Plextor USA

The most common cause of a stuttering DVD drive is the DMA (or Direct Memory Access) transfer mode is not enabled for the drive. The alternative, slow and inefficient data transfer mode is called PIO  (Programmed Input-Output) where the central processor transfers data byte for byte or word for word. This requires many processor commands for each data word and therefore causes a high and unwanted processor load, which in turn, causes the drive to stutter or function slowly. DMA can be enabled in the Device Manager of your Windows operating system.

Some other common causes of the drive being stuck in PIO mode is a faulty or older 40-Pin IDE cable (use an 80-pin) or the DMA option being disabled in your system BIOS.