Hello. I'm trying to enable DMA (direct memory access) on my Gateway SX2840 / Windows 7. I tried to follow these instructions, but I can't find any 'Channels' under 'IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers' in Device Manager. Do I need to change my drive from AHCI to IDE in the BIOS just to make this change (as someone posted in the comments section)? I'm trying to speed up reading of CD's DVD's, which right now are extremely slow to rip (even on the lowest quality settings in both iTunes and WMP). It's taking close to half an hour to rip a CD, it never used to take that long. http://windows7themes.net/how-to-enable-dma-in-windows-7.html

If your optical disk is a SATA drive DMA is not relevant. DMA is only relevant if the controller is an IDE device. The SATA mode change does not turn the drive into an IDE device. Look elsewhere for whatever is slowing your system. What changes and updates have you made recently?

I would not recommend any of the changes that you are considering. This appears to be a relatively recent computer with current hardware. All should be ok. http://support.gateway.com/us/en/product/default.aspx?tab=1&modelId=2316 As it is Intel based, I would run the update tool from Intel. There are newer drivers available than those listed by Gateway. Let the Husdawg thingy install, let it update, then you can uninstall after the updates. http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/detect/?iid=gg_support-EN_01+home_detect Perhaps your security software is monitoring\scanning the file process for burning and slowing it down. Temporarily disable protection for the next burn and observe.