DVD audio: good through USB headset, garbled through speakers

[cronish]

Dell Dimension 4700, Pentium IV (3.0 GHz)
1.5 GB of RAM
Windoes XP Home Edition, Version 2002, SP2
NEC 3550A DVD-RW

PROBLEM: I've installed a retail box NEC DVD-RW ND-3550A, which came with
Nero Suite. The player's specs are: 48x CD-R, 48x CD-ROM, 24x CD-RW
UltraDMA33E-IDE/ATAPI Interface.

Audio playback is fine on this computer system through headphones and
speakers for all media EXCEPT DVD's. When I play DVD's through the desktop
speakers, the video is fine, but audio very garbled. (This seems to improve
sometimes if I replay the same chapter several times, as if the system cache
has stored up the audio already and is just kicking it back out. But
changing to a new chapter results in more garbled audio.)

BUT, when I plug in my USB headset and play the DVD, the audio is perfect,
no matter what chapter I switch to. I've tried all kinds of troubleshooting,
to no avail. NEC says that since the headphones work, it must be a Windows
problem. Nero says the same thing.

I hope I've provided the proper background info, and also that this is the
proper group to post this problem; please let me know if I'm in the wrong
place, or if more info is needed.

In my System Info panel>IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers>I show two Intel Ultra ATA
Storage Controllers, one 2651, and one 266F, and two "Primary IDE Channels"
and on each Advanced Settings tab, "DMA if available" is selected.

For the first Primary IDE Channel:
Device 0 shows "DMA if available" and Current Transfer Mode shows "Ultra DMA
Mode5".
Device 1 shows "DMA if available" and Current Transfer Mode shows "Not
Applicable."

For the second Primary IDE Channel:
Device 0 shows "DMA if available" and Current Transfer Mode shows "Ultra DMA
Mode 2".
Device 1 shows "DMA if available" and Current Transfer Mode shows "PIO
Mode". (Is "PIO Mode" a problem here?)

Here is the applicable info from the Nero Info Tool, notice that under
"Attached Devices", for the DVD player it shows DMA is off, is this a
potential problem? I'm only focusing on DMA b/c although Dell would not
support a 3rd-party DVD, they also indicated it was a Windows issue, and
specified DMA.

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated!
thx-
c.

From Nero Info Tool:

Interface Information
---------------------
Adapter 1
---------
Description : Primary IDE Channel

Driver
Description : system32\DRIVERS\atapi.sys
Company : Microsoft Corporation
Version : 5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)
Description : IDE/ATAPI Port Driver

Attached Devices
Description : Master: TSSTcorp CD-RW TS-H292B
Type : CD-Rom Drive
DMA : On
Autorun : On
Description : Slave: _NEC DVD_RW ND-3550A
Type : CD-Rom Drive
DMA : Off
Autorun : On

Adapter 2
---------
Description : Secondary IDE Channel

Driver
Description : system32\DRIVERS\atapi.sys
Company : Microsoft Corporation
Version : 5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)
Description : IDE/ATAPI Port Driver

Attached Devices
Description : Master: Maxtor 6Y160M0
Type : Disk Drive
DMA : On

 

[Guest]

Hi,

Are you installed the NEC drive on the seondary IDE channel as slave and the
data tranfer rate is pio ?
If yes, go to device manager and uninstall the secondary IDE channel and
than reboot.
After reboot, windows should find new hardware and install the IDE drivers.
Go to device manager again and check the secondary IDE channel, in the
Advanced Settings, it should show the Current Transfer Mode is UDMA Mode 2.
If not, click the Transfer Mode button and select DMA if available and than
click OK.
Close the device manager and than go to device manager again and check for
the DMA mode. If still no go, you may consider to change the IDE ribbon
cable, change it to a 80 wired cable.

Hope it helps.

 

[cronish]

Thank you for everyone's help. I finally found a solution: I was right in
thinking DMA was the culprit, but could not get it selected for the slave
drive. So, I reset the jumpers, Master for DVD player and Slave for CD-Rom,
and that fixed it. So elementary, but so elusive. Thanks again for
everyone's feedback...
c.