If anybody on the list has problems with a Win XP system that has become painfully slow despite virus and spyware removal, the following tips may help: The key is that Win XP is much too aggressive in "permanently" forcing your hard disk IDE controller into PIO mode, where the CPU is 100% busy reading and writing individual bytes of data from the hard disks, rather than letting the DMA (Direct Memory Access) hardware move the data while the CPU attends to other tasks. Apply both sets of registry changes. The first one fixes the current problem. The second one reduces reoccurance of the problem. Regarding the step about first applying a hotfix, you can forget it if you do the change listed at the first URL below. You can't download the referenced hotfix anyway... :-( ----------------------------------------------------- solving the dma problem in winxp!!: http://club.cdfreaks.com/lite/t-60218.html <excerpt> you go to the reg. key : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0001 or 0002 (depending on beeing primary[0001] or secondary[0002] ide channel) there you modify the DWORD value of : if the drive is on master: "MasterDeviceTimingModeAllowed" or if the drive is on slave: "SlaveDeviceTimingModeAllowed" to ffffffff then go back to your device manager set your drive in IDE channel properties first back to pio and then, after confirming, again to dma ...that should do the trick </excerpt> ----------------------------------------------------- IDE ATA and ATAPI disks use PIO mode after multiple time-out or CRC errors occur: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb%3Ben-us%3B817472 <excerpt> SYMPTOMS After you suspending and resume your computer several times, hard disk performance may be reduced. If you use Device Manager to view the properties of the IDE channel towhich the drive is connected, the Advanced Settings tab may show that the current transfer mode for the drive is "PIO Mode." CAUSE After the Windows IDE/ATAPI Port driver (Atapi.sys) receives a cumulative total of six time-out or cyclical redundancy check (CRC) errors, the driver reduces the communications speed (the transfer mode) from the highest Direct Memory Access (DMA) mode to lower DMA modes in steps. If the driver continues to receive time-out or CRC errors, the driver eventually reduces the transfer mode to the slowest mode (PIO mode). ---<snip>--- In Windows 2000 only, read requests to ATA disks are sometimes issued with a time-out value of 4 seconds. This occurs when your computer resumes from standby. This might cause a disk time-out because drives typically take more than 4 seconds to spin up. This time-out value was changed to 10 seconds. In Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, this time-out value is always 10 seconds. An alternate, less-aggressive policy is implemented to reduce the transfer mode (from faster to slower DMA modes, and then eventually to PIO mode) on time-out and CRC errors. The existing behavior is that the IDE/ATAPI Port driver (Atapi.sys) reduces the transfer mode after any 6 cumulative time-out or CRC errors. When the new policy is implemented by this fix, Atapi.sys reduces the transfer mode only after 6 consecutive time-out or CRC errors. This new policy is implemented only if the registry value that is described later in this article is present. To implement the alternate behavior (reducing the transfer mode after six consecutive time-out or CRC errors instead of after six cumulative time-out or CRC errors), you must modify the registry as described below after you apply the hotfix. WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk. Follow these steps, and then quit Registry Editor: 1.Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK. 2.Locate and then click the following key in the registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0001 3.On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value. 4.Type ResetErrorCountersOnSuccess, and then press ENTER. 5.On the Edit menu, click Modify. 6.Type 1, and then click OK. Follow these steps, and then quit Registry Editor: 1.Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK. 2.Locate and then click the following key in the registry: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0002 3.On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value. 4.Type ResetErrorCountersOnSuccess, and then press ENTER. 5.On the Edit menu, click Modify. 6.Type 1, and then click OK. Note The numbered subkeys that are listed earlier correspond to the primary and secondary IDE channels on a computer that contains a single IDE controller. If your computer contains two IDE controllers, the numbered subkeys for the primary and secondary IDE channels for each of the two controllers may be: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0002 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0003 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0004 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0005 To verify that you have located the correct subkey, verify that the DriverDesc value for the subkey contains the string value "Primary IDE Channel" or the string value "Secondary IDE Channel." </excerpt> _______________________________________________ Twin Cities Wireless Users Group Mailing List - Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota http://www.tcwug.org tcwug-list at tcwug.org https://mailman.real-time.com/mailman/listinfo/tcwug-list