help; 9 hours to copy a DVD?!

[Legend]

I don't know id this is a hardware or software problem, so please bare with me:
my laptop needs 9 hours to copy a 4.7G DVD. I don't think that is even remotely normal.
I have an Acer TraverMate 4100 with 1G of Ram and a 1.73Gh Centreno. I don't know my DVD drive speed. in the Device Manager it only says 'DVD/CD drive' and I use Nero.

any suggestion as to why it takes this long to burn a DVD? I updated the softare of the drive and Ner to no affect.

thanks.

 

[Zaphod]

Whit kind of DVD? With pressed DVD-Video the copy protection can cause abnormal read times. Sometimes, Windows will disable DMA, causing the drive to slow down. Some copy protections may trigger it, as may inserting a bad burn or damaged disc. You can try deleting the IDE channel and the optical drive from device manager and have Windows redetect them if this is the problem.

 

[Bludd]

Are you sure you are not trying to reencode it too? Like into DivX or XviD or something?

What kind of software are you using for copying?

 

[Legend]

oh no, I am not encoding anything. also, I am not cpying DVDs. I am filling up a DVD was a backup with a bunch of trailers (wmv, rm, divx, etc.), pics, audio files, that kind of thing. sorry if I haven't cleared that up yet.

the actual disks aren't the problem since I tryed different types with the same results. my laptop also freezes and can do nothing till the burning is complete. if I have to, I'll get an external DVD writer, but I am afraid the problem will still be present.

in case it helps, I don't have a problem writing on CDs. my laptop slows- but not as much when it is a DVD, yet it fills up a CD in around 7 minutes.
I just don't know what to do...

 

[Zaphod]

Very high CPU usage (slowdowns) when accessing the ODD drive is often a sign that the drive is in PIO mode. Did you check that / redetect your IDE devices?

 

[Bludd]

What kind of DVD are you making? Data DVD? Video DVD?

 

[Legend]

what do you mean by settings and ODD? how can I change it?

I write up backup DVDs for various file types like pics, divx videos, etc.

I also am not writing using multisession, varifying the copy after finishing or any other thing that takes more time to write.

here is my model: http://www.acer.co.th/product/travelmate/4100/index.htm

 

[Guden Oden]

what do you mean by settings and ODD? how can I change it?

"ODD drive" probably means "Optical Disc Drive drive" (ie: sort of redundant ). Not a very common term, but may have some worth now that we don't only have CDs to keep track of, but also DVDs and soon HDDVDs and blu-ray discs as well.

Slow system response during writing is usually a sign of high CPU utilization, which likely means your 'ODD drive' is in PIO mode (programmed I/O - or in other words: CPU-driven, as opposed to 'automatic' DMA mode).

To reset this, a previous poster recommended you to go into the device manager (right-click my computer, select properties at the bottom of the menu, hardware tab in new window, device manager button), find your IDE controller(s) and delete it/them. Then reboot the system.

Not sure if it'll fix your problems. An external writer most likely would tho, as USB units use a totally different driver architecture than on-board devices. Bit of a waste of money tho, as the unit you have should work just fine. You're probably experiencing a software glitch here, have you tried any different disc writer program other than Nero for example?

 

[Legend]

ah, you know what? when I upgraded Nero in hope of solving the issue, it kept giving me a messege before I burn a DVD. it said that DMA (Direct memory Access) was disabled and that enabeling it would increase the writing speed. Nero offers to enable it and it asks me to reboot. the problem is that after I reboot and try to burn the DVD, the same messege is repeated and I keep going in a loop.

I'll try your way and see if I can enable DMA since that may be the problem.

PS. is the CPU good? it is a 1.73 Centreno.

-
Added:
okay, in the IDM I have two things:
1- Intel 82801FB/FBM Ultra ATA storage controllers -266F
2-Primary IDE Channel

should I delete both? wouldn't that give me any problems later on? I have no idea what both are for.

and thanks for your help guys.

 

[Bludd]

Delete? Why? No, instead double click on IDE/ATAPI controllers in Device Manager

Double click on Primary Channel and see if DMA settings are enabled in Advanced Settings. Do the same for Secondary Channel.

 

[Zaphod]

Delete? Why? No, instead double click on IDE/ATAPI controllers in Device Manager. Double click on Primary Channel and see if DMA settings are enabled in Advanced Settings. Do the same for Secondary Channel.

The thing is that if Windows have automatically reduced the drive to PIO-mode due to read errors, the settings won't stick anymore so the IDE channel has to be removed and redetected.

WORKAROUND
To re-enable the typical, or faster, transfer mode for an affected device:
1. Double-click Administrative Tools, and then click Computer Management.
2. Click System Tools, and then click Device Manager.
3. Expand the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers node.
4. Double-click the controller for which you want to restore the typical DMA transfer mode.
5. Click the Driver tab.
6. Click Uninstall.
7. When the process completes, restart your computer. When Windows restarts, the hard disk controller is re-enumerated and the transfer mode is reset to the default value for each device that is connected to the controller.

In this case, only uninstall the IDE channel, not the parent node (Intel 82801FB/FBM Ultra ATA storage controllers).

PS: Thanks Guden for filling out the blanks left by my sorry pedagogic abilities.

 

[Legend]

this is what I got, should I go on and delete it?
http://xs.to/xs.php?f=upload.jpg&h=xs102&d=06242

 

[Bludd]

Ah, sorry about that. Okay, I will stay out of this, looks like Zaphod is on top of things.

 

[Zaphod]

Oh, well. From the picture it would look like DMA is already enabled (allthough when Windows starts to get confused about these things it may report incorrectly). It shouldn't hurt to uninstall the IDE device to see if it helps matters. At worst it should cost 10 of minues worth of time and a couple of reboots.

 

[Legend]

I deleted it. thing is, when I rebooted, Windows 'detected new hardware and installed it succeefully'. now, I'm back to square one.

 

[Blazkowicz]

if your driver for IDE controller is an Intel one, try uninstalling it so you end up with the microsoft driver, or the other way around, to see if something changes.

Or.. it can well be a faulty drive, quite often the problem is as simple as that.
one thing you can try as well is to update the drive's firmware (the flashing util might require you to boot in DOS mode, so you may have to make a DOS boot CD, or freeDOS boot CD with ntfs read, or boot DOS on a USB key if that's possible)

/edit: or maybe you did that already ? ( "I updated the softare of the drive " )