cpu usage

P

p0rkus

1
when burning a cd, the percent cpu usage on my computer has usually been around 60% for many applications (nero 6, recordnow max 4.5, primodvd 2). recently, i installed these same applications on my friends' computers & when burning, the cpu usage were less than 10%. So what cause the cpu usage to be so high on my computer?

PIII 900
512 meg of ram
16x plextor burner
win xp

the other computers
celeron 1.2
win xp
hp 8x burner
256 meg of ram

1.2 athalon
512 meg of ddr ram
40x plextor
4x pioneer dvd burner
win2k
 
dx

dx

1
You obviously have some things (TSRs and Windows services) running in the background bud.
In XP hit CTRL+ALT+DEL, task List, Processes.... look for anything that is running at say 6000 to 10,000k or higher.

Start>Run>msconfig will also let you see what is running.

You often can turn off quite a few things.... you'll be suprised at what is running without you knowing it. Some of he biggest hogs are P2P and file share.

Also Windows will run quite a few services that are unnecessary and can be turned off. Check out this site for info on what to turn off. www.blackviper.com/

So.... what do you have running bud?!
 
P

p0rkus

1
dxkim said:
You obviously have some things (TSRs and Windows services) running in the background bud.
In XP hit CTRL+ALT+DEL, task List, Processes.... look for anything that is running at say 6000 to 10,000k or higher.

Start>Run>msconfig will also let you see what is running.

You often can turn off quite a few things.... you'll be suprised at what is running without you knowing it. Some of he biggest hogs are P2P and file share.

Also Windows will run quite a few services that are unnecessary and can be turned off. Check out this site for info on what to turn off. www.blackviper.com/

So.... what do you have running bud?!
Click to expand...
I dont have any p2p programs running. i turned off all the unnecessary services. even on a freshly booted computer, cpu usage is still around 60%. when i look at the task manager, primodvd reads ~10% but i look at the status bar at the bottom, cpu usage is ~60% there is nothing else that have any cpu usage above 1%. when the cd finishes burning, cpu usage goes back down to ~4%.
 
aybesea

aybesea

1
What speed is your CPU? And what speed is your friends? This can make a huge difference in instantaneous CPU usage when your machine is I/O Bound (the way it tends to be when burning a CD).
 
S

scarecrow

1
aybesea: he already metnioned the puter specs...
You must have many things running in background, or you may have put the burning program priority to :high" or "real time"- I have PIII/800/512M and I rarely get more that 7-8% CPU usage when just burning (and less than 5% with lite programs like Burnatonce). Only Alcohol can be slightly hoggy (25-30%) when burning certain image types in two burners simultaneously.
 
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L

LTR12101B

1
Are you running in DMA mode?

There was an article about it at Microsoft, but I can't find the right search to bring it up.
 
Master

Master

Gold Member
I think it is a DMA problem.

I have the same problem with an old LiteOn 12102B and an Intel BX-chipset. This chipset can handle the Lity in pio mode only.
Doesn´t matter if it is W2K,Xp or W98.

The same drive works fine in dma-mode with a VIA chipset.
 
P

p0rkus

1
Master said:
I think it is a DMA problem.

I have the same problem with an old LiteOn 12102B and an Intel BX-chipset. This chipset can handle the Lity in pio mode only.
Doesn´t matter if it is W2K,Xp or W98.

The same drive works fine in dma-mode with a VIA chipset.
Click to expand...

yup, i went to the device manager & it says PIO Mode. Can't change it to DMA. eh..anything i can do to enable DMA??

Thanks.
 
Master

Master

Gold Member
With xp or w2k it is easy..in the device manager look for the ide/atapi controller and set the correct channel to DMA

example: open primary ide channel, select something like advanced settings and set the device 0 or 1 to dma.

Sorry i am using a german windows version.
 
P

p0rkus

1
Master said:
With xp or w2k it is easy..in the device manager look for the ide/atapi controller and set the correct channel to DMA

example: open primary ide channel, select something like advanced settings and set the device 0 or 1 to dma.

Sorry i am using a german windows version.
Click to expand...
primary ide channel
device 0: ultra dma mode 4
device 1: ultra dma mode 4

secondary ide channel
device 0: ultra dma mode 2
device 1: PIO mode

i tried setting the pio mode one to dma by selecting dma mode if available, but it still says pio mode.

here's my bios & chipset info
BIOS Date: 07/26/00
BIOS Type: Award Modular BIOS v6.0
BIOS ID: 07/26/2000-VT694X
OEM Sign-On: 2.00
Chipset: VIA 82C691 rev 196
 
ipdave

ipdave

1
Try your burner in another PC; if it is still PIO only (which I don't think), then it is the drive. Still have money on you m/b being the culprit. Can also try the burner as master on its own channel, no other drives. If that does not fix it, may have to load IDE bus master drivers for your m/b.
 
P

p0rkus

1
ipdave said:
Try your burner in another PC; if it is still PIO only (which I don't think), then it is the drive. Still have money on you m/b being the culprit. Can also try the burner as master on its own channel, no other drives. If that does not fix it, may have to load IDE bus master drivers for your m/b.
Click to expand...
How do i load IDE bus master drivers for my m/b?
 
P

p0rkus

1
ipdave said:
Try the web site for whatever kind of m/b you have.
or..
Try www.via.com.tw or whatever VIA's web site is... Have you tried searching google.com for VIA 4-in-1 drivers?

Click to expand...
i installed the via 4-in-1 drivers, but that didn't do anything. i looked at the driver under the device manager, it still says the windows xp drivers.
 
C

cobo

1
Did you reboot after selecting 'dma mode if available'?


"To the right of the digital audio jack you see a place where you can put a jumper. This is listed as a reserve jumper and is not documented anywhere. Like the PX-W1210TA, if you enable this jumper it will enable the drive's UDMA mode. I have not run into any problems doing with my PX-W1210TA but it is not a supported mode from Plextor so you should use at your own risk. For our testing here I am leaving it disabled even though we experienced little or no differences in the scores except in the case of CPU usage."
From CDRLabs PlexWriter PX-W1610TA Review

Although without this jumper set to enable, the CPU usage reported in the review really isn't any higher than other 16X burners.

Maybe flashing to the latest firmware for this drive would solve your problem.
 
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P

p0rkus

1
cobo said:
Did you reboot after selecting 'dma mode if available'?


"To the right of the digital audio jack you see a place where you can put a jumper. This is listed as a reserve jumper and is not documented anywhere. Like the PX-W1210TA, if you enable this jumper it will enable the drive's UDMA mode. I have not run into any problems doing with my PX-W1210TA but it is not a supported mode from Plextor so you should use at your own risk. For our testing here I am leaving it disabled even though we experienced little or no differences in the scores except in the case of CPU usage."
From CDRLabs PlexWriter PX-W1610TA Review

Although without this jumper set to enable, the CPU usage reported in the review really isn't any higher than other 16X burners.

Maybe flashing to the latest firmware for this drive would solve your problem.
Click to expand...
I have the lastest firmware & i did reboot. I even tried setting it in the bios, but it didnt work.

Thanks.

Tried the reserve jumper, it worked! Thanks.
 
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C

cobo

1
There're other CDburners with poorly documented UDMA jumpers (like my Aopen24X). CDRLabs reviews is the only place I've seen them mentioned.
 
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