about hardware:
if your NEC is connected with a 80-wired IDE cable, it should be swapped for a 40-wired cable, because the ATAPI standard is still limited to 40-wired IDE cables;
best place for a DVD burner is master at your second IDE controller; configure the drive to master by using the jumper at back side;
so here is my configuration recommendation:
1. channel 80-wired cable, master: system HDD, slave: storage HDD (if present)
2. channel 40-wired cable, master: NEC DVD-RW, slave: CD-ROM (if present)
about the drivers:
your Dell seems to have an Intel chipset, so go sure you don't have "IAA- Intel Aplication Accelerator" installed; if IAA is installed uninstall it via Controll Panell > Add/Remove Software, reboot; then ensure that the IDE controller drivers ar the Microsoft standard drivers and not made by Intel; if Intel allocate the standard drivers instead reboot again;
and again, till now you didn't tell us which Windows version you are using;