I recently purchased a Plextor PX-712A internal DVD burner. Since I am using a laptop, I connect PX-712A via an external enclosure. The burner seems to run pretty well, however my laptop (XP Pro) is unable to detect PX-712A. I ran some self-diagnostic test on PX-712A which is given in the instruction and PX-712A is declared healthy. I then connect the same external enclosure to other no name burners and there are no difficulty at all for the laptop to recognize them, every burner excepts my new PX-712A.

Since the laptop is able to recognize other burners in the same external enclosure via USB, I have excluded the possibility that my USB drive, XP Pro, laptop and external drive isn't working properly. I then contacted Plextor, and the technical serviceman told me that:

"Plextor is unable to support our atapi drives in external enclosures, as
we have no idea how the enclosure will work with our hardware or
software. You'll need to contact the mfgr of the enclosure for
assistance.
Please use your Plextor drive with an internal eide controller. For
external use, Plextor does make a USB2/Firewire drive that will do the
job for you. We can offer support for that in your installation."

Seems that Plextor has developed some scheme to force laptop user to buy its much more expensive external burner.


I don't want to spend $200 on external PX-712, and I want to keep using my PX-712A if possible. Is there any way I can hack the firmware and make my laptop recognize PX-712A? Any other suggestion? Thanks!

There is no firmware hack for a laptop to recognize the 712A drive. For some reason USB has more compatibility issues when it comes to using a external enclosure for some dvd burners. Firewire has better compatiblity than USB. I would suggest you purchase a FIREWIRE enclosure. This has been discussed in a thread at cdrlabs.com. A guy who lives in my state had problems with the same drive in a USB ENCLOSURE. Here take a look at that thread:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtop...r=asc&start=25

____________________________________________________________________

PLEXTOR 708A DVDRW
PIONEER 107D DVDRW
LITEON 811 DVDRW
TOSHIBA (2)1612 DVD-ROM
PLEXTOR 48X24X48 CDRW
PENT 4 HT 3.00C, 800 FSB, PENT 4 2.40 533 FSB
1GB CRUCIAL PC3200 MEMORY, 1GB CRUCIAL PC2700
MAXTOR 200 GB HARD DRIVE
MAXTOR 250 GB HARD DRIVE
MAXTOR 200 GB SATA HARD DRIVE
MAXTOR (2)120 GB HARD DRIVE
MAXTOR 60 GB HARD DRIVE
ANTEC TRUE POWER430 WATT
ANTEC SLK2650 CASE
CANOPUS ADVC-100 ANALOG TO DIGITAL CONVERTER
MAXTOR ATA -133 PCI CONTROLLER CARD

thanks Dvd_addict for replying. I will try to buy a firewall external enclosure and post the result.

Did you try to connect the enclosure to some desktop computer ?

yes, I did. Now I have decided to sell by PX-712A and wait for PX-716A.