|
Help! "DMA" destroyed my drive??
|
|
|
cenozoite
Junior Member
|
3. April 2005 @ 14:19 |
Link to this message
|
|
I recently installed a brand new Benq DW1620 drive, which worked perfectly.
At the advice of one of the guides here, I swiched it from am IDE Slave to a Master using the jumpers, and it still worked perfectly.
Then at the further advice of the guide, I tried to enable DMA for the drive. Perhaps I did it the wrong way. Using Win98se, I went to control panel, system, device manager, then under CD-Roms I selected the drive, hit properties, then the "settings" tab, and in that tab I checked the previously unchecked "DMA" checkbox.
When I rebooted my computer, it wouldn't start up at all, but froze every time before loading Windows. The only way I got it to boot up again was to completely physically remove the DVD drive from my computer. I then discovered that if I switched the jumpers back and reconnected it, making it a slave again, Windows would load again and the drive would work. When I went into control panel again, the "DMA" option was back to being *unchecked*. I left it alone.
But, if I switch the jumpers back and try making it a Master again, my whole computer fails to load up every single time. It initially worked fine as a master before I tried that DMA nonsense, so what do I do to fix it again?
Any help would be extremely appreciated. Please, and thank you very much.
|
|
Advertisement
|
 |
|
|
Member
|
3. April 2005 @ 14:24 |
Link to this message
|
|
Oops!
I'm pretty retarded when it comes to DMA so it couldn't be my advice. As for the computer, restart it back to a Restore Point.
|
|
cenozoite
Junior Member
|
3. April 2005 @ 14:28 |
Link to this message
|
|
I'm afraid I have no idea what a Restore Point is. I'm using Windows 98se, and I've never run into such an option so it probably isn't available to me.
|
Member
|
3. April 2005 @ 14:37 |
Link to this message
|
|
|
ddp
Moderator
|
3. April 2005 @ 14:43 |
Link to this message
|
|
are you using the 40 or 80 wire ide cables as there is 2 different configurations for the 80 that you don't see
|
|
BIGBAD
Newbie
|
3. April 2005 @ 14:49 |
Link to this message
|
|
All I can say M8 I use XP and had major probs with games glitching etc read guide on forum referring to DMA settings ,linked to backing up movies changed them and since then no probs at all with game playing or backing up.Can only think its your windows 2nd edition giving you probs.Maybe time to upgrsde
BIGBAD
|
Member
|
3. April 2005 @ 14:51 |
Link to this message
|
|
Hi,
Try leaving the jumper set to slave, then try to set the drive to use DMA. If the drive doesn't support it it will revert back to none DMA when you restart the computer.
I would have thought though that any new drive would support direct memory access.
Dont slip or youll break it!
Core 2 Quad Q6600 GO, 4GB OCZ Reaper PC8000@1066Mhz, XFX XXX 8800GT, 3x SATAII Seagate HDDs (2TB) Pioneer DVD-RW, Samsung DVD-RW.
Windows Vista x64 SP1. |
|
cenozoite
Junior Member
|
3. April 2005 @ 14:53 |
Link to this message
|
|
I'm not sure which IDE cable I'm using. At each end it has two rows of 20 pins each, so 40 at each end, 80 in total if you count both ends.
The thing is, it worked perfectly before I tried enabling DMA, even when I set it as master. I've tried flashing the firmware with an upgrade, and no help. Isn't there any simple way I can just reset it so how it was before. Why does the computer insist on freezing only when it's set as a Master, but not a Slave?
Also, I notice in my device manager, under system devices, I have two identical listings for "direct memory access controller. One is working fine, wgile theo ther has an exclamation point indicating a problem. It says the device loader (VXMAD.VXD) could not load it. I have no idea whether this is related to my pronlem.
Ugh, it can't be that easy to totally destroy a drive. Could the simple act of checking a "DMA" checkbox really have caused permanent damage of some kind?
|
Member
|
3. April 2005 @ 14:58 |
Link to this message
|
|
Ahhh,
You flashed the firmware!! Now that could destroy a drive, especially if the flash program was the wrong one.
Are you sure you used the right one?
Dont slip or youll break it!
Core 2 Quad Q6600 GO, 4GB OCZ Reaper PC8000@1066Mhz, XFX XXX 8800GT, 3x SATAII Seagate HDDs (2TB) Pioneer DVD-RW, Samsung DVD-RW.
Windows Vista x64 SP1.
|
|
ddp
Moderator
|
3. April 2005 @ 15:03 |
Link to this message
|
|
the 1 with the exclamation mark is causing the problem. check the 1 with the exclamation mark to see what the problem is. 40 & 80 wire cables use 40 pin connectors but use either 40 or 80 wires to make the cable. the 80 is a finer cable in feel wise but you can see the 40 wires that make a cable easier
|
|
cenozoite
Junior Member
|
3. April 2005 @ 15:06 |
Link to this message
|
|
I only flashed the firmware AFTER I encountered the DMA problem. And the flash worked fine, it was the right version, and was successful. Drive continued to work as a Slave.
I now tried enabling DMA while it was a slave, and now the computer will no longer boot up if the drive is connected as a master OR a slave. The only way I can start my computer now is to detach it completely from the mainboard. What is happening?? Isn't there a way to reset the stupid DMA settings somewhere????
Can't I just remove the drive from my system somehow so that Windows will re-detect it as new hardware and re-initialize it? I tried removing it from device manager, but when I reboot it's just right back there again with no detection process.
|
|
cenozoite
Junior Member
|
3. April 2005 @ 15:12 |
Link to this message
|
|
All the exclamation mark DMA controler says is that the device loader (VXMAD.vsd) was unable to load the device. Bu the identical one works fine. I've tried removing that problem one and letting it reinstall, no help. I've tried reinstalling the driver automatically and manually, no help.
The problem can't be my cable because like I said, everything worked fine at first. The problem has to have been caused after selecting DMA from that option box. There has to be some way to reverse it!!
|
|
cenozoite
Junior Member
|
3. April 2005 @ 15:27 |
Link to this message
|
|
Where is the guide in the forum that deals with DMA settings? I am going crazy here!!!
|
Member
|
3. April 2005 @ 15:39 |
Link to this message
|
|
I wouldn't be surprised if this was a Win98 operating system problem.
Please note, I'm not the best on all the error messages produced by the Windows 9x o/s. But when any continuing problem situations arised for me, I would just save what I needed on the system, format the hard drive & Start again.
Or maybe that was just me looking for the easy way out ;)
However its not a bad idea to reset your system every couple of years to start over. This also wipes out any errors in the system programs.
Dont slip or youll break it!
Core 2 Quad Q6600 GO, 4GB OCZ Reaper PC8000@1066Mhz, XFX XXX 8800GT, 3x SATAII Seagate HDDs (2TB) Pioneer DVD-RW, Samsung DVD-RW.
Windows Vista x64 SP1.
|
Member
|
3. April 2005 @ 15:45 |
Link to this message
|
Dont slip or youll break it!
Core 2 Quad Q6600 GO, 4GB OCZ Reaper PC8000@1066Mhz, XFX XXX 8800GT, 3x SATAII Seagate HDDs (2TB) Pioneer DVD-RW, Samsung DVD-RW.
Windows Vista x64 SP1.
|
|
cenozoite
Junior Member
|
3. April 2005 @ 15:57 |
Link to this message
|
|
Ack, for the love of god, I've never had to reformat my drive ever in its lifetime, and I really doubt should have to resort to re-installing operating systems or formating drives to fix a problem like this. Isn't there a way to completely remove windows memory of a device ever existing, so that it will be detected from scratch anew once I reboot? Without re-formatting? Or just a way to get at the DMA settings? I read that guide but none of those solutions applied to me.
I can't be the first one to run into a problem like this. When I boot up in safe mode, i can't get access to the CD drives at all. All I want to to is switch it back so it doesn't try to use DMA on this new drive. It all worked perfectly fine before I selected that one little option. Can't it just be reversed as easily???
|
|
cenozoite
Junior Member
|
3. April 2005 @ 16:38 |
Link to this message
|
For the future reference of anyone else having this problem, the solution can be found at the following link:
http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win98/t998392498
In case that link is broken by then, the short version is:
1. Restart the computer in DOS mode (or select "command prompt only" from the Safe Mode startup options)
2. At the DOS prompt type "scanreg/restore" and select one of five automatically saved registry backups from the last five days, from before you foolishly clicked that infernal "DMA" checkbox. They'll be there without your having to have backed anything up manually.
3. Click restore to reboot the computer, and the system should be back to the way it was before the problem. Reconnect the drive.
4. If you'd installed any new software in the meantime, you'll need to re-install it since the registy was knocked back to a date before the install.
5. Don't ever click anything marked "DMA" again as long as you live!!!
Thanks to all who offered help.
|
|
ddp
Moderator
|
3. April 2005 @ 16:59 |
Link to this message
|
|
works on mine & i'm running a p4 2.4 celeron with win98se with no problems. teach & learn
|
Member
|
4. April 2005 @ 11:26 |
Link to this message
|
Dont slip or youll break it!
Core 2 Quad Q6600 GO, 4GB OCZ Reaper PC8000@1066Mhz, XFX XXX 8800GT, 3x SATAII Seagate HDDs (2TB) Pioneer DVD-RW, Samsung DVD-RW.
Windows Vista x64 SP1.
|
|
munchinuk
Suspended due to non-functional email address
|
4. April 2005 @ 13:53 |
Link to this message
|
|
try booting in safe mode (press f8 while starting up)then go into device manager and unclick dma then reboot, that might help...thats if u can boot in safe mode with the dvd r/w still installed
|
|
cenozoite
Junior Member
|
4. April 2005 @ 19:59 |
Link to this message
|
|
I'm sure that enabling DMA on drives should work on most computers with most drives. However, as we all know, each computer and its particular configuration and behavioral patterns is about as unique as a human being, and no two machines ever really behave exactly alike.
On mine, I can enable DMA for my CDRW drive just fine. But when I try it for my specific DVD Writer drive, the whole thing goes on strike and refuses to show up for work.
And in addition, in order to fix a problem caused by the simple click of a mouse, rather than just being able to "unclick" that option, I have to effectively employ an archaic DOS system recovery method that rolls my entire machine and all its settings to a state of several days earlier. Basically travel back in time to before I done went and pushed the Universe-Destroying-Infernal-Button-Of-Doom.
Computers are just great.
As for re-installing operating systems and formatting C drives, I'm way too stubborn to resort to such blanket solutions for mostly isolated problems. I don't like the idea of razing an entire city to the ground just because one traffic light bulb has burnt out.
|
|
squizzle
AfterDawn Addict
|
5. April 2005 @ 15:25 |
Link to this message
|
|
I'm not too familiar with this problem, but I just wanted to ask a question. I noticed you said you had the drive as a slave in the beginning. Did you have another device on the same IDE cable that was a master? If so, what was it? That may have been the reason your computer got mad when you switched from slave to master. Having 2 devices as master on the same cable is a no-no.
Convert PAL to NTSC or NTSC to PAL------>http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/167922
ScubaPete's guides------>http://www.dvdplusvideo.com/tutorial007.html
Bbmayo's guides------>http://home.comcast.net/~bbmayo/index.html
My ever-growing movie collection------>http://www.intervocative.com/dvdcollection.aspx/squizzle
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
|
cenozoite
Junior Member
|
5. April 2005 @ 15:41 |
Link to this message
|
|
I had a hard drive on the cable that was originally set as a master, but of course as soon as I switched the DVD writer to master I simultaneously changed the HD's jumper to slave. I never had both devices set to the same role at the same time, so that wasn't the problem.
God help anyone who discovers the DOS scanreg/restore solution more than 5 days after encountering the orignal problem, since it only saves automatis registry backups for the past 5 days.
|
