hi, i have a Samsung SH-S202N 48x IDE.

I am burning using Nero 8. I have never really realised the problem until it was pointed out to me recently, and now that I need to burn 50 odd cds it would be handy to get it sorted! Its currently taking 20-23 mins to burn a full CD at 48x. The CDs I am using are Verbatim 52x.

I have tried all of the above but still to no avail. The first time I changed from PIO to PMA if available it did appear to work, although once it got to the 3 mins it said it then added another 17 mins and took basically as long as normal.

If I go back into device manager again it is still set to PMA if available, but current mode still says PIO (this is after reboots etc, also checked some BIOS settings).

Am I right to assume then that PMA is not available and I have to live with this crap? Thanks in advance.

I'm attempting to follow Barm's advise (which is really well laid out, thanks). The trouble I'm having right now is probably a beginner level one.

"When you start up your computer, get into your BIOS menu, and check your IDE/ATAPI drive settings. i have a dell, and dell, by default, turned the primary slave and the secondary slave to "off". i just had to change that value to "auto" and it started working fine for me."

When I go into my BIOS menu, I don't see any option to view my IDE/ATAPI settings or any options for an "auto" setting. I went through all the various menus and can't seem to find it.

I'm running WinXP SP3 on a Dell XPS400. When I first boot up, I hit F2 to go into the Setup menu (BIOS).

I'm hoping someone can help me out as my CD burner used to run at close to 48x and now burns close to 4x. Thanks in advance.