PIO Mode 4 on A7N8X DX

[pitsi]

Can someone please tell me how can I enable PIO Mode 4 for a CD-RW that I have on my system (secondary slave)? Currently the mobo automatically recognizes this drive during boot-up (Plextor 12/10/32A) and sets it to work at DMA 2 but from my experience I know that for this drive to work properly, it must be configured to work in PIO Mode 4. Currently, since changing the mobo I get all kind of problems trying to make this drive work ok under Windows XP. I've looked everywhere in the bios and i can't see an option about this.

Help anyone? Does this motherboard even supports PIO Mode 4 and if not, what should I do?

 

[TKH]

Can't you disable the DMA mode in BIOS? I believe this can be done. The options in the IDE controllers are [Auto] or [Disable], just select the [Disable] then you are ready to go.

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[pitsi]

That's exactly the problem, I couldn't find anywhere in the BIOS something about disabling DMA. And trust me, I'm not a newbie. That's why I am asking any existing A7N8X Deluxe users if they have anything in mind. Maybe I am missing something here!

Is it possible for this board not to support PIO Mode 4?

 

[khha4113]

Go to <b><font color=red>Device Manager</b></font color=red>, open <b>IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers</b>, double-click on <b>Secondary IDE channel</b>, and in <b>Advanced settings</b>, change the settings of <b>Device 1</b> (transfer mode) from <b>DMA if available</b> to <b>PIO only</b>

Good or Bad have no meaning at all, depends on what your point of view is.

 

[elzt]

Maybe a 40-wire ide cable would help... of course if you don't care which mode the secondary master drive is running as well.

 

[khha4113]

<b>

Maybe a 40-wire ide cable would help</b>

I doubt it since I use it (as you know 40-wire cable can be used for ATA33) for both of my Pioneer DVD-106 and Yamaha CRW-F1E, and they still can be DMA enabled.

Good or Bad have no meaning at all, depends on what your point of view is.

 

[pitsi]

Go to Device Manager, open IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers, double-click on Secondary IDE channel, and in Advanced settings, change the settings of Device 1 (transfer mode) from DMA if available to PIO only

This would work on VIA boards but not on nForce2. Under IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers there is only NVIDIA nForce IDE Controller available and by entering properties those options you mentioned are not available.

Maybe a 40-wire ide cable would help... of course if you don't care which mode the secondary master drive is running as well.

I'm already using a 40-wire ide cable. :frown:


I've visited Plextor's website and flashed the drive to the latest firmware update. I also read in its specs that it supports DMA 2, the mode which is automatically set to this drive by the motherboard. So I decided to use a different app and voila! Everything works ok. So it seems my problem is only with Nero Burning ROM after all. Does anyone know why Nero has this problem working with my drive when in DMA mode? I remember when I was using my old K7V mobo I had the same problem with Nero, which was solved after switching from DMA mode to PIO Mode 4.

 

[khha4113]

Under IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers there is only NVIDIA nForce IDE Controller available and by entering properties those options you mentioned are not available.

It works for me (Abit NF7-S) since I use driver from Abit CD, not download from NVIDIA.
The new unified driver automatically enables DMA, so you won't have option to change it unless you use Microsoft drivers (or driver from your mobo's CD as I've been using).
I tried to use NForce2 <b>Unified</b> driver version 2.03 from NVidia, and got corrupted Windows (I had to reinstall it and used the driver from Abit NF7-S CD ).
I have Plextor PX-W4824A (48/24/48X) that works OK with Nero (with DMA mode 2). What version is your Nero? Mine is 5.5.9.9.


Good or Bad have no meaning at all, depends on what your point of view is.

 

[TKH]

Sorry, my bad. By th time I typed that reply I'm using an tweaked BIOS v1002.A1 Uber from nForceHQ.com. This BIOS has those function enabled. Yeah, Asus has switched off these functions for not known reason. Now after I flashed to BIOS v1004 all those sweet function including FSB adjustment and multiplier adjustment have gone, now I can only adjust my FSB value as 100/133/166/200 and maximum multiplier at 12.5x. So flash your BIOS to Uber version and wait for the Uber release of v1004 if you need the memory channel indicator and 400FSB CPU support.

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[pitsi]

I am using Nero 5.5.10.28 but also keep in mind that your CD-RW is much newer than the one I have. Thanks for the info, I'll try installing Asus' drivers instead of nVidia's the next time I format my PC. But for now I don't have the time for this so I think I will probably simply stop using Nero.

Thanks for your time though.