Hello I'm new to Linux, so bear with any blatantly stupid questions.

I'm using Fedora Core 3 on a Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop (1.5ghz Pentium M, 60 GB HDD, 512 mb ram). After spending over a week trying to get my integrated wifi card to work, I realized that any kernel above the default 2.6.667 breaks my drivers (ipw2200) . So if at all possible, I'd like to stick with this kernel. My problem!-- My DVD playback is dog slow.
I've tried a few applications, with Xine being my favorite. It works great on my desktop Linux (also FC3) without any configuration needed. However, on my laptop, frames are dropped until an error message comes up directing me to their FAQ that tells me how to enable DMA. I know this has been covered before but I couldn't find a workable solution for me. Everytime I issue the command
hdparm -d 1 /dev/dvd
it says "Operation not permitted" and keeps it set to 0.
So after some research, it looks like I have to recompile my kernel with DMA enabled. I have no idea how to do this and I want to make sure my drivers don't break again. I'm also confused as to why it works so great on my desktop out of the box but not on my laptop.

Thanks

desktop vs. laptop: different chipsets.

do you have the kernel config file? as long as you have this, you can recompile the kernel with the exact same setup as you have and just add/remove options. One thing, when compiling a kernel of the same version as the one you have installed, and you want to keep the one you have installed ( always a good idea until you know your new kernel is exactly what you want), you will want to edit the Makefile in the top level of the kernel source directory (example:

cd /usr/src/linux-xx.x.x.x.xx
<your favorite editor> Makefile)

at the top you will see this:

VERSION = 2
PATCHLEVEL = 4
SUBLEVEL = 29
EXTRAVERSION =


put something on the EXTRAVERSION line like -custom or -mykernel, -test, etc...

what this does is when you do "make modules_install" or "make install", it won't overwrite your old modules ( the ones that you want to keep).

edit: oh yeah, you'll want to go to the ide section and look for your chipset support and enable it for DMA.

I can't find the Makefile for Fedora Core 3. I downloaded a new kernel which had the Makefile but then I couldn't find the IDE support and DMA. I ran a Make Menuconfig and found that my default cpu was set to Pentium Pro instead of Pentium M like it's supposed to be. Could that be the problem? And how do I get the makefile for something like Fedora?

IIRC ( sorry can't get to my linux box at the current moment) ide support is in Device Drivers->ide xxx xxx

you will have to go down a bit to find the dma - which really is enabling ( built directly into the kernel) support for your ide chipset, which will enable dma.

did you try to set the hdparms as root?

don't know if there's some reason to do things differently for FC, but if you want to understand the kernel compiling process from the ground up, take a look at this thread:

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...hreadid=127095

I'd recommend trying it, as long as you don't delete your old kernel and follow _J's suggestion if you're trying the same kernel version you have now - it may take a few tries, but you'll get the hang of it

I have tried hdparm on my dvd/cd drive and it says it is setting but then it says
# hdparm -d 1 /dev/hdc

/dev/hdc:
setting using_dma to 1 (on)
HDIO_SET_DMA failed: Operation not permitted
using_dma = 0 (off)

I know that Fedora sets the value to 0 as default (for some strange reason) and every forum/website I've found on the problem says that command should work. I know for sure that /dev/hdc is the name of my cd drive, but I don't know any specific information about the drive (manufacturer, model, etc) or how to figure that out (or if it's even necessary to know for this). I'm attempting this because I want to play DVDs, whenever I try now it drops massive frames. If there's a workaround for this that doesn't involve recompiling the kernel, I'd love to hear it
I've tried a few different distros on my laptop when I was trying to get my integrated wireless to work, and I was happiest with Fedora Core although I've read it has the most problems with DMA settings. It is also very choppy when trying to play 3D games like TuxRacer. Maybe that has something to do with it?
Sorry for the broad range of questions, but I'm in over my head with this and I have no idea where to begin. Plus I don't get enough free time in the day as I would like to work on this. Thanks in advance for any help

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Dell Inspiron 6000, 1.5GHz Pentium M (400MHz FSB), 512mb DDR2 RAM, 60GB HDD

the "Operation not Permitted" means that it cannot set dma due to having no support for your ide chipset in the kernel. keep in mind this is the ide controller not the drive itself. you will need to know exactly the vendor and model number of your ide chipset on your mainboard, and enable support for it in the kernel. One thing to try ( other than the internet) is the output of:

this will create a file called dmesg.txt in your current directory with the info from dmesg ( what you see when the os is booting, as the kernel is finding and enabling hardware).

here is mine:

ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx
SIS5513: IDE controller at PCI slot 00:02.5
SIS5513: chipset revision 0
SIS5513: not 100% native mode: will probe irqs later
SIS5513: SiS 962/963 MuTIOL IDE UDMA133 controller
ide0: BM-DMA at 0xff00-0xff07, BIOS settings: hdaMA, hdbMA
ide1: BM-DMA at 0xff08-0xff0f, BIOS settings: hdcMA, hddMA

notice it ( the kernel ) identifies it as an SIS5513. look at your info and determine what you have and we'll go from there.

This is what I get from dmesg:
--------------------

Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 7.00alpha2
ide: Assuming 33MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx
ide0: I/O resource 0x1F0-0x1F7 not free.
ide0: ports already in use, skipping probe
Probing IDE interface ide1...
hdc: SAMSUNG CDRW/DVD SN-324S, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive
Probing IDE interface ide2...
ide2: Wait for ready failed before probe !
Probing IDE interface ide3...
ide3: Wait for ready failed before probe !
Probing IDE interface ide4...
ide4: Wait for ready failed before probe !
Probing IDE interface ide5...
ide5: Wait for ready failed before probe !
Using cfq io scheduler
ide1 at 0x170-0x177,0x376 on irq 15
hdc: ATAPI 24X DVD-ROM CD-R/RW drive, 2048kB Cache
Uniform CD-ROM driver Revision: 3.20

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Those exclamation marks don't look good...

I've looked through the options in "make menuconfig" and am very lost. I downloaded the kernel source for 2.6.9 from kernel.org, but I don't know what to do from here. All I can gather from my dmesg is that it's assigning the dvd drive to hdc (which I've already known) [see output in previous post]. Perhaps it shouldn't be using the uniform cd driver like it says it is using?