DMA Disabled

[RayGo]

I am having a problem when I first turn on my PC and try to boot into kubuntu it fails. I have to boot into windows first and then everything works just fine.
I worked with HP-UX for 9 years so I am not unfamiliar with Unix terms. If I boot into single user mode first I get the following error messages on the screen before it hangs and I have to turn the power off to reboot.

hdb: cache flushes supported
hdb: hdb dma_intr: status = 0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
hdb: dma_intr: error = 0x84 { DriveStatusError BadCRC }
ide: failed opcode was: unknown
hdb: hdb dma_intr: status = 0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
hdb: dma_intr: error = 0x84 { DriveStatusError BadCRC }
ide: failed opcode was: unknown
hdb: hdb dma_intr: status = 0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
hdb: dma_intr: error = 0x84 { DriveStatusError BadCRC }
ide: failed opcode was: unknown
hdb: hdb dma_intr: status = 0x51 { DriveReady SeekComplete Error }
hdb: dma_intr: error = 0x84 { DriveStatusError BadCRC }
ide: failed opcode was: unknown
hda: DMA disabled

I have 4 partitions on hdb, the first two are windows html, the third is ext3 and the forth is unused at this time.

I just do not understand why it works if I boot into windows first (I do not even have to sign in to XP just boot to the welcome screen). It also seems to be a time issue, once I boot into windows I can boot into Kubuntu all day but the next morning the issue comes back. I do not like leaving the PC on all night so that is not an option (I know it is better for the hard drives I just do not do it).

[penguin.ch]

Re: DMA Disabled

At least for the sake of debugging, you may want to (re-)boot with ide=nodma set as additional option.

[RayGo]

Re: DMA Disabled

Thank you for the suggestion I will try that.
Which line in the menu.lst for grub does that option go on?

[penguin.ch]

Re: DMA Disabled

Which line in the menu.lst for grub does that option go on?

The one starting with the key word "kernel", as for example

kernel  /boot/vmlinuz-[...] root=/dev/sdaX ide=nodma [...]

(referring to the kernel you're going to boot to, of course ...)

[RayGo]

Re: DMA Disabled

Thanks I will try that. let you know how it works in the morning, the problem only seems to come up when PC has been off over night.

[RayGo]

Re: DMA Disabled

setting the nodma option worked. thanks I am going to leave it that way for now.