slow cd ripping on tsstcorp dvd+/-rw ts-t633c

I am having a terrible time trying to rip cd's mostly through itunes on my dell studio 1749 with a  tsscorp dvd=/-rw ts-t633c drive.  When I try to extract the audio from a cd the fastest it will rip is about at 5x.  I also have ripped the same cd's through a external usb drive and the external drive rips at about 35x.  

I have updated the bios and drivers for the chipset and drive.  Played around with everything I could think of.  I contacted Dell customer service who basically told me that I would have to pay for some extra service to find out what was wrong with it even though it is still under warranty.  There position is that it it works and it must be a software issue even though I get two different speeds from two different drives using the same software.  I also tried to rip using windows media player and realplayer.  

I would appreciate anybodys help out there.