http://newbieslinux.com/forum/index.php?webtag=DEFAULT&msg=782.2
First, you may need to change the order of some modules in /etc/modules to read like the fillowing: <b> sd_mod psmouse mousedev piix ide-core ide-cd ide-disk ide-generic lp </b>
For Ubuntu open a console and type <b>sudo gedit /etc/hdparm.conf</b> .... and add these lines at the end of the file. <code language="">/dev/cdrom { dma = on }</code>
Be a bit careful with enabling DMA on older CD-players, they can break.
If that doesn't work you may have to remove all ide-* entries from modules or modules.conf... After that, hdparm could be used to set dma as normal. However, I doubt if that will be necessary.
In SuSE and RedHat l needed to enable ATAPI support for ata_piix in include/linux/libata.h
Change: #undef ATA_ENABLE_ATAPI
into #define ATA_ENABLE_ATAPI