im wondering bout this...
i notice that my Pioneer 16X DVD-ROM and Sony 8/4/32 CD-RW are set at ATA-33 displayed when booting up

is this a slower setting?? can i change it to ATA-66?? if possible how?

and when i run Nero CD Speed..both cd-roms only run at around 16X instead of the 40X as said

any help appreciated on this

Stephen

ATA-33 is normal for most DVD-ROM and CD/RW drives. You may change your drives to ATA-66 only if they support it. The specs in the product manual or web site should indicate this. If your drives do support ATA-66 (I know that some new Pioneer DVD drives have this capability), make sure you connect them using an 80-wire IDE cable.

And for the slow speed problem, check if you have enabled DMA setting of the IDE channel. Also, make sure you did not use warped or scratched discs for the test. Furthermore, not all drives live up to their advertised speed. I think LHGPooBaa has shown this before in one of the old posts which he did an outstanding job comparing LiteOn and Pioneer DVD drives.

hey thnx for the info elzt
hmmm how do i check to see if ive enabled the DMA setting for the IDE channel

theres no option in the Pioneer DVD properties in device manager...neither in the Sony CD-RW properties

yeah ive checked it up and it says that it supports UDMA33
and only comes with a 40-pin IDE cable

the specifications are:
Playable DVD discs DVD-ROM & DVD-Video (single & dual layer), DVD-R , DVD-RW (not DVD-RAM)
Playable CD discs CD-R, CD-RW, CD-DA, CD-ROM XA, Video CD, CD-EXTRA, Hybrid CD, CD-Text
Data Interface ATAPI (Ultra DMA33)
Audio Interface Analog output (SPDIF on card only)
Sustained transfer speed (DVD-ROM) 6.6X - 16X (8.91 MB/s - 21.6 MB/s)
Sustained transfer speed (CD-ROM) 17.2x - 40x (2.58 MB/s - 6.0 MB/s)
Average access time (DVD-ROM) 95ms
Average access time (CD-ROM) 80ms
Average seek time (DVD-ROM) 85ms
Average seek time (CD-ROM) 70ms
Data buffer 512KB
Mounting orientation Horizontal & Vertical
Regulation approval UL, CSA, TUV, FDA, FCC classB, CE Marking
MTBF 100,000POH (duty 20%)

but at the top its weird cos it says:

Shintaro DVD1601
16X DVD-ROM : 40X CD-ROM
Ultra DMA 66 support <---??
PowerDVD MPEG-2 decoder
Websters 2000 DVD Encyclopedia

im using Shintaro DVD kit btw with a pioneer DVD drive

Well some of the latter pioneer dvd drives 115/105S/116/106S/117 use ata66, not that its really needed.

To check UDMA status in win2k/XP you do:
start -> settings -> control pannel -> system -> devices -> device profiles -> IDE buses/channels.
In there you will ahve your two channels with a setting for each device. PIO is bad. DMA or UDMA is what you want.

P.S. If you are using a 40wire IDE ribbon cable you cannot get ata66. To do that you need to use a 80wire cable.

<b><font color=purple>[Rik_]</font color=purple> I wonder how many people have made their own phasechange system?
<font color=blue>[LHGPooBaa]</font color=blue> I get phasechange whenever i eat a hot chillie </b><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by lhgpoobaa on 12/16/02 07:11 PM.</EM></FONT></P>