Hack my reg ;)

[allenb1963]

OK...HDD is dying. Winxp dictates that after 6 write errors total within a session the drive steps down to PIO mode....reeeeeeeeaaaaaal slow in PIO mode. I've changed my reg values to make it step down after 6 CONSECUTIVE write errors (yeah, I need a new drive but it'll take a couple of weeks to free up the cash to get the one I want) but I'd REALLY like to find a way to totally disable PIO mode in my primary IDE channel....any suggestions?

[©opy®ight]

Not sure if this is what you want, but how about re-enablind DMA ?

Re-enable DMA using the Registry Editor

My thanks go to my fellow MVP Alexander Grigoriev who taught me this method.

Run REGEDIT. Go to the following key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}

It has subkeys like 0000, 0001, 0002, etc. Normally 0001 is the primary IDE channel, 0002 the secondary, but other numbers can occur under certain circumstances. You have to go through these subkeys and check the DriverDesc value until you find the proper IDE channel.

Delete MasterIdDataChecksum or SlaveIdDataChecksum, depending on whether the device in question is attached as master or slave, but it can't actually hurt to delete both. Reboot. The drive DMA capabilities will be redetected.

Open Device Manager again and check whether the device is now actually using DMA mode. If so, congratulations, you've made it (at least until the next time Windows disables DMA).

http://www.michna.com/kb/WxDMA.htm

Once again you probably tried that already, or searched google and found that like i did.

[allenb1963]

Yeah...been there, done that. Also have done this...

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.

That got me to where the write errors had to be consecutive, which is an improvement. I'd just like a way to make this little facet of windows ignore errors completely.

[allenb1963]

Ah well....ye ole hard drive has made its journey to the great gigabyte in the sky. I managed to slave it in and retrieve some data off the D: partition, but I believe it has given up the ghost.

[RoadClosed]

R.I.P.

[Nokia]

I guess its a bit late now but for future reference you disable PIO mode from the BIOS. You can usually find it in the Onbord IDE -1 Controller or IDE-2 Controller depending on what drive you need to do it for. The options are usually 1 , 2 , 3 ,4 , Disabled or Auto.

The main reasons for doing this though are:

If you want to try to run the device with a higher PIO mode than it was designed for,
If the BIOS can't detect the correct PIO mode or if you have overclocked the PCI bus and one of your IDE devices can't function properly, as you can usually correct the problem by using a slower PIO mode.

Sorry its too late to save your HDD allenb!!