When burning with Windows 2000 server pc becomes unusable

"Darren Lambert" wrote in message ...
Hi all

I have had the same pc for years, and the same Sony CD-RW CRX185E1 for over
a year.
Until recently the pc had windows 2000 pro installed. The CR-RW was able to
read and write with no problems at all, always using the standard windows
drivers and nero.

The pc now has a fresh install of Windows 2000 server installed, on the same
hard disc.
Now when I read or write to/from the cd windows starts to judder as if there
is a very intensive drain on resources.
The cpu monitor shows windows thinks it is idle.
Is this a know ide issue with Windows 2000 server?

Thanks

Darren

Hello Darren,

I think I have the solution to your problem. I am running Windows
2000 Professional with service pack 4 installed. I had the exact same
problem you experienced above in my pro installation - jittery mouse
movements, extremely delayed response times in loading applications,
unable to play a simply MP3 file back while burning a CD at 24x. It
turns out (at least in my situation) that the problem was with the
driver I had installed for my IDE controller. If you have an Intel
chipset (go into Start - Settings - Control Panel - System -
Hardware tab - Device Manager and look under IDE ATA/ATAPI
controllers for an Intel IDE controller. Usually it will also list
your chipset type under the System Devices area farther down the list.
If it is an Intel chipset, download the latest chipset drivers from
Intel's site and install them. The exact link to get to their chipset
stuff is:

http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scri...?ProductID=816

That package of software contains all chipset drivers for all Intel
chipsets dating back to 486's and such. If you have a different
chipset, go to your computer manufacturer's website or motherboard
manufacturer's website and download the drivers specific to your
chipset. Downloading the wrong drivers and installing them can cause
serious problems! Install your package, be it the Intel chipset
package or a different one; reboot or whatever it tells you that you
need to do in order to make the drivers work.

Next, go back into the device manager (Start - Settings - Control
Panel - System - Hardware tab - Device Manager) and go into IDE
ATA/ATAPI controllers. Double click "Primary IDE Channel." Then
click the "Advanced Settings" tab at the top of the list. For Device
0 AND Device 1, choose "DMA If Available" for the Transfer Mode.
Leave everything else the same and click OK. Then (still in device
manager) double click "Secondary IDE Channel." Again, click the
"Advanced Settings" tab at the top of the list. For Device 0 AND
Device 1, choose "DMA If Available" for the Transfer Mode. Click OK.
Reboot your computer after this, and burning CD's should run quite a
bit better. If your system is like mine, for some rediculous reason,
Windows 2000 or that Intel driver pack set all CD-ROM devices (CD-R,
DVD+R, DVD-R drives) to PIO mode data transfers only. PIO =
Programmed Input / Output - an ANCIENT technology that is extremely
processor intensive. Instead of letting the IDE controller handle the
data communications with its own built-in controller hardware using
DMA (Direct Memory Access), they make you use that ancient technology!

A few other things to try:
If you are burning from a hard drive on a RAID controller to a CD-RW
or CD-R drive on a standard IDE controller, this will GREATLY decrease
your burn speed and reliability. RAID controllers use proprietary
forms of data translation to talk to the bus that are not directly
compatible with most on-board IDE controllers. Even if your IDE
controller and RAID controller are both built-in on the motherboard,
chances are the actual chips are from different companies. The
translation from RAID language (pseudo-scsi data) to true IDE is
extremely processor intensive and can cause severe dips in system
performance. Try getting an extra hard drive to run on the IDE
channel along with the CD-RW drive. Then, to burn a CD, copy the data
from your RAID drive to the other hard drive on the onboard IDE
controller, then burn it from the hard drive on the IDE controller.
One other option is to format and install again with your primary
drive not on a RAID controller at all, and instead on the built-in IDE
controller

Turn on UDMA / LBA support for all drives in your BIOS, even if you
don't think they support it. This can't hurt, but sure can help if
you are having this type of problem. If LBA is not available or
compatible with the drive, the BIOS defaults back to an earlier
transfer method for communications.

Connect the CD-RW drive to a different cable than the device where the
data is coming from. For example, if I burn most of my stuff from my
hard drive, I would hook the hard drive up as Primary Master, and the
CD-RW drive up as Secondary Master on a totally different cable. It
also helps if you have a CD-ROM in addition to this configuration to
hook the CD-ROM drive up to the hard drive's IDE cable, leaving the
other cable for exclusive use by the CD-RW drive.

If you are using a Promise IDE controller card for a larger drive,
DON'T! They are notoriously slow! Get a motherboard that supports
the larger drive with its own on-board controller! If you MUST use
this controller, hook your CD-ROM and CD-RW drive into it. Note: Most
PCI IDE controller cards will detect a CD-RW or CD-ROM drive ONLY if a
hard drive is connected to them as well. I don't know why, they just
don't work when a CD-RW or CD-ROM is connected to them solo.

If this does not fix your problem, post again, someone here will
certainly be able to help with other ideas for a fix.

--KJ

KJ

Many thanks, I set all IDE channles to "DMA If Available" and everything is
now fine

Thanks again

Darren

"KJ" wrote in message
om...
"Darren Lambert" wrote in message
...
Hi all

I have had the same pc for years, and the same Sony CD-RW CRX185E1 for
over
a year.
Until recently the pc had windows 2000 pro installed. The CR-RW was
able to
read and write with no problems at all, always using the standard
windows
drivers and nero.

The pc now has a fresh install of Windows 2000 server installed, on the
same
hard disc.
Now when I read or write to/from the cd windows starts to judder as if
there
is a very intensive drain on resources.
The cpu monitor shows windows thinks it is idle.
Is this a know ide issue with Windows 2000 server?

Thanks

Darren

Hello Darren,

I think I have the solution to your problem. I am running Windows
2000 Professional with service pack 4 installed. I had the exact same
problem you experienced above in my pro installation - jittery mouse
movements, extremely delayed response times in loading applications,
unable to play a simply MP3 file back while burning a CD at 24x. It
turns out (at least in my situation) that the problem was with the
driver I had installed for my IDE controller. If you have an Intel
chipset (go into Start - Settings - Control Panel - System -
Hardware tab - Device Manager and look under IDE ATA/ATAPI
controllers for an Intel IDE controller. Usually it will also list
your chipset type under the System Devices area farther down the list.
If it is an Intel chipset, download the latest chipset drivers from
Intel's site and install them. The exact link to get to their chipset
stuff is:


http://downloadfinder.intel.com/scri...?ProductID=816

That package of software contains all chipset drivers for all Intel
chipsets dating back to 486's and such. If you have a different
chipset, go to your computer manufacturer's website or motherboard
manufacturer's website and download the drivers specific to your
chipset. Downloading the wrong drivers and installing them can cause
serious problems! Install your package, be it the Intel chipset
package or a different one; reboot or whatever it tells you that you
need to do in order to make the drivers work.

Next, go back into the device manager (Start - Settings - Control
Panel - System - Hardware tab - Device Manager) and go into IDE
ATA/ATAPI controllers. Double click "Primary IDE Channel." Then
click the "Advanced Settings" tab at the top of the list. For Device
0 AND Device 1, choose "DMA If Available" for the Transfer Mode.
Leave everything else the same and click OK. Then (still in device
manager) double click "Secondary IDE Channel." Again, click the
"Advanced Settings" tab at the top of the list. For Device 0 AND
Device 1, choose "DMA If Available" for the Transfer Mode. Click OK.
Reboot your computer after this, and burning CD's should run quite a
bit better. If your system is like mine, for some rediculous reason,
Windows 2000 or that Intel driver pack set all CD-ROM devices (CD-R,
DVD+R, DVD-R drives) to PIO mode data transfers only. PIO =
Programmed Input / Output - an ANCIENT technology that is extremely
processor intensive. Instead of letting the IDE controller handle the
data communications with its own built-in controller hardware using
DMA (Direct Memory Access), they make you use that ancient technology!

A few other things to try:
If you are burning from a hard drive on a RAID controller to a CD-RW
or CD-R drive on a standard IDE controller, this will GREATLY decrease
your burn speed and reliability. RAID controllers use proprietary
forms of data translation to talk to the bus that are not directly
compatible with most on-board IDE controllers. Even if your IDE
controller and RAID controller are both built-in on the motherboard,
chances are the actual chips are from different companies. The
translation from RAID language (pseudo-scsi data) to true IDE is
extremely processor intensive and can cause severe dips in system
performance. Try getting an extra hard drive to run on the IDE
channel along with the CD-RW drive. Then, to burn a CD, copy the data
from your RAID drive to the other hard drive on the onboard IDE
controller, then burn it from the hard drive on the IDE controller.
One other option is to format and install again with your primary
drive not on a RAID controller at all, and instead on the built-in IDE
controller

Turn on UDMA / LBA support for all drives in your BIOS, even if you
don't think they support it. This can't hurt, but sure can help if
you are having this type of problem. If LBA is not available or
compatible with the drive, the BIOS defaults back to an earlier
transfer method for communications.

Connect the CD-RW drive to a different cable than the device where the
data is coming from. For example, if I burn most of my stuff from my
hard drive, I would hook the hard drive up as Primary Master, and the
CD-RW drive up as Secondary Master on a totally different cable. It
also helps if you have a CD-ROM in addition to this configuration to
hook the CD-ROM drive up to the hard drive's IDE cable, leaving the
other cable for exclusive use by the CD-RW drive.

If you are using a Promise IDE controller card for a larger drive,
DON'T! They are notoriously slow! Get a motherboard that supports
the larger drive with its own on-board controller! If you MUST use
this controller, hook your CD-ROM and CD-RW drive into it. Note: Most
PCI IDE controller cards will detect a CD-RW or CD-ROM drive ONLY if a
hard drive is connected to them as well. I don't know why, they just
don't work when a CD-RW or CD-ROM is connected to them solo.

If this does not fix your problem, post again, someone here will
certainly be able to help with other ideas for a fix.

--KJ