FYI: Restoring DMA access on an "IDE ATA/ATAPI controller"

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

The main harddrive on my computer (running Windows-XP Pro, now SP3)
had slipped to PIO mode. Microsoft support information at
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/817472 ("IDE ATA and ATAPI disks use
PIO mode after multiple time-out or CRC errors occur") did not give me
much joy. A google search took me to http://winhlp.com/node/10 and
then on to the vbscript, http://winhlp.com/tools/resetdma.vbs.
I ran the vbscript -- with a little trepidation, but my hard disk,
Seagate ATA 160GB, was already agonizingly slow. On reboot I found
that Ultra DMA Mode 5 has been restored, and my disk is shutting down,
rebooting, hibernating, resuming, etc. at near normal speed.

I thought the info would be of use to others.
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Hard Disk Performance
    ... > Every night each system does a backup to a single disk file (Using Backup ... > solved by installing a new SCO disk driver (rather than the old one which is ... setup and see if it shows you anything about the chosen PIO mode. ...
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  • Re: DMA reverted to PIO
    ... That disk started going bad so I decided it was time to buy a new 250GB ... This has now set the Transfer mode for the Primary IDE controller to PIO mode. ... The drive I want DMA mode back on is the main system disk. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: What would cause Primary IDE to revert to PIO mode?
    ... IDE ATA and ATAPI disks use PIO mode after multiple ... Windows - Shell/User ... "Peter" wrote: ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: DMA reverted to PIO
    ... I've had an old 60GB harddisk in this computer for while. ... It left a many disk ... > This has now set the Transfer mode for the Primary IDE controller to> PIO ... > to the PIO mode on that IDE controller. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
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