabled upon
| reboot. After errors, driver or software, the system may downgrade
| [permanently]. Particularly true for newer OSs [XP, VISTA].""

You provide more detail, but I was first to mention that possibility on
6/25/08...
news:eSzhjxy1IHA.4572@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl

| ---------
| ** The above hints and indicates the activities used during the
| enumeration process and the resultant assignments.

The enumeration process normally is thought of as a BIOS activity. But I
have noticed recently that Windows can be set to do its own, as I posted
elsewhere in this thread...

In Device Manager, viewing "by connection", there is (though leaving
some out)...

Computer
PCI Bus
VIA Master PCI IDE Controller
Secondary IDE Controller
IDE-CD R/RW 4x4x24

I'm thinking all of that is part of the computer-- except the last,
which is an add-on peripheral. I see I can get Properties for all of
those. The Settings tab of the PCI Bus allows "enumeration" to "Use
Hardware" or "Use BIOS". Mine is bolted to use hardware. There also is a
checkbox to "Override Bridges", which is unchecked for me. I'm thinking
these settings could make a big difference in our doings with this DMA
puzzle-- but I can't really precisely say what! The Settings tab of the
VIA Master PCI IDE Controller actually allows turning off IDE channels.
Mine is set to "default". The Secondary IDE Controller has no Settings
tab. (Neither does the Primary IDE Controller.)

Only the Settings tab of the IDE-CD R/RW 4x4x24 has a DMA checkbox,
which you know is checked for me (& I can uncheck it but much hesitate
to do so again). That is why I'm thinking the PCI Register is or should
be on the CD-ROM device itself. Why -- after unchecking DMA -- should it
go off for anything except the particular device unchecked?

| Those "hints" should have brought with them the chip and
| software.... had that avenue been followed, this discussion may have
| entered a different phase; which has now been done when it was
| appropriate to enter.
| -------

You begin to remind me of Frost's "The Road Not Taken".

| " ONE WAY that WILL kill DMA is to attempt to read a badly burnt or
| scratched disk multiple times... another, errors during the copy/burn
| process
|
| There MAY be a difficulty between the default CDROM drivers supplied
| [default IDE INFs] and the actual drive when accessed.
| There MAY be BIOS issues, using ACPI in some BIOSs may allow DMA to
| be used if not already set.

That sounds logical to me. It is an example of the details I omitted
when saying Win98 might do that, just as an article I found said XP does
do it. I was glad to see you confirmed it. I'm not sure this is what
applied in Shadow's case. He is very pleased with his own solution.

| * It may depend upon other drives attached to the channel, try:
| DVD-RW as Device 0 (1st) as Master and the other CD-RW/hard drive as
| Device 1 (2nd) as Slave."

He has only one device -- the DVD -- on the secondary IDE channel/cable.
When jumpered to be a slave, DVD works. He is able to check DVD for it
in Device Manager, & it will remain checked. And there is a spectacular
speed improvement. When set to be master, DVD fails. He can still check
the DVD box, but it will uncheck itself even without a reboot.

| ------
|
| ** This segment indicated both the actual fix to try; by changing
| channels and device selection and that the device is/would be
| *re-enumerated* if done.

He removing the device in Device Manager & rebooting, but it failed to
activate DMA.

| Now let's see if it can be defined WHERE and HOW the system holds
| enumeration information, and what effect it would have within the
| system...AND how one can remove old or spurious information.
| This would seem to provide a better understanding of the issue...

Zabcar & I have already been wondering about all of that for quite a
while now. He's done more experimentation than I.

||
||| That
||| said, I don't understand why his transfer rate in PIO mode (3.9 GB
||| in 93 min = 0.7 MB/s) is so much worse than that for my DVDROM drive
||| (2.2 MB/s). <shrug>
||
|| Shadow's situation was extremely odd in that he had to make the DVD a
|| slave alone on its cable to make DMA Mode work. Could be PIO wasn't
|| functioning quite right too until the thing was made a slave. Also,
|| along the way, he was switching cables too. (But, if I were him, I'd
|| probably just let it be now & not revert to PIO just to see!)
||
|||>Anyhow, let me start Process Explorer. That has made CPU Usage jump
|||>to the 70's! With DMA still on, let me copy that 300 MB's again to
|||>see whether it still takes only about 8 minutes....
|||>
|||>YIKES, it took 19 minutes that time!!! Why???
|||
||| Maybe Process Explorer intercepts each file I/O operation and adds
||| its own overhead ???
||
|| I'm not sure how Process Explorer works. It certainly can slow
|| everything down as it updates its various process displays-- it slows
|| my typing to the point the letter I see displayed was typed 5 letters
|| ago! I guess it can be doing more than just keeping the CPU busy. It
|| may cause intermittent interrupts or such that slows the DMA
|| read/write process. It may have been a poor choice to run Process
|| Explorer. As far as intercepting files, avast! does that each time an
|| executable is read. But that was the same for each test. Not sure
|| whether Process Explorer did any itself. No, I wasn't being quite
|| scientific with that!
|
| Depending upon the update cycle [how often it queries for
| information] it may completely take over the primary process area...
| a slow system will be degraded severely..
| It MAY have been better to use something like filemon or regmon...
| the GDI impact is less severe. It would depend upon what exactly you
| were attempting to obtain/monitor..

You are right. That was a very poor choice on my part. Zabcar did it
right in his own experiments.

||
||| Anyway I tried an alternative test. I copied 168 MB of data from my
||| UDMA-2 10X DVD-ROM to my UDMA-2 hard disc under various conditions.
||| During these tests I was running CpuIdle (a CPU cooler utility) and
||| nothing else. CpuIdle reports an "idle" percentage for the CPU. This
||| figure is normally 98%. With DMA on, and the copy in progress, the
||| CPU averages about 85% idle. With DMA off, this figure drops to
||| around 60%. So clearly there is less CPU usage in UDMA mode.
||
|| Hmmm... good thinking! Right, instead of looking for a speed
|| difference in the copy process-- you just directly measured CPU Idle
|| time. Very good! I will try that with Wintop by tomorrow!
||
||| Here are my test results:
|||
||| Transfer mode Transfer time
||| --------------------------------------------------------------
||| UDMA-0 73s modes set with Set Features in DOS mode
||| UDMA-1 75s & DMA box ticked
||| UDMA-2 81s "
||| UDMA-0 77s "
||| UDMA-1 75s "
||| UDMA-2 82s "
||| PIO (DMA off) 76s DMA box not ticked
||| PIO (DMA off) 79s "
||| PIO (DMA off) 76s "
||| DMA on 85s modes set by BIOS (UDMA-2) and Windows
||| DMA on 73s & DMA box ticked
|||
||| The numbers suggest that there is no real difference in the transfer
||| rates between PIO and UDMA modes. They all work out at about 2.2
||| MB/s, which is about 15X in CDROM terms. I guess this figure must
||| represent some hardware limit external to the drive.
||
|| Hmm. My understanding still is that in DMA mode... the DVD drive
|| firmware takes data from a DVD disc & puts it into a shared memory
|| area (SMA). Then, the CPU takes the data from the SMA & puts it into
|| another SMA between it and the HDD. The HDD firmware than retrieves
|| that & writes it to its disc.
||
|| In PIO mode the CPU does more of the work. But the savings may be
|| less in data transfer time (remember some PIO rates actually equal
|| DMA rates) & more in the fact that the CPU is free more of the time
|| to do something else. So, for instance, if you were printing a large
|| document while doing the data transfer-- THAT would seem to print
|| faster!
||
||| BTW, I repeated the first three measurements to ensure that disc
||| fragmentation was not affecting the results.
|||
|||>| This discussion ...
|||>|
|||>| http://discussions.virtualdr.com/archive/index.php/t-101564.html
|||>|
|||>| ... suggests that you have a "CompaQ CDD4401/71 CD-RW, which is
|||>| basically a Philips PCRW404K".
|||>|
|||>| I found these Philips support URLs:
|||>| http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/p/pcrw404k_00/
|||>| http://www.p4c.philips.com/files/p/
|||
|||>I only know I've got
|||>a Philips at all because I vaguely recall seeing it in the box.
|||
||| There are JPEGs at the Philips links above. At least you will know
||| if your drive looks the same. Anyway I didn't expect you to flash
||| your firmware, I only wanted to see what your drive's specs were.
||
|| I'll get back into that box one day & copy out the model number
|| again. I'm all for running the flash-- if/when I'm absolutely
|| certain it is right! Thanks again. One of those others who did it in
|| the threads you posted had a more pressing reason for it. But I'm
|| not quite positive even he really had to do it, as later he found
|| something else amiss.
||
|||>|>| I tried this again. I used the Debug method (in real DOS) to
|||>|>| configure the drive for multi-word DMA mode 2 and then typed
|||>|>| "win". This time the machine didn't hang but booted into Windows
|||>|>| (the DMA box was ticked beforehand). The same test now took 13m
|||>|>| 16s. <shrug>
|||
||| I now notice that Windows hangs if I use the Set Features command to
||| change to another mode, eg from PIO to multiword DMA, or from UDMA
||| to multiword DMA, but not when I switch from UDMA-2 to UDMA-0.
||| Maybe the IDE controller's registers need to be reconfigured to
||| match the changes to the drive ???
||
|| I don't know. Can it have to do with enumeration? Maybe MEB has the
|| answer, then-- go read his post thrice! And remember what I wrote
|| elsewhere about the properties of the various components in Device
|| Manager & implications of your particular boot/reboot method. The way
|| you leave DOS for Windows & visa versa likely has an effect-- but I
|| can't quite come up with precisely what!
|
| DOS box activities WILL cause issues, and so will running DOS first
| and starting Windows manually. Both leave residual aspects in memory,
| be it DOS drivers or access methods used while in DOS. Run the old
| *mem /d /p* while in DOS verses DOS box will show some of the
| differences related to memory management, but a more accurate
| portrayal of differences would be shown in some old DOS program like
| Diag2000, InfoPlus, or the like, when compared to Windows eventual
| settings... There was a discussion in this group related to QModem
| in a Windows Dos Box which discussed with some of those issues and
| potentials..

Zabcar boots with Autoexec.bat set to stop at DOS. To get to Windows, he
enters the WIN command. When Windows is exited, he ends up back in DOS.
I've already posed a million questions about the effect such a procedure
would have on his testing of that DMA setting(s). He only goes through
BIOS once.

||
||| - Franc Zabkar
||| --
||| Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
|
| Believe it or not, there is a method and reason to my "madness"...
| sometimes its just a little hard to keep up with...
|
| --
| MEB
| http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com
| --
| _________

--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
Should things get worse after this,
PCR
pcrrcp@netzero.net
 
Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

On Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:10:03 -0400, "MEB" <meb@not here@hotmail.com>
put finger to keyboard and composed:

>In news:2p6b74ttp939ektq79rvu997ftrm5usch7@4ax.com at ,
>Franc Zabkar contemplated and posted:
>| On Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:33:35 +1000, Franc Zabkar
>| <fzabkar@iinternode.on.net> put finger to keyboard and composed:
>|
>|>> As for the testing of the CDROM, using a tool such as Nero's CD
>|>>Speed Test [www.cdspeed2000.com], would give a better representation
>|>>of the actual capabilities of the system as configured.
>|
>| I downloaded NeroDiscSpeed, but it appears to be written for Windows
>| 2000/XP/Vista only:
>| http://www.cdspeed2000.com/files/NeroDiscSpeed_41120.zip
>|
>| Running the executable results in an error:
>|
>| "The DISCSPEED.EXE file is linked to missing export
>| ADVAPI232.DLL:RegOpenCurrentUser".
>|
>| My version of ADVAPI232.DLL is 4.80.0.1675.
>|
>|>>It might also be instructive to view the FAQ
>|>>http://www.cdspeed2000.com/faq.html
>|
>| - Franc Zabkar
>
>
> Try these:
>
>Nero DriveSpeed 1.60 - set CD speed
>http://www.cdspeed2000.com/files/NeroDriveSpeed_160.zip
>
>Nero CD Speed 1.01.3 - tests/diagnostics - this is the one you'll need
>http://www.cdspeed2000.com/files/NeroCDSpeed_1013.zip
>
>Nero InfoTool 1.02 - information tool
>http://www.cdspeed2000.com/files/NeroInfoTool_102.zip
>
>--
> MEB
> http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com


Thanks.

I tested my Ricoh writer and found that in both DMA and non-DMA modes
the interface burst rate was 1MB/s.

However, the CPU utilisation numbers were consistently different,
although not by much. The following tables represent two sets of five
trials.

DMA off
---------------------------
Speed CPU utilisation %
---------------------------
1X 9 9 9 8 9
2X 16 16 16 16 16
4X 94 94 95 93 92
8X 100 100 100 100 100
---------------------------

DMA on
---------------------------
Speed CPU utilisation %
---------------------------
1X 8 8 7 7 7
2X 12 14 13 14 13
4X 92 93 95 93 92
8X 100 100 100 100 100
---------------------------

So it seems to me that my firmware hack worked, although I didn't gain
much by it.

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
 
Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

In news:hrid7410ims1nug8dh808affqa7gh61lf7@4ax.com ,
Franc Zabkar contemplated and posted:

| On Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:10:03 -0400, "MEB" <meb@not here@hotmail.com>
| put finger to keyboard and composed:
|
|>In news:2p6b74ttp939ektq79rvu997ftrm5usch7@4ax.com at ,
|>Franc Zabkar contemplated and posted:
|>| On Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:33:35 +1000, Franc Zabkar
|>| <fzabkar@iinternode.on.net> put finger to keyboard and composed:
|>|
|>|>> As for the testing of the CDROM, using a tool such as Nero's CD
|>|>>Speed Test [www.cdspeed2000.com], would give a better
|>|>>representation of the actual capabilities of the system as
|>|>>configured.
|>|
|>| I downloaded NeroDiscSpeed, but it appears to be written for Windows
|>| 2000/XP/Vista only:
|>| http://www.cdspeed2000.com/files/NeroDiscSpeed_41120.zip
|>|
|>| Running the executable results in an error:
|>|
|>| "The DISCSPEED.EXE file is linked to missing export
|>| ADVAPI232.DLL:RegOpenCurrentUser".
|>|
|>| My version of ADVAPI232.DLL is 4.80.0.1675.
|>|
|>|>>It might also be instructive to view the FAQ
|>|>>http://www.cdspeed2000.com/faq.html
|>|
|>| - Franc Zabkar
|>
|>
|> Try these:
|>
|>Nero DriveSpeed 1.60 - set CD speed
|>http://www.cdspeed2000.com/files/NeroDriveSpeed_160.zip
|>
|>Nero CD Speed 1.01.3 - tests/diagnostics - this is the one you'll need
|>http://www.cdspeed2000.com/files/NeroCDSpeed_1013.zip
|>
|>Nero InfoTool 1.02 - information tool
|>http://www.cdspeed2000.com/files/NeroInfoTool_102.zip
|>
|>--
|> MEB
|> http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com
|
| Thanks.
|
| I tested my Ricoh writer and found that in both DMA and non-DMA modes
| the interface burst rate was 1MB/s.
|

That's consistant with mine, and what these older boards {BX and early VIA}
seem to show.

| However, the CPU utilisation numbers were consistently different,
| although not by much. The following tables represent two sets of five
| trials.
|
| DMA off
| ---------------------------
| Speed CPU utilisation %
| ---------------------------
| 1X 9 9 9 8 9
| 2X 16 16 16 16 16
| 4X 94 94 95 93 92
| 8X 100 100 100 100 100
| ---------------------------
|
| DMA on
| ---------------------------
| Speed CPU utilisation %
| ---------------------------
| 1X 8 8 7 7 7
| 2X 12 14 13 14 13
| 4X 92 93 95 93 92
| 8X 100 100 100 100 100
| ---------------------------
|
| So it seems to me that my firmware hack worked, although I didn't gain
| much by it.
|
| - Franc Zabkar

Yeah, not much going on there... what is your CPU speed, that it takes 100%
at 8X. The 550E I'm running at the moment utilizes about the X as
percentage, i.e. - 1X is 1% to 8X being 10% {while online and writing
this}... the speed on this Samsung averages about 33.37 [its 52X max],,,
uhm, that was a CAV right? Did you check the Options setup?

So what did the INFO tool show?


--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com
--
_________
 
Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:01:31 -0700 (PDT), Lee <melee5@my-deja.com>
wrote:
>Windows 98 has a built in broken DMA system so as to be able to use
>Bus Mastering software to get it all going correctly (I assume, there
>being no other excuse). I refer you to Mshdc.inf, and it's
>[ESDI_AddReg] section:
>HKR,,DriverDesc,,"ESDI Port Driver"
>HKR,,DevLoader,,*IOS
>HKR,,PortDriver,,ESDI_506.pdr
>
>And Diskdrv.inf and it's [DiskReg] section:
>HKR,,,,%DiskClassName%
>HKR,,EnumPropPages,,"iosclass.dll,EnumPropPages"
>HKR,,SilentInstall,,1
>HKR,,NoInstallClass,,1
>HKR,,Icon,,"3"
>
>If you will add:
>HKR,,IDEDMADrive0,3,01
>HKR,,IDEDMADrive1,3,01
>
>to both sections, and then save the inf files back to your inf
>folder. Then remove your IDE drives from the Device Mangler and then
>reboot, Windows will re-find them and install them with the DMA boxes
>already checked.
>http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/archive/idedma.mspx
>
>This is a "fix" for DMA issues over at msfn forums and it works -
>Windows 98 was built with a broken DMA to begin with. If you fix your
>inf files and put them in the Windows\Options\Cabs folder then the
>next time install Windows over the top of itself it will be set up
>with a working DMA system, it's automatic.

I finally got up my courage, jumpered the drive to master, did
all the stuff above, deleted the DVD from the device manager, rebooted
and LOST my DMA. It is slave again (with dma)
[]'s
 
Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

Shadow wrote:
| On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 13:01:31 -0700 (PDT), Lee <melee5@my-deja.com>
| wrote:
|>Windows 98 has a built in broken DMA system so as to be able to use
|>Bus Mastering software to get it all going correctly (I assume, there
|>being no other excuse). I refer you to Mshdc.inf, and it's
|>[ESDI_AddReg] section:
|>HKR,,DriverDesc,,"ESDI Port Driver"
|>HKR,,DevLoader,,*IOS
|>HKR,,PortDriver,,ESDI_506.pdr
|>
|>And Diskdrv.inf and it's [DiskReg] section:
|>HKR,,,,%DiskClassName%
|>HKR,,EnumPropPages,,"iosclass.dll,EnumPropPages"
|>HKR,,SilentInstall,,1
|>HKR,,NoInstallClass,,1
|>HKR,,Icon,,"3"
|>
|>If you will add:
|>HKR,,IDEDMADrive0,3,01
|>HKR,,IDEDMADrive1,3,01
|>
|>to both sections, and then save the inf files back to your inf
|>folder. Then remove your IDE drives from the Device Mangler and then
|>reboot, Windows will re-find them and install them with the DMA boxes
|>already checked.
|>http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/archive/idedma.mspx
|>
|>This is a "fix" for DMA issues over at msfn forums and it works -
|>Windows 98 was built with a broken DMA to begin with. If you fix your
|>inf files and put them in the Windows\Options\Cabs folder then the
|>next time install Windows over the top of itself it will be set up
|>with a working DMA system, it's automatic.

| I finally got up my courage, jumpered the drive to master, did
| all the stuff above, deleted the DVD from the device manager, rebooted
| and LOST my DMA. It is slave again (with dma)
| []'s

You are courageous, Shadow, to mess with the fix you came up with that
worked. I've been telling everyone you were fully content!

I wonder what your settings are for the following in Device Manager,
viewing devices "by connection". To get the Properties of some, you have
to select them & click the Properties button-- D-Clkng won't work. Here
are mine...

PCI Bus
VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller
Primary IDE Controller
Generic IDE DISK Type01
Generic IDE DISK Type02
Secondary IDE Controller
IDE-CD R/RW 4x4x24

The Settings tab of the PCI Bus allows "Device enumeration" to "Use
Hardware" or "Use BIOS". Mine is bolted to use hardware. There also is a
checkbox to "Override Bridges", which is unchecked for me. Here is the
blurb for those...

"You can use either hardware or BIOS to configure devices connected to
the PCI bus. Click Use Hardware for faster performance with fewer
problems. Click Use BIOS if one or more devices are not working properly
when Use Hardware is selected. Clicking Use BIOS can cause Windows or a
device to stop responding."

"Select (Override Bridges) box to disregard the BIOS settings for the
PCI bridge."

The Settings tab of the VIA Master PCI IDE Controller actually allows
turning off IDE channels. Mine is set to "default". Some of the other
choices are scarey!

The Primary & Secondary IDE Controller have no Settings.

The Generic IDE DISK Type01 is checked for DMA. Int 13 Unit is checked &
shadowed. It is the same for Type02.

The Settings tab of the IDE-CD R/RW 4x4x24 is checked for Disconnect,
Auto Insert Notification & DMA.

--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
Should things get worse after this,
PCR
pcrrcp@netzero.net
 
Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

On Fri, 11 Jul 2008 02:57:44 -0400, "MEB" <meb@not here@hotmail.com>
put finger to keyboard and composed:

>In news:hrid7410ims1nug8dh808affqa7gh61lf7@4ax.com ,
>Franc Zabkar contemplated and posted:
>
>| On Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:10:03 -0400, "MEB" <meb@not here@hotmail.com>
>| put finger to keyboard and composed:
>|
>|>In news:2p6b74ttp939ektq79rvu997ftrm5usch7@4ax.com at ,
>|>Franc Zabkar contemplated and posted:
>|>| On Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:33:35 +1000, Franc Zabkar
>|>| <fzabkar@iinternode.on.net> put finger to keyboard and composed:
>|>|
>|>|>> As for the testing of the CDROM, using a tool such as Nero's CD
>|>|>>Speed Test [www.cdspeed2000.com], would give a better
>|>|>>representation of the actual capabilities of the system as
>|>|>>configured.
>|>|
>|>| I downloaded NeroDiscSpeed, but it appears to be written for Windows
>|>| 2000/XP/Vista only:
>|>| http://www.cdspeed2000.com/files/NeroDiscSpeed_41120.zip
>|>|
>|>| Running the executable results in an error:
>|>|
>|>| "The DISCSPEED.EXE file is linked to missing export
>|>| ADVAPI232.DLL:RegOpenCurrentUser".
>|>|
>|>| My version of ADVAPI232.DLL is 4.80.0.1675.
>|>|
>|>|>>It might also be instructive to view the FAQ
>|>|>>http://www.cdspeed2000.com/faq.html
>|>|
>|>| - Franc Zabkar
>|>
>|>
>|> Try these:
>|>
>|>Nero DriveSpeed 1.60 - set CD speed
>|>http://www.cdspeed2000.com/files/NeroDriveSpeed_160.zip
>|>
>|>Nero CD Speed 1.01.3 - tests/diagnostics - this is the one you'll need
>|>http://www.cdspeed2000.com/files/NeroCDSpeed_1013.zip
>|>
>|>Nero InfoTool 1.02 - information tool
>|>http://www.cdspeed2000.com/files/NeroInfoTool_102.zip
>|>
>|>--
>|> MEB
>|> http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com
>|
>| Thanks.
>|
>| I tested my Ricoh writer and found that in both DMA and non-DMA modes
>| the interface burst rate was 1MB/s.
>|
>
> That's consistant with mine, and what these older boards {BX and early VIA}
>seem to show.
>
>| However, the CPU utilisation numbers were consistently different,
>| although not by much. The following tables represent two sets of five
>| trials.
>|
>| DMA off
>| ---------------------------
>| Speed CPU utilisation %
>| ---------------------------
>| 1X 9 9 9 8 9
>| 2X 16 16 16 16 16
>| 4X 94 94 95 93 92
>| 8X 100 100 100 100 100
>| ---------------------------
>|
>| DMA on
>| ---------------------------
>| Speed CPU utilisation %
>| ---------------------------
>| 1X 8 8 7 7 7
>| 2X 12 14 13 14 13
>| 4X 92 93 95 93 92
>| 8X 100 100 100 100 100
>| ---------------------------
>|
>| So it seems to me that my firmware hack worked, although I didn't gain
>| much by it.
>|
>| - Franc Zabkar
>
> Yeah, not much going on there... what is your CPU speed, that it takes 100%
>at 8X. The 550E I'm running at the moment utilizes about the X as
>percentage, i.e. - 1X is 1% to 8X being 10% {while online and writing
>this}... the speed on this Samsung averages about 33.37 [its 52X max],,,
>uhm, that was a CAV right? Did you check the Options setup?
>
> So what did the INFO tool show?
>
>
>--
> MEB
> http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com


I have an AMD K6-2 450MHz. The Ricoh reads at 6X in P-CAV mode.

I used version 0.84 beta of CD Speed for my CPU utilisation and
interface burst rate tests. Version 1.01.3 produced a result of 0 for
the Ricoh's burst rate in both DMA and PIO modes, and a burst rate of
1MB/s (1158KB/s) for the 10X DVD-ROM in DMA mode.

This is what I get with a Drive Check:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/MP6200A_DriveCheck.txt

Version 1.02 of Info Tool produced these results:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/MP6200A/

In DMA mode, Info Tool hung while interrogating the Ricoh. I was able
to regain control of the program by opening or closing the tray, but
the R/W features were not detected.

What I don't understand about the CPU utilisation result in CD Speed
is that during a file copy test with Explorer, CpuIdle hardly budged
from a figure of ~95% idle. Furthermore, the same test with my 10X
DVD-ROM drive (at 2.2MB/s) resulted in 85% CPU idle time in DMA mode
and 60% idle in PIO mode. With the CPU sitting at 98% when completely
idle, this equates to 13% busy in DMA mode and 38% busy in PIO mode, a
difference of 1:3. This ratio is consistent with that observed with CD
Speed:

1X 2X 4X 8X Drive speed for DVD-ROM
--------------
1 2 5 10 % CPU utilisation in DMA mode
3 7 14 29 % CPU utilisation in PIO mode

BTW, CpuIdle was not enabled during CD Speed's tests.

- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.
 
Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???

Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED ???


In news:f4if7450rkag2krqbvjbrvslu6u5ubs6oj@4ax.com ,
Franc Zabkar contemplated and posted:

| On Fri, 11 Jul 2008 02:57:44 -0400, "MEB" <meb@not here@hotmail.com>
| put finger to keyboard and composed:
|
|>In news:hrid7410ims1nug8dh808affqa7gh61lf7@4ax.com ,
|>Franc Zabkar contemplated and posted:
|>
|>| On Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:10:03 -0400, "MEB" <meb@not here@hotmail.com>
|>| put finger to keyboard and composed:
|>|
|>|>In news:2p6b74ttp939ektq79rvu997ftrm5usch7@4ax.com at ,
|>|>Franc Zabkar contemplated and posted:
|>|>| On Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:33:35 +1000, Franc Zabkar
|>|>| <fzabkar@iinternode.on.net> put finger to keyboard and composed:
|>|>|
|>|>|>> As for the testing of the CDROM, using a tool such as Nero's CD
|>|>|>>Speed Test [www.cdspeed2000.com], would give a better
|>|>|>>representation of the actual capabilities of the system as
|>|>|>>configured.
|>|>|
|>|>| I downloaded NeroDiscSpeed, but it appears to be written for
|>|>| Windows 2000/XP/Vista only:
|>|>| http://www.cdspeed2000.com/files/NeroDiscSpeed_41120.zip
|>|>|
|>|>| Running the executable results in an error:
|>|>|
|>|>| "The DISCSPEED.EXE file is linked to missing export
|>|>| ADVAPI232.DLL:RegOpenCurrentUser".
|>|>|
|>|>| My version of ADVAPI232.DLL is 4.80.0.1675.
|>|>|
|>|>|>>It might also be instructive to view the FAQ
|>|>|>>http://www.cdspeed2000.com/faq.html
|>|>|
|>|>| - Franc Zabkar
|>|>
|>|>
|>|> Try these:
|>|>
|>|>Nero DriveSpeed 1.60 - set CD speed
|>|>http://www.cdspeed2000.com/files/NeroDriveSpeed_160.zip
|>|>
|>|>Nero CD Speed 1.01.3 - tests/diagnostics - this is the one you'll
|>|>need http://www.cdspeed2000.com/files/NeroCDSpeed_1013.zip
|>|>
|>|>Nero InfoTool 1.02 - information tool
|>|>http://www.cdspeed2000.com/files/NeroInfoTool_102.zip
|>|>
|>|>--
|>|> MEB
|>|> http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com
|>|
|>| Thanks.
|>|
|>| I tested my Ricoh writer and found that in both DMA and non-DMA
|>| modes the interface burst rate was 1MB/s.
|>|
|>
|> That's consistant with mine, and what these older boards {BX and
|>early VIA} seem to show.
|>
|>| However, the CPU utilisation numbers were consistently different,
|>| although not by much. The following tables represent two sets of
|>| five trials.
|>|
|>| DMA off
|>| ---------------------------
|>| Speed CPU utilisation %
|>| ---------------------------
|>| 1X 9 9 9 8 9
|>| 2X 16 16 16 16 16
|>| 4X 94 94 95 93 92
|>| 8X 100 100 100 100 100
|>| ---------------------------
|>|
|>| DMA on
|>| ---------------------------
|>| Speed CPU utilisation %
|>| ---------------------------
|>| 1X 8 8 7 7 7
|>| 2X 12 14 13 14 13
|>| 4X 92 93 95 93 92
|>| 8X 100 100 100 100 100
|>| ---------------------------
|>|
|>| So it seems to me that my firmware hack worked, although I didn't
|>| gain much by it.
|>|
|>| - Franc Zabkar
|>
|> Yeah, not much going on there... what is your CPU speed, that it
|>takes 100% at 8X. The 550E I'm running at the moment utilizes about
|>the X as percentage, i.e. - 1X is 1% to 8X being 10% {while online
|>and writing this}... the speed on this Samsung averages about 33.37
|>[its 52X max],,, uhm, that was a CAV right? Did you check the Options
|>setup?
|>
|> So what did the INFO tool show?
|>
|>
|>--
|> MEB
|> http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com
|
| I have an AMD K6-2 450MHz. The Ricoh reads at 6X in P-CAV mode.

Well, that's about the min. for reliable CDR/W. You must be having some
difficulties by now with the new inks and disks..?

|
| I used version 0.84 beta of CD Speed for my CPU utilisation and
| interface burst rate tests. Version 1.01.3 produced a result of 0 for
| the Ricoh's burst rate in both DMA and PIO modes, and a burst rate of
| 1MB/s (1158KB/s) for the 10X DVD-ROM in DMA mode.
|
| This is what I get with a Drive Check:
| http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/MP6200A_DriveCheck.txt

Got a 404 on the MP6200A_DriveCheck.txt link
It should be:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/MP6200A/MP6200A_DriveCheck.txt

Oh so its only 6X??? oh wow...

|
| Version 1.02 of Info Tool produced these results:
| http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/MP6200A/

Strange, 0 read speed, no read-out, the drive isn't being recognized
properly... see a couple of differences in our drivers, esdi-506.pdr, loaded
system files, etc...

1.03.3 Info Tool read-out for my Samsung drive has been sent to you for
comparison... meb-samsung-InfoTool.zip

|
| In DMA mode, Info Tool hung while interrogating the Ricoh. I was able
| to regain control of the program by opening or closing the tray, but
| the R/W features were not detected.

You might be getting a residual from your manual flash change or your
present driver configuration... though I have noted those same issues when a
drive is about to flake out..

|
| What I don't understand about the CPU utilization result in CD Speed
| is that during a file copy test with Explorer, CpuIdle hardly budged
| from a figure of ~95% idle. Furthermore, the same test with my 10X
| DVD-ROM drive (at 2.2MB/s) resulted in 85% CPU idle time in DMA mode
| and 60% idle in PIO mode. With the CPU sitting at 98% when completely
| idle, this equates to 13% busy in DMA mode and 38% busy in PIO mode, a
| difference of 1:3. This ratio is consistent with that observed with CD
| Speed:
|
| 1X 2X 4X 8X Drive speed for DVD-ROM
| --------------
| 1 2 5 10 % CPU utilisation in DMA mode
| 3 7 14 29 % CPU utilisation in PIO mode
|
| BTW, CpuIdle was not enabled during CD Speed's tests.
|
| - Franc Zabkar

Might want to compare the drivers - yours verses mine, and re-flash the
Ricoh with the authorized flash version for comparison.
Something is wacked here, but so far its eluding me... let me mual over your
drivers and info for a bit...

Did notice that 6X CDROMs are listed as unsupported in Nero's CFG and it
contains no obvious Ricoh entries.

http://www.ricoh.com/drive/asia/support/faq/mp6200/pc_a.html
MP6200A(ATAPI model); Bus master driver.
.. In some cases the Bus Master device driver does not support the CD-RW
drive. In this case, it is recommended to change to a Standard IDE driver or
update the driver for your specific Bus Master chipset. For details, contact
your PC manufacturer.

Application information
.. Problems may occur if memory resident programs like anti-virus software
are installed. This may conflict with the writing software. Please uninstall
the anti-virus program before writing to the CD. If this is not possible,
deactivate the anti-virus while writing.
.. Errors may occur with Task-scheduler running in the background. This is a
utility program installed by Windows 98 Plus. To avoid this, disable the
program or change the scheduled auto-running time.
.. Real-Player (version 4.0 or over) may cause errors while recording due to
conflicts with the writing software. Uninstall this program before writing
to the CD.

Specs.
http://www.ricoh.com/drive/asia/cd-r/mp6200/

Hmm, not exactly a speedy drive

--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.orgfree.com
--
_________
 
Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED

Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED

On Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:47:50 -0400, "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote:

I'm changing the title because thread is too long
>I wonder what your settings are for the following in Device Manager,
>viewing devices "by connection". To get the Properties of some, you have
>to select them & click the Properties button-- D-Clkng won't work. Here
>are mine...

You probably know, but windowsbutton-pause is a fast shortcut
to hardware manager. Save you from RSI :P
>
>PCI Bus
> VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller
> Primary IDE Controller
> Generic IDE DISK Type01
> Generic IDE DISK Type02
> Secondary IDE Controller
> IDE-CD R/RW 4x4x24
>
>The Settings tab of the PCI Bus allows "Device enumeration" to "Use
>Hardware" or "Use BIOS". Mine is bolted to use hardware. There also is a
>checkbox to "Override Bridges", which is unchecked for me. Here is the
>blurb for those...

Use hardware
the button under that called "substitute connections" is
unmarked.

>
>"You can use either hardware or BIOS to configure devices connected to
>the PCI bus. Click Use Hardware for faster performance with fewer
>problems. Click Use BIOS if one or more devices are not working properly
>when Use Hardware is selected. Clicking Use BIOS can cause Windows or a
>device to stop responding."
>
>"Select (Override Bridges) box to disregard the BIOS settings for the
>PCI bridge."

Can't find that. But Microsoft translates very badly. The
spell checker is called an OROgraphic checker :)

>
>The Settings tab of the VIA Master PCI IDE Controller actually allows
>turning off IDE channels. Mine is set to "default". Some of the other
>choices are scarey!

I tried those settings before. Don't seem to be related to the
problem. I don't believe they froze the PC, but if they did I managed
to revert in safe mode, or restoring registry, can't remember which.
>
>The Primary & Secondary IDE Controller have no Settings.

Here too.
>
>The Generic IDE DISK Type01 is checked for DMA. Int 13 Unit is checked &
>shadowed. It is the same for Type02.
>
>The Settings tab of the IDE-CD R/RW 4x4x24 is checked for Disconnect,
>Auto Insert Notification & DMA.

Above is same here, except the Sony-DRM-triggering auto-insert
is unset for the dvd.
 
Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED

Re: A hack, anyone, to turn on dma ? SOLVED

Shadow wrote:
| On Fri, 11 Jul 2008 19:47:50 -0400, "PCR" <pcrrcp@netzero.net> wrote:
|
| I'm changing the title because thread is too long
|>I wonder what your settings are for the following in Device Manager,
|>viewing devices "by connection". To get the Properties of some, you
|>have to select them & click the Properties button-- D-Clkng won't
|>work. Here are mine...
| You probably know, but windowsbutton-pause is a fast shortcut
| to hardware manager. Save you from RSI :P

Yes, I do that, thanks. Someone else posted it long ago. That is faster
to do than "Control Panel, System, Device Manager tab", but not
necessarily easier to write.

|>
|>PCI Bus
|> VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller
|> Primary IDE Controller
|> Generic IDE DISK Type01
|> Generic IDE DISK Type02
|> Secondary IDE Controller
|> IDE-CD R/RW 4x4x24
|>
|>The Settings tab of the PCI Bus allows "Device enumeration" to "Use
|>Hardware" or "Use BIOS". Mine is bolted to use hardware. There also
|>is a checkbox to "Override Bridges", which is unchecked for me. Here
|>is the blurb for those...

| Use hardware
| the button under that called "substitute connections" is
| unmarked.

To get the blurb on "substitute connections" (if any), R-Clk its
checkbox & click "What's This". Then, you may R-Clk the blurb to copy
it. However, it sounds to be just other words for what I've got--
Override Bridges.

Since neither of our overrides is checked-- I guess that won't explain
why you must set your DVD to be a slave for DMA & I may let mine remain
a master (which I can only presume it is until I open that box again
some day).

Under your Secondary IDE Controller there is JUST the DVD listed, like
mine shows just that CD-R/W?

|>
|>"You can use either hardware or BIOS to configure devices connected to
|>the PCI bus. Click Use Hardware for faster performance with fewer
|>problems. Click Use BIOS if one or more devices are not working
|>properly when Use Hardware is selected. Clicking Use BIOS can cause
|>Windows or a device to stop responding."
|>
|>"Select (Override Bridges) box to disregard the BIOS settings for the
|>PCI bridge."

| Can't find that. But Microsoft translates very badly. The
| spell checker is called an OROgraphic checker :)

Uh-huh. You appear to have "substitute connections", instead. But we are
both unchecked for that. What are you saying about your spell checker?

|>
|>The Settings tab of the VIA Master PCI IDE Controller actually allows
|>turning off IDE channels. Mine is set to "default". Some of the other
|>choices are scarey!

| I tried those settings before. Don't seem to be related to the
| problem. I don't believe they froze the PC, but if they did I managed
| to revert in safe mode, or restoring registry, can't remember which.

Those settings are scarey to fool with. But, if everything is showing up
for you in Device Manager, looks like you've got both your IDE Channels
enabled.

|>
|>The Primary & Secondary IDE Controller have no Settings.

| Here too.

Uh-huh. Could be these controllers can be made to disappear by fooling
with the IDE channels. I wouldn't want to ever try! Glad you survived
it!

|>
|>The Generic IDE DISK Type01 is checked for DMA. Int 13 Unit is
|>checked & shadowed. It is the same for Type02.
|>
|>The Settings tab of the IDE-CD R/RW 4x4x24 is checked for Disconnect,
|>Auto Insert Notification & DMA.

| Above is same here, except the Sony-DRM-triggering auto-insert
| is unset for the dvd.

That shouldn't have a bearing on the DMA issue. Sounds like all your
settings are much like mine. I see nothing in this to explain your
peculiar circumstance with that DVD.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
Should things get worse after this,
PCR
pcrrcp@netzero.net
 
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