my dvd-rw drive will not read nor write fater than 1.5 and I have a 16X dvd-rw drive. I have been using dycryptor to write the dvds and I have checked the speeds to make sure they are set at max in the software. It is pretty silent while reading and writing unlike when I first got the computer 6 months ago. It seems like the velocity is no longer there. I have also called Dell and they say it is not a hardware problem. I did agree with them as it works, but it is not working to its capabilities. It take almost an hour just to read the DVD's , which only took 15-20 minutes originally. It also takes approx. 1 hour to write the DVD's. They say its a software issue. Dell help tech's tested the drive and and they said it passed. When it was tested the drive speed was louder. I also used Nero and used there Test Drive speed and it did not get faster then 1.5X. When testing at 2X , it was using 78% of the computers effort. (I hope I explained that last part correctly) It was N/A at 4X 8X, 16X etc... I was hoping somebody here can help solve this problem.
Check and make sure your DMA settings are correct and not set to PIO. Here is a guide. http://home.comcast.net/~bbmayo/checking DMA.pdf
