-------------------SNIP---------------------- So after hours wasted and many trials and tribulations my problems came down to a combination of A) Kernel not recognizing my via southbridge (msi KT3Ultra2 motherboard) 1) the kernel on the boxed set of SuSE linux 8.1 Pro, (not recognizing southbridge) 2) the kernel installed for SuSE 8.1 which was installed by win4lin (not recognizing southbridge) I tried my 2 hard drives on separate IDE channels, this worked as far as having an operating computer but would not allow DMA for either drive. At least it didn't crash. I tried both drives on the same IDE Cable, This led to so many crashes that my reiserFS became totally corrupt and unfixable, The crashes were unpredictable occurring anywhere from 10 minutes after boot up to 14 hours after boot. Being that I multiboot other OS' (as well as the rebooting I was doing trying to get DMA working)I didn't immediately recognize the source of the problem, and was not able to fix the fs w/ the available tools. I was able to salvage my /home directory , then re-installed SuSE. (Both hard drives are back on separate channels. Although this is not ideal speedwise (they share cables w/ a dvd and a cdrw), I needed to get up and running quickly so my e-mail wouldn't overflow (mainly this list ;-). I may try them back on the same cable as time allows. I then upgraded to the most recent stable kernel for 8.1 (2.4.19-115) and can now set DMA for both of my hard drives and my dvd (which started the whole adventure). I also downloaded the sources for SuSE kernel2.4.19-115, patched them for win4lin and compiled. This also works for DMA. currently /dev/hda seagateHD /dev/hdb dvd player /dev/hdc seagateHD /dev/cdrecorder linked to /dev/sr1 eventually I will probably place the 2 HD's on the same cable again but this works for now. Overall speed isn't as big of issue for me as the high CPU usage caused by disk activity without DMA Basically it came down to the kernel not recognizing the via southbridge as mentioned by Geoff Horn. Thanks to all who worked on this w/ me. Particularly Curtis and Carlos Hopefully this will help someone else. -- dh Don't shop at GoogleGear.com!