[LocalHero]

Chris,

I once had a very similiar problem as yours, except it had to do with burning DVDs. After a long time back and forth with Gateway support, I eventually fixed the problem myself. It turned out to be an issue with DMA mode, which allows for a direct data flow between your computer's processor, and the burner itself. If the burner receives an error in the data flow, it can set the mode back to PIO mode, which can cause such speed issues, and the IDE issue. The DMA mode must be set on your IDE device, because the burner is connected to the motherboard through this vitual port. To make sure DMA is turned on, do the following:

1.) Right Click on My Computer
2.) Click Properties
3.) Click the Hardware Tab, and then Device Manager
4.) Click the plus sign next to "IDE ATA..."
5.) Right click on either the primary or secondary IDE controllers and hit "properties". Here it really depends on what IDE channel If you have one marked "secondary IDE...", then I'm 90% sure that it is connected to that one.
6.) Now that your in the Properties tab of the either IDE controller, click on "Advanced Settings"
7.) Look at what "Current Transfer Mode" says. If it says PIO, then you need to go up to the box above it, and select "DMA if available". Do that for both device 0 and device 1.
8.) Restart your computer, and follow that same process again, but....this time of course don't change any settings, just look to make sure the "Current Transfer Mode" is set to "DMA Ultra Mode 2", or Mode 5, depending upon the machine.


I hope that helps. Post back with the results.