parport_pc does not enable DMA by default (both 2.5.72 and 2.4.21)

I have CUSL2 motherboard (i815e based) that allows to select different parallel port modes; for ECP or ECP+EPP I also can choose DMA channel.

Neither 2.4.21 nor 2.5.72 would enable DMA by default. I have (currently ECP but the same for ECP_EPP)

parport0: PC-style at 0x378 (0x778), irq 7, using FIFO [PCSPP,TRISTATE,COMPAT,ECP]
parport0: cpp_daisy: aa5500ff(38)
parport0: assign_addrs: aa5500ff(38)
parport0: cpp_daisy: aa5500ff(38)
parport0: assign_addrs: aa5500ff(38)

and as options

{pts/1}% grep parport /etc/modprobe.conf
options parport_pc irq=auto dma=auto

IRQ is correctly autodeteted and it appears it is also correctly configured in BIOS:

{pts/1}% cat /sys/devices/pnp0/00:01/name
ECP printer port
{pts/1}% cat /sys/devices/pnp0/00:01/resources
mode = auto
state = active
io 0x378-0x37f
io 0x778-0x77f
irq 7
dma 3

Is it expected? Any additional info I can provide?

TIA

-andrey