Page 1 of 1

How to enable DMA in Windows XP (with pictures)

PostPosted: Sat Nov 23, 2002 11:15 pm
by dodecahedron
Instructions for enabling DMA in Windows XP.



1. Go to the Device Manager. For that, click the Start button and then click Control Panel.

Image

Then, in the Control Panel, double-click System.

Image

Alternatively - right-click the My Computer icon on the desktop and then click Properties.

Image

Or click the Start button and then right-click the My Computer link and then click Properties.

In the System Properties window, select the Hardware tab and then click the Device Manager button.

Image



2. In the Device Manager, expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers entry, either by double-clicking IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers or by clicking on the + next to it.

Image



3. Select the appropriate IDE channel (Primary or Secondary). To get to the IDE Channel Properties window, either double-click the channel, or right-click the channel and then click Properties, or select the channel and click Action -> Properties in the menubar.

Image



4. In the Primary/Secondary IDE Channel Properties window, select the Advanced Settings tab (if the Properties window does not have an Advanced Settings tab, see the Note at the end).

Image



5. Choose either the Device 0 frame for the master device on the channel or the Device 1 frame for the slave device on the channel, depending on whether the drive for which you are trying to enable DMA is master or slave. Click the Transfer Mode pull-down menu. Select DMA if available. Then click OK.

Image



6. To verify that DMA was indeed enabled for the drive, again select the appropriate IDE channel (as in step 3), open the IDE Channel Properties window and select the Advanced Settings tab (as in step 4). The Current Transfer Mode box should display Ultra DMA Mode 2 if the drive can handle this, or Multi-Word DMA Mode 2 if the drive does not support UDMA. If DMA was not enabled, it will say PIO Mode.

Here is an example of how the IDE Channel Properties window should look like. In this example, two optical drives are connected to the secondary IDE channel. The master drive supports UDMA33 and thus is in Ultra DMA Mode 2, the slave does not support UDMA, only PIO and DMA modes, so it is in Multi-Word DMA Mode 2.

Image



Note: With some IDE drivers/Busmastering drivers, DMA cannot be enabled through the device manager, but only through the driver settings. An example of this is the Intel Application Accelerator.

PostPosted: Thu Mar 06, 2003 3:05 pm
by dodecahedron
Sometimes Windws XP will not enable DMA, no matter how hard you try. Selecting DMA if available does not work, and you're still stuck in PIO Mode.
If this is the case, read this FAQ: Problems enabling DMA in Windows XP