Writing CDRW in background freeze for few seconds

[ghido]

I have a Sony CDRW 8x4x8, pretty old then.
It's on a Dell Dimension with ATA interface.
It works without any problems, but only when I write CDRW for backups in background, sometimes the PC frezes for 3 seconds, without any errors and the CDRW is perfectly written. Only the mouse still moves but it is not possible to do anything with the software running.
This happens few times on a 10 mins backup.
Running W2K and Easy CD Creator using DirectCD for the writing from a command window (it's an xcopy).

Anything I could change to avoid the freezes?
Thank you

 

[HammerBot]

Check that UDMA is enabled for all drives

<i><b>Engineering is the fine art of making what you want from things you can get</b></i>
<A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=655" target="_new">My systems</A>

 

[ghido]

HammerBot, thanks for the tip.

Yes UDMA is enabled in all the channels (2).
It looks like the PC stops while filling the buffer of the CDRW (4MB) and then works normally while the drive writes. Is that how it works? Is that a normal limitation of ATA?

Thanks for any help the board can give me.
Ciao

 

[HammerBot]

Filling the buffer really shouldn't affect the PC that much. Thats what UDMA is all about. Data is transferred with minimal load on the CPU.
When I burn CDs, I can continue browsing the net and do whatever I wish. I could do that on my old PC as well (500MHz PIII). Try checking CPU usage while you burn.


<i><b>Engineering is the fine art of making what you want from things you can get</b></i>
<A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=655" target="_new">My systems</A>

 

[ghido]

Yes that was it. I also expected the CPU usage to be low with UDMA, but checking my system I saw the CPU hitting 100% every some seconds. It must be PIO I thought. I go to Device Man and I find that there is no Advanced page to check the DMA/PIO settings.
I had installed an old intel driver that probably did not support DMA. Maybe 3 years ago I checked the ATA interface, saw that it was Intel and got a driver from them, don't remember.
Anyway changed the driver with the W2K one and now it works much better. No more freezing. I should have checked before. THANK YOU.

Got another problem though now. The new driver changed the controller fine and the second ATA channel.
The first ATA channel remains and cannot be deinstalled. The button is gray. Right clicking do not show uninstall option. So now tt shows 2 Primary ATA channel that conflict with the resources (yellow !). How can I eliminate the old Primary ATA channel is there is no unistall option?

Again thank you for your help.
Ciao

 

[HammerBot]

If it works, can't you just ignore the conflict? . I don't how to get rid of it when there's no uninstall option. It probably involves some registry hacks or a complete reinstall of windows.

<i><b>Engineering is the fine art of making what you want from things you can get</b></i>
<A HREF="http://www.btvillarin.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=655" target="_new">My systems</A>

 

[ghido]

Yes you are right. I will ignore it. I was just wondering if the new driver would improve also the HD (primary chan) performance.
You have been very helpful and kind. Thank you very much.
Ciao