Free Performance Scan
 

Force Windows to Reexamine the DMA Capabilities of Devices

by
Filed under: PC Speed 

When you install Windows XP or Windows Vista, the operating system will examine all attached IDE devices for their capabilities and configure them accordingly. This is critical in ensuring a fast computer, since the hard disks and DVD drives need to operate at maximum performance.

In some cases this automatic detection of the capabilities of attached devices fails and your will end up with a slow computer. Especially with today’s large hard disks and use of DVD instead of CDROM, maximum transfer rates are very important. If you are not sure if the devices have been configured properly, you can force Windows to reexamine the DMA capabilities of Devices. This will ensure that attached devices are checked again and configured properly.

Follow these steps to force Windows to reexamine the attached IDE devices:

  1. Start the Registry Editor.From the Windows Start menu, select Run. In the Run box, type regedit and click OK.
  2. In the Registry Editor, locate the following key:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\
    {4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}
  3. Under this key you will see sub-keys with the values “0000”, “0001”, “0002” and so on. In each of these sub-keys, delete the entries named: MasterIdDataCheckSum and SlaveIdDataCheckSum. Right-click the value and in the popup menu select Delete.
  4. Close the Registry Editor. Select Exit from the File menu.
  5. Now restart your computer.

During the next boot, Windows will reexamine the DMA capabilities of the attached IDE devices and configure the devices accordingly. This should fix any incorrect DMA configuration of your hard disks and optimize your PC for performance.

<Force Windows HDD DMA check

Comments



One Comment to “Force Windows to Reexamine the DMA Capabilities of Devices”

  1. Mytch says:
    March 15, 2011 at 7:09 pm

    When I open the 3 folders, 0000, 0001, & 0002, the only things in these folders is,under the tab NAME- ‘ab’icon with the word (default) right next to the icon. Under the tab TYPE, it says “REG_SZ”, and under the tab DATA, it says “(value not set)”. I’m trying to increase my computer speed. I’m running a PC w/Windows XP Home Edition, Intel Pentium 4, 2.40GHz, 1.00GB. I use this for my home recording studio. I just installed a second internal drive, Seagate IDE, 7200rpm, 400GB. I’m using Pro Tools 6.4 LE for my studio. What do I do with the DMA values that are/are NOT shown?

Leave a Reply