pentium 4 2.66ghz Foxconn-NF4SLI7AA mobo 2gb DDR2 corsair ram Radeon 3850 1gb GPU I run vista home premium 32bit and my problem is i just installed an IDE controller along with 2 40gb harddrives at first i installed a game onto one of the drives would play it after exiting the game i noticed my computer would be stuck at 100% ussuage i would check the task manager nothing was using my processor. next i just went to the harddrive that had the game since it was the only thing that was on the drive and my computer didnt have the problem till the game was on the drive i just formated the drive and the problem was gone, my cpu ussage dropped back down to normal. I tried this again and again. Same problem same fix with formating. I checked my device manager and under IDE ATA/ATAPI controller > then ATA Channel 0 the box for enable DMA is greyed out and i cannot enable it. I know by all means know how to setup raid or know much about IDE controllers but i think the PIO is my problem to CPU usage when those drives have files on them. I want to change the settings to DMA but i cant and idk if there's a way to fix this.

If your CPU is at 100% usage AFTER the game has exited, then the transfer mode is not your problem. Additionally, there must be a process using the CPU (which would show in the task list). Most likely it is your game which has failed to exit properly. However, to enable DMA mode follow this guide: http://blog.ryantadams.com/2009/01/06/enabling-and-troubleshooting-dma-mode-in-windows/ It is aimed at CD drives, but the same procedure applies to hard drives. Also, make sure you have the latest drivers for the controller card, you are using an 80 conductor cable between the drive and controller, and in some cases you may need to enable DMA mode in the BIOS or in the controller cards configuration. -Ryan Adams Free Computer Tips and more:http://RyanTAdams.com Paid Tech Support: Black Diamond

Good advice above.

Here's another 'possible' fix for DMA problems: "DMA re-enable Windows XP is the operating system A CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive, which is known to support DMA mode now works only in PIO mode. The drive controller is set to use "DMA if available" but reports to be only in PIO mode. Open RegEdit Find the following KEY: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\ Class\{4D36E96A-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\000x The last four digits will be 0000, 0001, 0002, 0003, and so on. Under each key, delete all occurences of the following values: MasterIdDataChecksum SlaveIdDataChecksum Reboot the computer. Windows will now redetect DMA settings." TWIMC NTVDM = NT, Win2K and WinXP Virtual DOS Manager http://kb.iu.edu/data

1. I check my cable i switched the cable i had for a cable that was a known and as working on DMA, still no change. 2. http://img352.imageshack.us/my.php?... the guide helps but that box is greyed out. 3.The registry trick is great for xp, but those entries dont exist in vista http://img84.imageshack.us/my.php?i... 4.The drivers? umm how do I identify what my IDE controller is who its made by where I can get driver for it? 5.Bios what would i look for to see if DMA is enabled?

Download and install all drivers for that motherboard. Especially the motherboard chip set drivers. http://www.foxconnchannel.com/produ...

The drivers for my board chipset will install everything except the ide. and this is the problem i got. http://img201.imageshack.us/my.php?...