> > As for the (U)DMA question, would it not be sensible for us to flag
> > the drive capablities.
>
> No, it would not be.
>
> We cannot blindly (and dangerously) reprogram the DMA mode
> of the drive without knowing what mode the IDE interface
> chipset is trying to use. The two must match.
Agreed.
> If the chipset is BIOS-configured for UDMA,
> then we could break things big-time by selecting DMA at the drive..
Agreed.
> The IDE driver already does the Most Sensible things by default,
> leaving the chipset and drive settings as set-up by the BIOS.
However, consider the case of a BIOS-less chipset on an offboard
card that must be programmed. The chipset is native to UDMA
and is backwards compatable. In all cases the pci-config data
must me set for any mode regardless of the drive's capablities.
Without take this step, an UDMA would register in PIO 0 strength.
> If DMA fails, the IDE driver automatically falls back to PIO mode,
> without loss of data or corruption of any sort.
This is a good thing, and it works with the case stated above.
Since I am having trouble getting the method in question functional,
it is nice that the breakout of a failed (U)DMA results in a clean
transition back to PIO status.
I am not asking for high risk programming and data coruption, I have to
much to lose. This single chipset may be a special case that does need
to relearn what it can do each time it is booted.
Regards,
Andre Hedrick
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