use/cause of ide=nodma boot parameter?

[Pavel R]

John Best wrote:

>Through my difficult time trying to get started with FC2, I found that I
>needed to use the ide=nodma boot parameter to get things to work.   Failure
>to do so resulted in a system hang while loading the appropriate disk/io
>drivers during boot/install.  My question to the group is..
>
>Is this caused by a misconfiguration of the IDE environment or other HW
>problem?  Or is this just something that happens?  Does use of this
>parameter cause/create any other issues (disable functionality, increase
>risk, compatibility?)
>  
>
I think that it just happens. Some drives do not work reliable with DMA. 
This setting  supposed to be harmless in terms of 
compatibility/functionality.

>Computer is ASUS p4pe with 2.4Ghz, 512M
>
>IDE Setup
>IDE 1
>MASTER West Dig - 160 G (2 - 80 G partitions) for Windows  C & D drives
>SLAVE  Maxtor 40G for Fedora
>
>IDE2
>Master HP 9300i CDWRITER
>Slave Generic 50x CDRom
>
>Some thoughts included improper jumper settings (Master, slave, Cable
>Select) or improper devices as Master slave, or
>a hw compatibility issue (like with the generic 50x cdrom not supporting the
>correct spec)...
>
>
>Though I had no problem with Redhat 9 nor with windows...
>  
>
IIRC, RH9 did not enable DMA by default, and windows does not enable it 
either (at least for some disks).

>Thanks.
>
>John Best
>jbest at insightbb.com
>
>  
>
Pavel.