Hi,

I'm experiencing a lot of trouble with the samsung se-s184M external USB dvd writer.
I bought this writer to connect it to a Toshiba Tecra 8200 laptop, so that it could be used to write DVD's for backups of this system. Originally it had Windows 2000 installed, but since I didn't manage to get the writer working on win2000, I upgraded the system to windows XP. This has not helped however. The problem:
When I connect the writer to the USB port (not USB 2.0, given the older laptop), the light on the writer briefly flashes. I get the message 'USB Device not recognized' in Windows. The device manager shows an 'Unknown Device" in the USB controller section.

Has anybody else expierenced this problem. Is there a known solution. I already contacted support, but they haven't replied yet, since I've let them know that upgrading to windows XP hasn't helped.

thanks in advance,

Marc

Hi and Welcome!Upgrading to XP was unnecessary as W2k also supports USB mass storage devices like external CD/DVD drives. Make sure, latest Service Packs and patches are installes.
Do you have the power supply unit that came with the drive, connected? Also try the drive with another computer to sort out a bad drive.
Please also note, that USB 2.0 High Speed is mandatory for using an external DVD writer. If your notebook has a free cardbus slot, then get an USB/cardbus adapter, preferably with NEC chipset.
This would mean, the problem is not related by the operating system, provided you made a clean install on a freshly formatted partition.

Michael

Hi Michael,

thanks for your reply. Upgrading to WinXP was indeed unnecessary, but I hoped it would help. Did an upgrade though, too much data on the PC to do a clean install (data we want to backup, which is why we bought the drive)

It did't say on the box that USB 2.0 is required for DVD writing, so this is a very good tip. I will get my hands on a card like that and try that. Do you have any cards (brand/type) in mind?

thanks for your help

Marc

Hi Marc,USB 1.1 is only capable for 4x CD writing/reading. But also in that case, the unit should be detected properly. So I suspect, that there are other issues, too. Brand does not matter, but make sure, it has a NEC chipset. My own card is from an unknown chinese manufacturer
But at first please try the drive on another computer in order to sort out a bad drive.

Michael

Hi Michael,

sorry, forgot to reply to that point: I tried in on my own laptop (a more recent one) and no problem at all.
I agree that the 'recognition' should work anyway.
I hope that the problem lies in the combination of the USB controller and the samsung drive. Then, maybe, adding a different USB controller would work around it.
thanks
Marc

Hi Michael,

I found the following devices:

Delock PCMCIA USB2.0 CardBus (32Bit) 4-Port Adapter: 24€

D-Link 2 port DUB-C2 27€
Trendnet 4-port TU2-H4PC 35€
Belkin 2-port F5U222df 46€

The Belkin seems to have the NEC chipset, but it's the most expensive and not in stock where I looked. Does any of these seem preferable to you?

thanks,

Marc

Hi Marc,NEC or ALI
Possibly NEC
Seems to be NEC based
Nec for sure
You could pick any NEC based card. I would prefer buying in a local store so you could make sure, the card is really based on NEC chipset.

Michael

4x? I used to burn cd's at 40x with my samsung usb 1.1 dvd burner.

Hi and Welcome!Yes. Not much more. 6x might work also, 8x is not safe.No. Your software might have shown, it is burning @40x, but the real write speed is much slower.

Just do the math: 1x CD speed = 150 kByte/sec. USB 1.1 = 12 MBit/sec = approx. 1000 -1200 kByte/sec. (That is 8x CD-R if you're optimistic)

The max WRITEspeed with usb1.1 you can achieve is 5x on CD media.
This means, most drives can write at 4x CD speed max because 5x is no generic writespeed, even for CD media.