There's a good chance there is a hack out there for Eddie's Dell problem. Often it's software related rather than hardware (when things are grey'd out). Maybe not, and even if there is you have to decide if you trust the source.
As we've noted many times on these forums; music recording isn't a focus of most computer companies. Probably never even gets considered during design. We as recordists have to figure out how to make up for the shortcomings. That's what makes this forum great. Lots of knowledgable recording enthusiasts willing to toss out what they've learned along the way..

Make your sound your own!
.. I do not work here, but the benefits are still awesome