Continual DMA problem

I am having a strange problem with the DMA settings for my DVD RW the last few days. Every so often it the DMA becomes disabled (per Device Manager) and sets to PIO mode (tho' the DMA if Available option is still enabled). I know how to re-install the DMA - simply uninstall my primary controller and let windows reinstall it on boot up. When I do this DMA 5 is availabe and all works great for a while. But eventually the DMA will become disabled again.

All other DMA devices appear to be unaffected when this happens.

I've checked the System Information and there appears to be no conflicts - tho' I admit I am not sure what I am looking for (my computer innerworkings knowledge is very good in some places, almost nil in others). Nothing is flagged in SysInfo or device manager - that much I know.

At first I thought the problem was happening only after burning DVD media - especially through the Sony proggy MyDVD (perhaps six consecutive errors while encoding/writing shoddy authored .mpg or the like). I seemed to have a problem with that prog twice in a row while freeware progs like DVD Encrypter worked like a charm.

I then thought it could be the HDD in sleep mode or the CPU going into hibernation (as I have read elsewhere) - so I disabled both of these options.

But today DMA became disabled even when no media was being worked on - only graphic files - but no media device was accessed between the times when I know DMA was enabled on my DVD writer - primary - device 0) and when I noticed it was back to being set to PIO mode).

I cannot think of any major changes that I've made recently, except I installed several codec packs for decoding various video/audio formats (divx, etc.) It is possible that I installed some codecs twice - or the same type of codec in two places (after mis-reading a description).

Could this have anything to do with the problem? It does seem that the problem may have started shortly after installing the various codecs. That could just be a coincidence - for I see no reason that audio/video codecs would conflict with DMA settings.

I've already disabled hibernation and turning the HDD off in sleep mode (I read about that causing problems somewhere), but my knowledge on DMA is limited to what I have read the last two days and my recent tinkering around.

My computer is only a few months old - all BIOS info and drivers are up to date.

SEC ND 3450a DVD RW
I have an INTEL Chip Set
P4 3Ghz
1Gig of RAM
DELL Dimension 3000

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

Scratch the above. This is actually happening on my Primary IDE Channel wiich is my HDD a Samsung SpinPoint P Series
SP0802N.

So it is changing from DMA 5 to PIO for some reason during usage. The rest of my aboive discription still goes... and suggestions?

Thank you.

 

Christer and PeteC - many thanks! I was just starting down the correct path after checking the Event Viewer and seeing the HD time out. It was never consecutive - tho', strangely, it was usually at 1hr intervals. Maybe while the HD was in sleep mode?

I'm not sure. It seem like one time it occured was during high usage and no errors, on the user end, were observed.

Anyway, I think the arcticles led to the correct reg edit for my problem. Again - many thanks.

 

Seemed to fix the problem... at least overnight... however there is some activity in my Event Viewer that I wonder about. If you don't mind, I'm gonna post some of the strange entires here... I'm almost afraid that it is a tojan - altho' I'm kinda a security nut.

More info on the Logon/Logoff entries reads:

And the Privilege entry reads:

Is this activity a little over the top? Does it suggest a remote hack - or are therse normal entries?

 

Eh, man, I'm stumped. I posted at the virus forum - but this is a strange one. My McAffee scan found no virus and the file advapi.exe can not be found in any folder.

Also, advapi.exe does not show up as a running process or boot process.

Additional searches seem to show that advapi is a legit WIN service that registers events during a logon. The question is why are there so many logons of this type?

The Logon Type 5 suggests a Service Controller access - which would mean that it is a legit opporation and not a remote access or anything - wouldn't it?

I cannot find anything in regard to advapi as a system event 528 except to find peeple with a similar problem to mine - multiple entries - but no resolutions.