Unexplainable DVD problem

[peterdoughty]

Hi everybody. I'm hoping you can help me with a DVD problem, but I guess this will call for some component specs, so here they are first of all:

-Windows XP Professional 5.1 build 2600
-Drive H: Hitachi DVDROM GD-5000 (SCSI Target ID 1) (location 1 (1))
-Drive I: Mitsumi CR-48XCTE (SCSI Target ID 0) (location 0 (0))
-Both drives version 5.1.2535.0 (Microsoft)
(Weirdly the hard drive's location in device manager also reads '0 (0)' so hmm... is that normal?)

- IDE Channels version 5.1.2600.0

Primary IDE Channel:
-Device 0: Type reads 'auto detection' (listbox greyed out), mode reads 'DMA if available', current mode Ultra DMA mode 4
-Device 1: Type reads 'auto detection', mode reads 'DMA if available', current mode reads 'not applicable'

Secondary IDE Channel:
-Device 0: Type reads 'auto detection' (listbox greyed out), mode reads 'DMA if available', current mode Ultra DMA Mode 2
-Device 1: Type reads 'auto detection' (listbox greyed out), mode reads 'PIO only', current mode PIO

-Both IDE controllers are reported to be working properly, as is the DVD drive.

-Voyetra Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound card

-DirectX 9.0 (4.09.0000.0900)

-PowerDVD XP 4.0



Right, now that's all done, the problem: yesterday for no apparent reason (nothing new installed, no crashes, no viruses, no automatic updates etc.) when I inserted a DVD PowerDVD played it not normally, but with massive choppiness.

The sound was choppy; the video was jerky; the DVD was essentially unwatchable. I'm not being picky here. This was major chop, **out of nowhere!**

I tried different DVDs. I tried uninstalling PowerDVD and reinstalling it. I tried uninstalling PowerDVD and grabbing a trial of WinDVD. Same result. I tried lowering screen resolution. Same result. I have no viruses. I have processes running that I've always had running. I defrag regularly. I've got enough disk space. I've got more than enough RAM. I haven't changed a thing on my machine, and yet this happens.

(On my trawl through my system, I now notice that, weirdly, files with the .DAT extension display with a windows media player icon, and not a 'system' generic icon, as they normally do. They still report as opening with 'unknown application' though - when you click them you're warned, and asked what you want to do. BUT I could swear they didn't look like that a few days ago. I don't know whether that could somehow link to this problem, but I tried setting the attributes back to 'zero' and I can't.)

So, what should I do?

I know from posting here previously that you guys are a mine of information about all sorts of stuff, so if anyone can help me to get back to DVD nirvana without a reinstall, I'd really, really appreciate the help!

If you need me to post any detail about anything, go right ahead.

Thanks in advance! Pete

[pam123]

The DVD drive is now in PIO mode instead of DMA ?
If so then deleting IDE 2 in Device manager and rebooting will correct the problem by forcing XP to re-recognize it correctly.
If you have an Intel board there is a download, at the board maker's site probably, that will correct this and prevent it from happening again.

[glc]

You need to install or update your motherboard chipset drivers to be able to enable DMA on the DVD drive, and when the DVD is in DMA, your issues should be taken care of.

[peterdoughty]

Thanks guys for your to-the-point replies. But now I'm a little weirded out... here's why.

The DVD *was* in DMA before.

As far as I can tell, it still is... isn't it? I want to be sure that I'm deleting the correct IDE before doing so, as I've *never* done that before!

What would I have to do to delete it? Really delete it, or uninstall it, or what? And then what? Would I need to reinstall both drives? And if I did, would that mean re-applying region-free software for the DVD drive?

(Either way, PowerDVD's diagnostic program indicates that the Mitsumi drive is DMA-enabled, and the DVD drive isn't - but that is inexplicable as I am *absolutely* *certain* that DMA *was* enabled for the DVD drive since day one of my install - and this install's life is currently standing at about a year and a half! This happened completely out of the blue with no changes made by me. (Although if XP *does* mess with your DMA completely by itself, I'd not be surprised... )

So since that DMA shows as disabled without any change by me, what might that tell me about the nature of the problem?

[glc]

Let's get even more simple - the box that says "PIO Only" should be a list box - "DMA if available" should be the other selection in there. Select it and reboot. If it doesn't stick, then update your motherboard drivers.

[peterdoughty]

After taking the plunge and uninstalling the IDE and rebooting, it turned out that was all I needed to do... but at the same time, that doesn't really explain *why* it happened in the first place! Never mind, it's another win for the wisdom of PCMech guys! And another lose for the understandability of XP...

Thanks, guys.