Lately my computer has been having real trouble playing videos
(extremely jerky), and even scrolling through a long list of files in
a directory in windows explorer (jerky scrolling). I ran some tests
using HD Tune and HD Tach to see if it was a hard drive issue, and low
and behold the read speed is terrible. I am getting a maximum read
rate of about 4MB/Sec. My drive is a 120GB Maxtor 4R120LO. Is there
anything I can do to fix this? I defragged it but no difference. Can
it be saved?

Thanks
Marcus

<holysmokes99********.com> wrote in message
news:1173338439.816158.98870@v33g2000cwv.googlegro ups.com...
> Lately my computer has been having real trouble playing videos
> (extremely jerky), and even scrolling through a long list of files in
> a directory in windows explorer (jerky scrolling). I ran some tests
> using HD Tune and HD Tach to see if it was a hard drive issue, and low
> and behold the read speed is terrible. I am getting a maximum read
> rate of about 4MB/Sec. My drive is a 120GB Maxtor 4R120LO. Is there
> anything I can do to fix this? I defragged it but no difference. Can
> it be saved?
>
> Thanks
> Marcus

Check if DMA is enabled for your disk: Control Panel / System /
Device Manager / Primary IDE Channel / Advanced Settings /
Transfer Mode.

You should also check the Event Viewer (eventvwr.exe) for
relevant events.

Hi Marcus,

In addition to Pegasus' excellent advice, here is some documentation on the
PIO-DMA issue:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device...e/IDE-DMA.mspx

http://www.michna.com/kb/WxDMA.htm

--
HTH,
Curt

Windows Support Center
http://aumha.org/

"Pegasus (MVP)" <I.can@fly.com> wrote in message
news:uXm$9gVYHHA.1216@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>
> <holysmokes99********.com> wrote in message
> news:1173338439.816158.98870@v33g2000cwv.googlegro ups.com...
>> Lately my computer has been having real trouble playing videos
>> (extremely jerky), and even scrolling through a long list of files in
>> a directory in windows explorer (jerky scrolling). I ran some tests
>> using HD Tune and HD Tach to see if it was a hard drive issue, and low
>> and behold the read speed is terrible. I am getting a maximum read
>> rate of about 4MB/Sec. My drive is a 120GB Maxtor 4R120LO. Is there
>> anything I can do to fix this? I defragged it but no difference. Can
>> it be saved?
>>
>> Thanks
>> Marcus
>
> Check if DMA is enabled for your disk: Control Panel / System /
> Device Manager / Primary IDE Channel / Advanced Settings /
> Transfer Mode.
>
> You should also check the Event Viewer (eventvwr.exe) for
> relevant events.
>
>

<holysmokes99********.com> wrote in message
news:1173338439.816158.98870@v33g2000cwv.googlegro ups.com...
> Lately my computer has been having real trouble playing videos
> (extremely jerky), and even scrolling through a long list of files in
> a directory in windows explorer (jerky scrolling). I ran some tests
> using HD Tune and HD Tach to see if it was a hard drive issue, and low
> and behold the read speed is terrible. I am getting a maximum read
> rate of about 4MB/Sec. My drive is a 120GB Maxtor 4R120LO. Is there
> anything I can do to fix this? I defragged it but no difference. Can
> it be saved?
>
> Thanks
> Marcus

I once had a similar problem. I had set up my PC with two CD drives and two
hard drives. I thought I would get better hard drive access if I put one CD
and one hard drive on eaxh of the IDE cables. With their locations in the
PC case, it seemed best to make the CDs the primary and the hard drives the
secondary devices. Big mistake. It was sooooooo slow. Changing the hard
drives to primary device on both IDE cables solved the problem.

-Paul Randall

Paul,

I've never tried that configuration myself, but I can just imagine the
performance. It would be hard *not* to notice. <g>

--
HTH,
Curt

Windows Support Center
http://aumha.org/

"Paul Randall" <paulr901@cableone.net> wrote in message
news:eqFeGzZYHHA.4264@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>
> <holysmokes99********.com> wrote in message
> news:1173338439.816158.98870@v33g2000cwv.googlegro ups.com...
>> Lately my computer has been having real trouble playing videos
>> (extremely jerky), and even scrolling through a long list of files in
>> a directory in windows explorer (jerky scrolling). I ran some tests
>> using HD Tune and HD Tach to see if it was a hard drive issue, and low
>> and behold the read speed is terrible. I am getting a maximum read
>> rate of about 4MB/Sec. My drive is a 120GB Maxtor 4R120LO. Is there
>> anything I can do to fix this? I defragged it but no difference. Can
>> it be saved?
>>
>> Thanks
>> Marcus
>
> I once had a similar problem. I had set up my PC with two CD drives and
> two hard drives. I thought I would get better hard drive access if I put
> one CD and one hard drive on eaxh of the IDE cables. With their locations
> in the PC case, it seemed best to make the CDs the primary and the hard
> drives the secondary devices. Big mistake. It was sooooooo slow.
> Changing the hard drives to primary device on both IDE cables solved the
> problem.
>
> -Paul Randall
>

Thanks, Curt and Paul, for your comments. I didn't see your posts
until today. For some reason this post was not showing up in my news
reader, so I posted it again at this link:
http://groups.google.ca/group/micros...5b4af1cdb2397f.
It was a DMA issue.

Cheers,
Marcus

On Mar 8, 9:31 am, "Curt Christianson" <curtchrist...@NOSPAMyahoo.com>
wrote:
> Paul,
>
> I've never tried that configuration myself, but I can just imagine the
> performance. It would be hard *not* to notice. <g>
>
> --
> HTH,
> Curt
>
> Windows Support Centerhttp://aumha.org/
>
> "Paul Randall" <paulr...@cableone.net> wrote in message
>
> news:eqFeGzZYHHA.4264@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>
>
>
> > <holysmoke...********.com> wrote in message
> >news:1173338439.816158.98870@v33g2000cwv.googlegr oups.com...
> >> Lately my computer has been having real trouble playing videos
> >> (extremely jerky), and even scrolling through a long list of files in
> >> a directory in windows explorer (jerky scrolling). I ran some tests
> >> using HD Tune and HD Tach to see if it was a hard drive issue, and low
> >> and behold the read speed is terrible. I am getting a maximum read
> >> rate of about 4MB/Sec. My drive is a 120GB Maxtor 4R120LO. Is there
> >> anything I can do to fix this? I defragged it but no difference. Can
> >> it be saved?
>
> >> Thanks
> >> Marcus
>
> > I once had a similar problem. I had set up my PC with two CD drives and
> > two hard drives. I thought I would get better hard drive access if I put
> > one CD and one hard drive on eaxh of the IDE cables. With their locations
> > in the PC case, it seemed best to make the CDs the primary and the hard
> > drives the secondary devices. Big mistake. It was sooooooo slow.
> > Changing the hard drives to primary device on both IDE cables solved the
> > problem.
>
> > -Paul Randall

You're welcome!

--
HTH,
Curt

Windows Support Center
http://aumha.org/

"Marcus" <holysmokes99********.com> wrote in message
news:1174110630.131897.258990@n76g2000hsh.googlegr oups.com...
> Thanks, Curt and Paul, for your comments. I didn't see your posts
> until today. For some reason this post was not showing up in my news
> reader, so I posted it again at this link:
> http://groups.google.ca/group/micros...5b4af1cdb2397f.
> It was a DMA issue.
>
> Cheers,
> Marcus
>
> On Mar 8, 9:31 am, "Curt Christianson" <curtchrist...@NOSPAMyahoo.com>
> wrote:
>> Paul,
>>
>> I've never tried that configuration myself, but I can just imagine the
>> performance. It would be hard *not* to notice. <g>
>>
>> --
>> HTH,
>> Curt
>>
>> Windows Support Centerhttp://aumha.org/
>>
>> "Paul Randall" <paulr...@cableone.net> wrote in message
>>
>> news:eqFeGzZYHHA.4264@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
>>
>>
>>
>> > <holysmoke...********.com> wrote in message
>> >news:1173338439.816158.98870@v33g2000cwv.googlegr oups.com...
>> >> Lately my computer has been having real trouble playing videos
>> >> (extremely jerky), and even scrolling through a long list of files in
>> >> a directory in windows explorer (jerky scrolling). I ran some tests
>> >> using HD Tune and HD Tach to see if it was a hard drive issue, and low
>> >> and behold the read speed is terrible. I am getting a maximum read
>> >> rate of about 4MB/Sec. My drive is a 120GB Maxtor 4R120LO. Is there
>> >> anything I can do to fix this? I defragged it but no difference. Can
>> >> it be saved?
>>
>> >> Thanks
>> >> Marcus
>>
>> > I once had a similar problem. I had set up my PC with two CD drives
>> > and
>> > two hard drives. I thought I would get better hard drive access if I
>> > put
>> > one CD and one hard drive on eaxh of the IDE cables. With their
>> > locations
>> > in the PC case, it seemed best to make the CDs the primary and the hard
>> > drives the secondary devices. Big mistake. It was sooooooo slow.
>> > Changing the hard drives to primary device on both IDE cables solved
>> > the
>> > problem.
>>
>> > -Paul Randall
>
>