I installed a new DVD burner today & under FAQ & Tips it says
Q:How can I maximize the high speed write performance?
A:Activate the DMA settings for your operating system.
I replaced a dying CD burner,do I still need to do this or would it be already done from the previous burner?

DMA settings are usually device-specific. You would probably need to go into Device Manager, then go into properties for that drive, and you should find a DMA option there.

I did not find anything about a DMA setting in the device manager.However I did find some stuff about if you want to update the device driver,since it works I assume I would not want to update the driver?

Honestly? For Windows XP, you are never going to find upgraded device drivers for peripherals like USB and CDROM.

I thought we were talking about hard drives for some reason. Both of your hard drives should have DMA capabilities listed. Normally if there is no DMA item listed in device manager, the devise doesn't support it, or you need to go into BIOS and enable that feature.

Please correct me if I'm wrong(I usually am) Dell does not have a BIOS that can be changed?

Any BIOS settings can be changed. You can even update BIOS. All BIOS is is, well, a little software program that runs on a chip (EEPROM) on your motherboard. There are ways to update your BIOS software, it's a tool that will erase what is currently in BIOS and rewrite it with a new BIOS program. This usually nets more options, fixes bugs which in turn often fixes problems people are having with hardware freezes and other crap.

Normally with DELL computers you press the F2 key to enter BIOS when the Dell logo shows on bootup (most other computers you're required to hit DEL, F1, F10 or F12 on bootup).

You are required to do this before the Windows logo appears and Windows starts loading. If you don't press it (may need to tap it a couple times) before the Windows logo appears, you will need to try again after rebooting.

As a preface: You can really screw up your computer dorking around in the BIOS settings.

In retrospect, I swore I saw UDMA vs PIO settings in BIOS on at least one or two computers, but I'm looking around and not seeing anything I can offer you for pictures or howto pages.

I guess you would want to dork around in the peripherals section of BIOS and look for "PIO" or "DMA" or "UDMA". Any of these could potentially net what you are wanting.

I am not sure if I can help any more than this. This is one of those cases it would be much easier if i had the system sitting in front of me.