Having Problems with the speed PC creates an image on hard-drive using Alcohol 120%

Hi All,

I use Alcohol 120% to make copies of DVD's (legal copies of my own stuff for
back up purposes of course) When it goes to create an image of the source
file or film on the hard drive the 'block speed' i.e. the speed that the PC
rips the file from the original source (in this case a DVD) is at 1x up
until recently it would create an image at up to 24x speed.

I recently formatted my hard drive and this problem has started since then.
I cannot think of any setting that's I have changed to cause this problem
and nothing in Alcohol gives me any indication what the problem might be.

Can anyone help please or give me any ideas. I often use a non aol service
to check email so if you could cc your replies to my email address as well
as to this forum I would be most grateful.

Thank you for your help in anticipation.

V

Steve

On Tue, 28 Dec 2004 23:53:07 GMT, "Steve" <sweeny->
wrote:

>Hi All,
>
>I use Alcohol 120% to make copies of DVD's (legal copies of my own stuff for
>back up purposes of course) When it goes to create an image of the source
>file or film on the hard drive the 'block speed' i.e. the speed that the PC
>rips the file from the original source (in this case a DVD) is at 1x up
>until recently it would create an image at up to 24x speed.
>
>I recently formatted my hard drive and this problem has started since then.
>I cannot think of any setting that's I have changed to cause this problem
>and nothing in Alcohol gives me any indication what the problem might be.
>
>Can anyone help please or give me any ideas. I often use a non aol service
>to check email so if you could cc your replies to my email address as well
>as to this forum I would be most grateful.
>
>Thank you for your help in anticipation.
>

What version of Windows are you using...? What was the reason for
reformatting your HD...?

If you are using WinXP or Win2K and were having HD problems then I'll
bet it is your IDE controller causing the problem.

Right click on My Computer and select Manage
Expand Device Manager
There will be an item on the right called something like IDE ATA/ATAPI
controllers - expand this
Depending on your motherboard chipset you will see either a single IDE
controller (Nforce boards for example like my XP box at home) or
separate Primary and Secondary channels (like my Intel box here at
work with 2K).
right click on the appropriate item and select properties.
There should be a tab similar to Advanced Settings
find the channel and device that your HD is on and check the settings.
Device Type should be set to Auto Detect (and not be changeable)
Transfer mode should be set to DMA if available (if it is not, change
it)
Current Transfer Mode - this is where the problem may lie...

If Win detects a certain number of errors on a HD it disables DMA mode
(which is fastest) and locks the mode to PIO (which is very slow)

So, if it says DMA then all is well and that is not your problem and
sorry, not sure I can help!

If it says PIO then the only way to fix it is to remove the IDE
controller and reboot.

So, close the properties box, right click on each entry under IDE
ATA/ATAPI controllers and select Uninstall (Win2K) or Remove (WinXP [I
think]) - my Nforce has just the one IDE controller, my Intel board
has 1 PATA and 1 SATA controller plus a primary and secondary channel
for each controller - 6 items

If you remove one and it asks you to reboot say no for now.

Once _all_ are removed close Computer management and _then_ reboot.

Once booted windows will re detect the controller and probably ask for
another reboot. Do so and check the settings when you have rebooted -
it should now be in DMA mode and fast ripping should again be working

I eventually found this fix after an exhaustive search when I had a
REALLY slow XP machine. This sorted it and I have since encountered it
on another XP and a 2K machine and it worked both times

Good luck, let me know if this works...

--


Shevek

Get DigiGuide - a downloadable desktop PC TV and Radio Guide
http://getdigiguide.com/?p=1&r=31493

Get Firefox!
http://www.spreadfirefox.com/?q=affiliates&id=8681&t=1

Shevek