Dell Dim 8300 - System Slow to Boot-Up
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From: William R. Walsh on 28 Dec 2009 02:34 Hi! > Is there a significant difference between NAV 2010 and NIS 2010? NAV 2010 is only the anti-virus component, although I think it has some "Internet Security" features provided with it. In any case, Symantec has seemingly been getting their act together. I've got a Dimension 4100 on my bench now that is running NAV 2010 on WinXP Home with an inadequate amount of installed RAM (384MB!). The system's owners have been nothing less than happy with their good old Dim4100 and NAV 2010 doesn't really seem to be bothering it. (I was floored by this, to be quite honest.) I'm pretty sure they intend to run it until it dies, although they are thinking of laptops. It's been five years since I last worked on it, so I guess that says something as well. :-) William
From: charliech on 28 Dec 2009 14:25 >On Mon, 28 Dec 2009 01:28:55 -0600, "William R. Walsh" <newsgroups1(a)idontwantjunqueemail.walshcomptech.com> wrote: >Hi! > >> The Dimension 8300 is new enough that all of its disk I/O would be DMA. > >That's not quite true. DMA mode will be used only if the operating system >running the show is aware of or can handle it. Otherwise PIO/Fast PIO mode >will be used. > >The place to find what mode is currently in use (on Win2000/XP) is under the >disk controller category in Device Manager. Look at both the "primary" and >"secondary" disk controller entries. The mode currently in use for each >device is shown. The Dell BIOS on the Dim8300 cannot tell you, and doesn't >really care. It's up to other software to determine the best transfer mode >that may be used. William, I looked in Device Manager on my Dim 8300, but could not determine the "disk controller" - which item is it in Device Manager? Thanks charliec > >If a disk connector (SATA or PATA) is disabled on many Dell systems (the >Dim8300 is included), the device attached will still work when the operating >system takes over but it will be forced into PIO mode. Strange but >true--"disabled" isn't really what it should be in the Dell BIOS on some >systems. > >> If you have a SATA drive, they are all DMA. > >Perhaps that is true of a SATA controller running in AHCI or RAID mode, but >it would surprise me. > >In the case of the Dim8300, the i875/ICH5 SATA controller is hardwired into >"legacy" or "PATA compatible" mode. As such it behaves just like a PATA >controller and supports all the operating modes that a PATA controller would >support--including PIO data transfer. > >My Dim8300 has never been what it should be in terms of I/O performace from >its disks. (And now I have new disks in it, so the originals have been taken >out of the picture...they're now "scratch disks" that I use with >motherboards that are under test.) > >William >
From: charliech on 28 Dec 2009 14:29 >On Mon, 28 Dec 2009 01:28:55 -0600, "William R. Walsh" <newsgroups1(a)idontwantjunqueemail.walshcomptech.com> wrote: >Hi! > >> The Dimension 8300 is new enough that all of its disk I/O would be DMA. > >That's not quite true. DMA mode will be used only if the operating system >running the show is aware of or can handle it. Otherwise PIO/Fast PIO mode >will be used. > >The place to find what mode is currently in use (on Win2000/XP) is under the >disk controller category in Device Manager. Look at both the "primary" and >"secondary" disk controller entries. The mode currently in use for each >device is shown. The Dell BIOS on the Dim8300 cannot tell you, and doesn't >really care. It's up to other software to determine the best transfer mode >that may be used. William - disregard my previous message. I found it and it says "Use DMA, if available" for both "primary" and "secondary". charliec > >If a disk connector (SATA or PATA) is disabled on many Dell systems (the >Dim8300 is included), the device attached will still work when the operating >system takes over but it will be forced into PIO mode. Strange but >true--"disabled" isn't really what it should be in the Dell BIOS on some >systems. > >> If you have a SATA drive, they are all DMA. > >Perhaps that is true of a SATA controller running in AHCI or RAID mode, but >it would surprise me. > >In the case of the Dim8300, the i875/ICH5 SATA controller is hardwired into >"legacy" or "PATA compatible" mode. As such it behaves just like a PATA >controller and supports all the operating modes that a PATA controller would >support--including PIO data transfer. > >My Dim8300 has never been what it should be in terms of I/O performace from >its disks. (And now I have new disks in it, so the originals have been taken >out of the picture...they're now "scratch disks" that I use with >motherboards that are under test.) > >William >
From: William R. Walsh on 28 Dec 2009 16:40
Hi! > William - disregard my previous message. I found it and it says > "Use DMA, if available" for both "primary" and "secondary". You are using DMA and that is preferable. When Windows says "if available" that means the system is keeping an eye on it. (There is no "force DMA" setting in a stock copy of Windows. Maybe not in a modified one either...) Windows and the disk controller driver will continue to use DMA mode unless a large enough number of errors occur--which should not happen unless there is a cabling problem, faulty hardware or some similar issue. William |