CP burning causes 90% interrupts

  • Thread starter Thread starter Herb
  • Start date Start date
H

Herb

When I burn a CD with Nero 6, CPU shoots up to about 90%.

According to Process Explorer almost all of this CPU activity is due to
'Interrupts', and the PC becomes very sluggish and almost unusable
during the burn process.

Is this normal?

Thank you.

Herbert Eppel
 
When I burn a CD with Nero 6, CPU shoots up to about 90%.

According to Process Explorer almost all of this CPU activity is due to
'Interrupts', and the PC becomes very sluggish and almost unusable
during the burn process.

Is this normal?
Click to expand...

Sorry about the typo in the subject line - you probably guessed that I
meant 'CD burning...' :-)

Herbert Eppel
 
I'd say that's a bit high, but would have a heck of lot to do with the
CD drive in question. For instance is it running PIO mode. If so then
you would have a lot of CPU usage. Is the drive capable of DMA? Is DMA
enabled? On the other hand if its a really old drive, then I wouldn't be
so surprised.
 
I'd say that's a bit high, but would have a heck of lot to do with the
CD drive in question. For instance is it running PIO mode. If so then
you would have a lot of CPU usage. Is the drive capable of DMA? Is DMA
enabled? On the other hand if its a really old drive, then I wouldn't be
so surprised.
Click to expand...

Hi Bob,

thanks for your reply.

I'm afraid I don't know what PIO mode is or where to check whether the
drive is running in that mode.

DMA rings a bell, but I can't remember what it is, I'm afraid.

Come to think of it, I don't even really know what 'Interrupts' are! :-[

Herbert Eppel
 
Herb said:
I'd say that's a bit high, but would have a heck of lot to do with the
CD drive in question. For instance is it running PIO mode. If so then
you would have a lot of CPU usage. Is the drive capable of DMA? Is DMA
enabled? On the other hand if its a really old drive, then I wouldn't
be so surprised.
Click to expand...


Hi Bob,

thanks for your reply.

I'm afraid I don't know what PIO mode is or where to check whether the
drive is running in that mode.

DMA rings a bell, but I can't remember what it is, I'm afraid.

Come to think of it, I don't even really know what 'Interrupts' are! :-[

Herbert Eppel
Click to expand...
Instructions at link below.
Device Settings Are Hard to Find in Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/247426/en-us
 
I'm afraid I don't know what PIO mode is or where to check whether the
drive is running in that mode.

DMA rings a bell, but I can't remember what it is, I'm afraid.

Come to think of it, I don't even really know what 'Interrupts' are! :-[

Herbert Eppel
Click to expand...
Instructions at link below.
Device Settings Are Hard to Find in Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/247426/en-us
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link - I'm not sure I'll get round to following this up
before Christmas - I think I'll have to put it on the back-burner :-)

Regards

Herbert Eppel
 
Herb said:
I'm afraid I don't know what PIO mode is or where to check whether
the drive is running in that mode.

DMA rings a bell, but I can't remember what it is, I'm afraid.

Come to think of it, I don't even really know what 'Interrupts' are! :-[

Herbert Eppel
Click to expand...

Instructions at link below.
Device Settings Are Hard to Find in Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/247426/en-us
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link - I'm not sure I'll get round to following this up
before Christmas - I think I'll have to put it on the back-burner :-)

Regards

Herbert Eppel
Click to expand...

In the meanwhile, Happy Holidays and have an enjoyable time.
 
I'm afraid I don't know what PIO mode is or where to check whether
the drive is running in that mode.

DMA rings a bell, but I can't remember what it is, I'm afraid.

Come to think of it, I don't even really know what 'Interrupts' are! :-[

Herbert Eppel
Click to expand...
Instructions at link below.
Device Settings Are Hard to Find in Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/247426/en-us
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link - I'm not sure I'll get round to following this up
before Christmas - I think I'll have to put it on the back-burner :-)
Click to expand...

OK, it's the end of February, and I finally got round to try and examine
this issue further.

By the way, I corrected my original typo in the subject line (CP -> CD)
- I hope this isn't frowned upon :-\

Under "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" I have three entries, i.e.
- Primary IDE Channel
- Secondary IDE Channel
- VIA Bus Master IDE Controller

I'm not really sure what these mean/refer to, but "VIA Bus Master IDE
Controller" doesn't have an "Advanced" tab, so presumably it's the other
two that are relevant.

The "Primary IDE Channel" is set to "PIO Only", the "Secondary IDE
Channel" is set to "DMA if available".

Here is a recent screenshot taken during DVD burning (using DVD Shrink
in conjunction with Nero 6), which makes my PC so unresponsive that it
is practically unusable until the burning process is finished:
<http://www.HerbEppel.de/Screenshots/Interrupts.png>

As you can see from the screenshot I tried to set the "Interrupts" to a
lower priority, but apparently this isn't possible.

Where do I go from here?

Thank you.

Herbert Eppel
 
Never mess with your computer while burning a CD/DVD. Most burning s/w,
including Nero, cannot stand any messing with I/O. Just go have a cup of
coffee.
 
Never mess with your computer while burning a CD/DVD. Most burning s/w,
including Nero, cannot stand any messing with I/O. Just go have a cup of
coffee.
Click to expand...

Thanks, but these are expensive cups of coffee if I have to interrupt my
work for 1½ hours every time I want to burn a DVD! :-)

Surely there must be a way of lowering the priority of the burn process
or some other measure to prevent the computer becoming unresponsive???

Herbert Eppel
 
Herb said:
I'm afraid I don't know what PIO mode is or where to check whether
the drive is running in that mode.

DMA rings a bell, but I can't remember what it is, I'm afraid.

Come to think of it, I don't even really know what 'Interrupts' are!
:-[

Herbert Eppel

Instructions at link below.
Device Settings Are Hard to Find in Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/247426/en-us
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link - I'm not sure I'll get round to following this up
before Christmas - I think I'll have to put it on the back-burner :-)
Click to expand...


OK, it's the end of February, and I finally got round to try and examine
this issue further.

By the way, I corrected my original typo in the subject line (CP -> CD)
- I hope this isn't frowned upon :-\

Under "IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers" I have three entries, i.e.
- Primary IDE Channel
- Secondary IDE Channel
- VIA Bus Master IDE Controller

I'm not really sure what these mean/refer to, but "VIA Bus Master IDE
Controller" doesn't have an "Advanced" tab, so presumably it's the other
two that are relevant.

The "Primary IDE Channel" is set to "PIO Only", the "Secondary IDE
Channel" is set to "DMA if available".

Here is a recent screenshot taken during DVD burning (using DVD Shrink
in conjunction with Nero 6), which makes my PC so unresponsive that it
is practically unusable until the burning process is finished:
<http://www.HerbEppel.de/Screenshots/Interrupts.png>

As you can see from the screenshot I tried to set the "Interrupts" to a
lower priority, but apparently this isn't possible.

Where do I go from here?

Thank you.

Herbert Eppel
Click to expand...

try setting the Primary to USE DMA if available.
 
try setting the Primary to USE DMA if available.
Click to expand...

Hi Bob,

you are a hero!!!

I set the Primary to "DMA if available" as you suggested, and after
rebooting it appeared as *Ultra* DMA mode!

I just copied an audio CD, and not only did the burn process run totally
in the background without any effect whatsoever on the responsiveness of
the computer, it also appeared to be much quicker than before!

Many thanks!

Herbert Eppel
 
Herb said:
Hi Bob,

you are a hero!!!

I set the Primary to "DMA if available" as you suggested, and after
rebooting it appeared as *Ultra* DMA mode!

I just copied an audio CD, and not only did the burn process run totally
in the background without any effect whatsoever on the responsiveness of
the computer, it also appeared to be much quicker than before!

Many thanks!

Herbert Eppel
Click to expand...

You're welcome, have a great day!
 
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