# Dell Inspiron 9400 HL-DT-ST GSA-T11N DMA/burn problem

## mescall2000

Also on dell forums: http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=sw_linux&message.id=10990#M10990

When i burn cd on gentoo with k3b or gnomebacker, the speed of drive is too slow for dvd-r & cd-r.

Also reading the dvd-ram is hard with this unit Using the system when the unit writes is hard, the mouse hang for a moment if you move around the screen and also to view a dvd or divx is impossibile.

this is not a cpu problem, or memory, i have a intel core duo t7200 2ghz cpu and 2gb of ram. i now try to burn a cd also in windows with nero to see if problem persist.

here the log, seems that DMA don't work properly, says that only 5x buring is possible (why??):

wodim: No write mode specified.

wodim: Asuming -tao mode.

wodim: Future versions of wodim may have different drive dependent defaults.

wodim: Operation not permitted. Warning: Cannot raise RLIMIT_MEMLOCK limits.scsidev: '/dev/hdc'

devname: '/dev/hdc'

scsibus: -2 target: -2 lun: -2

Linux sg driver version: 3.5.27

Wodim version: 1.1.2

SCSI buffer size: 64512

Beginning DMA speed test. Set CDR_NODMATEST environment variable if device

communication breaks or freezes immediately after that.

TOC Type: 3 = CD-ROM XA mode 2

Driveropts: 'burnfree'

atapi: 1

Device type : Removable CD-ROM

Version : 0

Response Format: 2

Capabilities :

Vendor_info : 'HL-DT-ST'

Identification : 'DVD+-RW GSA-T11N'

Revision : 'A103'

Device seems to be: Generic mmc2 DVD-R/DVD-RW.

Current: 0x0009 (CD-R)

Profile: 0x0011 (DVD-R sequential recording)

Profile: 0x0014 (DVD-RW sequential recording)

Profile: 0x0013 (DVD-RW restricted overwrite)

Profile: 0x001A (DVD+RW)

Profile: 0x001B (DVD+R)

Profile: 0x002B (DVD+R/DL)

Profile: 0x0010 (DVD-ROM)

Profile: 0x0009 (CD-R) (current)

Profile: 0x000A (CD-RW)

Profile: 0x0008 (CD-ROM)

Using generic SCSI-3/mmc CD-R/CD-RW driver (mmc_cdr).

Driver flags : MMC-3 SWABAUDIO BURNFREE

Supported modes: TAO PACKET SAO SAO/R96P SAO/R96R RAW/R16 RAW/R96P RAW/R96R

Drive buf size : 1053696 = 1029 KB

Drive DMA Speed: 1154 kB/s 6x CD 0x DVD

FIFO size : 12582912 = 12288 KB

Speed set to 4234 KB/s

wodim: DMA speed too slow (OK for 5x). Cannot write at speed 24x.

0 seconds. Operation starts.

Waiting for reader process to fill input buffer ... input buffer ready.

Performing OPC...

Starting new track at sector: 0

Writing time: 974.492s

Average write speed 4.9x.

Min drive buffer fill was 7%

Fixating...

Fixating time: 22.947s

dmesg output:

hdc: drive_cmd: status=0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }

hdc: drive_cmd: error=0x04 { AbortedCommand }

ide: failed opcode was: 0xec

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## merlijn

It indeed seems like DMA is not working. Please first check if u have all of the following:

- You have BIOS set to use native IDE, and not Legacy (where it will not support DMA).

- You have all the appropriate kernel modules installed/loaded.

- Other devices on the same IDE port have the same problem.

Hope this will point in the right direction.

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## mikkoc

afaik, this is a very common problem on dell laptops: i had it on my 6400 too.

There are 2 ways of solving this: recompile the kernel or append some parameters to lilo (or grub).

You can either append this:

```
libata.atapi_enabled=1 combined_mode=libata pci=routeirq
```

to your lilo or grub conf file.

Or recompile the kernel like this howto shows: http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_Dell_Inspiron_6400_Fixes_for_common_problems

 *Quote:*   

> Optical Drive slow and gives various issues
> 
> This problem occurs if you have you configured your Optical Drive as PATA Device.
> 
> 1. Go to /usr/src/linux
> ...

 

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## micro_mx

Optical Drive slow and gives various issues

This problem occurs if you have you configured your Optical Drive as PATA Device.

1. Go to /usr/src/linux

2. Type make menuconfig

3. Go to Drivers -> ATA and uncheck everything

4. Next go to the SCSI page

5. Enable SCSI CD-Rom and SCSI Generic support there.

6. Exit the kernel menuconfig and save it.

7. Recompile your kernel and overwrite it, reboot and everthing should work ok now.

wohoo !!! that worked for me... 

hp compaq 6710b :]

was getting this dma problem too...

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