Controller related issues

Q: Can't update firmware

A: There is a compatibility issue with VIA based SATA controllers. Affected are at the moment all Samsung SATA DVD writers (SH-W163A, SH-183 and SH-S203 series) connected to either VT8235, VT8237 (including A or R) southbridge or VT6420/6421A based SATA add-on-cards. The inability of upgrading firmware is well documented for the SH-W163A/VT8237 and VT8235 combination, according to a (slightly dated) document on Samsung website (PDF).
Newer VIA southbridges starting from the improved VT8237R+ seem to be not affected.

What happens exactly: Since there is something wrong in the communication between drive and controller, the OEM code of the drive isn't reported properly (Check with WinInquiry). This will cause the firmware flasher to refuse any work.
Solution: none, unless you have the opportunity to flash the drive in another computer.

Similar might also happen with other controllers, for example Jmicron. The firmware update won't start if the drive is not detected properly.

Threads about this issue:

• http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=223031 (VIA)
• http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=222460 (VIA)
• http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=228716 (VIA)
• http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=226206 (Jmicron)

Q: Can't change boooktype to DVD-ROM with DVD+R/+RW media

A: This seems to be another compatibility issue with VIA based SATA controllers and Samsung DVD writers.
It was reported for a SH-S183 drive here: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=227560
Similar might also occur with other imperfect controllers like Jmicron etc.

Nero CD/DVD Speed and possibly DiscSpeed also will not be able to change the booktype, if a registry key "Disable_Bitsetting" is present in

• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Ahead\Nero Toolkit\CD Speed (CD/DVD Speed)
  or
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Nero\Nero 8\Nero Toolkit\DiscSpeed (DiscSpeed)

and has a value of "1". Change to "0" (zero)

Q: DVD playback is distorted (Promise SATA controllers)

A: There seems to be a compatibility issue with Promise SATA controllers and some Samsung DVD writers. Anything works good apart from DVD playback, which delivers distorted audio and video.
Reported here for SH-S203: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=228855
Not affected: Promise PDC 20579 (SATA II 150) controller, that can be found on some mainboards.

Q: My drive does not work properly (Promise PATA controllers)

A: Promise PATA controllers are optimised for harddiscs and often fail with optical drives.

Generic solution for controller related issues is to install a PCI controller card. For SATA drives, Silicon Image based cards (non-RAID) are often recommended.

Drive related issues

Q: Problem with DVD-R discs (Lead-In Issue)

A: Some SH-S18x series drives suffer from writing a wrong Lead-In. This will cause unreadable discs. 16x and 20x drives are not affected.
There are patched firmwares (CDFreaks Edition) based on older firmware releases available in the Firmware thread for SH-S182 - including SE-S184 - drives.
This issue is also not present with Samsung OEM and Philips firmwares:

• TS-H652D KC03 or Philips SPD2412T 1.5 firmware (SH-S182D)
• TS-H652M KC03 or Philips SPD6002T 1.3 firmware (SH-S182M and SE-S184M)

(Credits to Skylon for reporting the absence of the Lead-in bug with TS-H652D/M firmwares )

The TS-H652x firmwares are available on Samsung Korea website.
Philips firmwares are available at http://www.storageupdates.philips.com/en/dvdrw.html
Both need to be "force flashed", so check the firmware chapter please.


Threads about this issue:

• http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=217594

Q: If I burn a DVD-R, CD/DVD Speed reports "burned with SH-S183B", but my drive is a SH-S203B

A: This is only a cosmetical problem. The string "SH-S183B" is buried somewhere in the firmware. There shouldn't be any problem for the Samsung engineers to get this fixed. Normally.
Same applies for the SH-S203N, this reports back SW-S183N.

Q: If I insert a written CD-R, Nero CD/DVD Speed does not show the media code (ATIP)

A: This seems to be a "feature" of most Samsung DVD writers. It is corrected with the 20x drives.