A user reports poor performance accessing an external CD-ROM drive installed on a parallel port.
What should you do?
1. Change the system BIOS to use IEEE-1284 ECP/EPP mode.
2. Change the system BIOS to use IEEE-1394 FireWire mode.
3. Update the CD-ROM driver.
4. >>Assign a different DMA to the CD-ROM drive.
Explanation : You should change the system BIOS to use IEEE-1284 ECP/EPP mode. IEEE-1284 is the standard for parallel connections. Enhanced Capabilities Port (ECP) and Enhanced Parallel Port (EPP) are two standards for bi-directional communication over a parallel port. They provide better performance than older standards. However, you will still receive better performance by purchasing a USB or Firewire external drive.
You cannot change a parallel CD-ROM drive to support IEEE-1394 FireWire. FireWire is a high-speed wired connection appropriate for data transfer, such as to an external drive. However, the drive must have a FireWire port.
Updating the CD-ROM driver will most likely not solve the problem. Updating the driver might correct other problems, but if the BIOS is configured to support an older parallel bi-directional standard, it will not resolve the performance issue.
Assigning a different Direct Memory Address (DMA) to the CD-ROM drive would resolve a resource conflict, but it will not help correct a performance problem.
Objective: Personal Computer Components
