Hi, Phil,
Before getting into some details, I want to remind our list that we're
having this discussion with the idea that certain system settings improve
responsiveness for people using their systems to create multi-track sound
recordings. It's getting a bit techie below but I urge everyone to try to
understand this topic a bit better for the sake of a better result in your
SONAR projects, etc. I plan to anyway (smile).
You asked:
shouldn't be getting all of those DMA settings. Question, is this a clean
install on a system? Was the system in question, installed with ACPI
Windows XP was installed by our supplier of desktop systems who shipped
the
machine directly to me. I subsequently updated it to Windows XP Service
Pack 2.
How can I determine if ACPI is enabled? Is it possible for a blind user
to
read and even modify settings in the BIOS?
Bill
-----Original Message-----
From: ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On
Behalf Of Phil Muir
Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 5:37 PM
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: Checking DMA Settings
Bill, Just double checked this with Sean Cummins. He came to the same
conclusion that I have. We are both of the opinion that you definitely,
shouldn't be getting all of those DMA settings. Question, is this a clean
install on a system? Was the system in question, installed with ACPI
enabled? If you can answer this question then, I may have an answer for
your question. I have DMA enabled here on hard drives and DVD ROM drives.
My DVD ROM drives are running ultra DMA mode 2, and my hard disks, are
running, ultra DMA 5. Mind you, I installed this PC with ACPI enabled in
the bios so, Windows, would have dealt with all that automatically,
anyway.
Regards, Phil Muir
P J Muir Productions
Music And Audio Production
URL:
www.philmuir.com/
----- Original Message -----
From: "William R. McCann" <BillList1@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 9:55 PM
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: Checking DMA Settings
Thanks, Phil, your instructions got me to the right place!
Now, I found that the checkbox that says:
Let BIOS select transfer mode
was checked. When I unchecked it, I had 11 different choices for my
primary
drive. Ten of them were some variation of DMA and the last was "PIO".
I selected:
Ultra DMA 6 - Ultra133
because it's first on the list but I must say I have no idea which of
these
10 DMA settings would be best. Any idea?
Bill
-----Original Message-----
From: ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ddots-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On
Behalf Of Phil Muir
Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 3:06 AM
To: ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [ddots-l] Re: Checking DMA Settings
Bill, if you expand that list then, you will find the primary and
secondary
IDE channels. That's where you need to be looking. Press the enter key
on
ether the primary IDE or secondary IDE channel. Then, use the keystroke,
control tab once, in order to get to the settings tab if the channel.
Now,
tab across. Jaws will report the current settings. Note: sometimes,
particularly on laptops, Jaws may say that a particular DMA setting isn't
available. For example, this happens here on my IBM ThinkPad T30
because,
I
can only have one hard drive attached to any of the IDE channels, rather
than the standard 2, that you would normally see in a desktop. The
primary
settings on my Laptop's primary IDE channel, look like this:
Device 0
Device Type: Auto Detection
Transfer Mode: DMA if available
Current Transfer Mode: Ultra DMA Mode 5
Device 1
Device Type: Auto Detection
Transfer Mode: DMA if available
Current Transfer Mode: Not Applicable
All of the above information is in a list which can be tabbed across, and
altered, if required. You alter the transfer mode by using the up and
down
arrow keys.
Obviously, you will want all of your IDE channels set to ultra DMA mode,
rather than the slower PIO mode. If you install a PC with ACPI enabled
then
this will be the case. However, if you install a PC that isn't using the
ACPI feature then, all IDE channels will by default, be running in the
slower PIO mode. This is because, if you install a PC in this way,
Windows
doesn't bother to set the IDE channels, optimally. Some individuals,
including myself, used to install audio PC's with ACPI disabled. This is
because, it was thought, that there could be a performance hit when using
ACPI. However, having run PC's with ACPI and without, I don't personally
think that there is. I am now running all of my machines here, with the
ACPI feature enabled.
Regards, Phil Muir
P J Muir Productions
Music And Audio Production
URL:
www.philmuir.com/
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