Hi, i just now purchased a LiteOn SOHW-832s retail dvd burner off newegg and i am waiting for it to arrive. before i install the drive i have some questions about being prepared before installing it. I am currently running Windows XP pro, 3.06ghz, 1gig ram ddr, geforce fx5200 w/ dvd rom & cd burner. I am planning to take out the cd burner and replace that with the dvd burner. How should i set up the dvd burner? Im kind of confused about the part of DMA for the drive or something. would a 250 watt power supply be able to handle the dvd burner? which software should i use (burning games, dvd's, data, etc.)any other things i need to know? thanks
A 250W PS is pretty small. With DVD burning, etc., I would go to at least 400W. To replace your CD burner with your new DVD burner, just set the new burner to master, if that is how the CD burner is connected, and you should be good to go. As far as checking DMA setting on the new burner after you put it in, do the following: If you only have a DVD burner connected to the Secondary Ide connection, you will only see one listed in the following information. Go into Device Manager, and scroll down to IDE/ATA/ATAPI controllers. Click on the + to the left of it, and it will open up, and you will see the controllers. Now, highlight Secondary Ide Channel, and right click on it and go to Properties/Advanced Settings. That is where your DVD drive should be. Device 0 should read Ultra DMA Mode 2 for the Current Transfer Mode. If it reads PIO, then hit the cancel box, right click on Secondary Ide Channel, again, then click on Uninstall. Click ok, and get out of everything. Shut down the computer, then reboot. Windows will find the DVD burner again, and should set them up properly as DMA Mode 2. Check in Device Manager to see if it did, and let us know what you find out.
