My computer had a major spyware infection so I reinstalled Windows. Since doing so, whenever I attempt to burn a CD the process can take up to 40 minutes, whereas it only took about 10 minutes before the reinstallation. The DVD drive has been replaced under warranty but the problem persists. Is it possible the computer is missing some software required for the drive to function? The computer is running Windows XP with a 16x DVD-RW drive.

Even though the DVD drive is labelled as a 16x DVD writer this only indicates that the drive will write DVDs at 16x speed. However, the drive should be able to write CDs at a much higher speed (generally about 52x speed). Therefore, the drive should not take 40 minutes to write a CD, but instead should be able to complete the task in about 10 minutes as you discussed. The first thing we need to check is the speed at which the drive has been configured to write CDs. If you are using the in-built Windows XP CD writing function, open My Computer or Windows Explorer and right-click on the DVD drive and select ‘Properties’. In the window that appears, click the ‘Recording’ tab. In the box allowing you to select the write speed, make sure this is set as ‘Fastest’ and click OK. Should you be using third-party CD writing software, look for a similar setting and make sure it is set at the fastest write speed supported by the CD/DVD burner.

Should increasing the CD writing speed not resolve the problem, or the speed was already at maximum, it is possible the DVD drive has defaulted to PIO mode as a result of the Windows reinstallation. IDE devices (such as the DVD drive and hard drive) can be configured into two transfer modes: PIO (programmed input/output mode) and DMA (direct memory access). PIO mode transfers data between memory and the IDE device through the computer processor, whereas DMA mode transfers data directly between memory and the IDE device (without going through the processor). This makes DMA mode much faster, as it bypasses the computer processor, which is a potential bottleneck in the entire process.

Make sure you are running the latest updates for Windows XP, and have also installed Windows XP Service Pack 2. These updates can resolve known issues and bugs with DMA/PIO mode. Should you have the latest updates installed, we need to check the Device Manager to see which mode has been configured. Go to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘Control Panel’. In the window that appears, open the ‘System’ control panel (you may need to first open the ‘Performance and Maintenance’ category). In the window that appears, click the ‘Hardware’ tab and the ‘Device Manager’ button. The transfer mode (PIO/DMA) is not configured on the actual device (e.g. DVD drive) but is instead configured for the IDE controller. Expand the ‘IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers’. If you know on which IDE channel (primary or secondary) the DVD drive is connected, right-click on the channel and select ‘Properties’. If not, complete the following procedure for both the primary and secondary IDE channels. Once in the Properties for the channel, click the ‘Advanced Settings’ tab. For Device 0 and Device 1, note down the current ‘Transfer Mode’ (in case things go wrong, and we need to revert to the previous settings) and then change the setting to ‘DMA if available’ for both devices. Click OK. Close the Device Manager and restart the computer. Now the DVD drive should be in DMA mode, and hopefully the DVD drive should work much more efficiently, and write CDs (and also DVDs) much quicker.