DVD Drive/Burner Problem

[Pinchy]

Ive got a Samsung TS-H552 DVD burner here. Its got a really weird problem.

The problem is its reading issues. What happens is that sometimes it will read a disk, without problems, and sometimes it will act as if nothing is in the drive.

So, I opened the drive up and looked at what was happening. I put a disk in and it spun for around 1 second, stopped, spun again for another second and stopped. Wouldnt read. After a couple of tries, with different disks, it did the first two spins, then continued to spin as normal. No problems reading at all.

Its an IDE drive and I have selected all different jumpers as well as flashing the firmware to the latest version. Ive also tested in a range of computers.

Any ideas? I'd like to get this drive fixed :).

Thx in advanced.

Pinchy

[Agility]

Well this won't help but my local distributor said many people are having problems with samsung's CD-drives. In singapore there's only one distrubtor, Ban Leong Technologies. So......if they say that, it means many aplenty has either RMA or warranty thier samsung drives :laugh:

[von kain]

the thoght that it might give up the ghost cross your mind?

it might be a fault or it exceed it time of operation
i really sorry but i thing that you need a new one

[Agility]

Well when cd-drive starts to fail there's no way to repair. Just replace....unless it's a Blu-Ray Drive lol.....

[Pinchy]

Just weird that it reads disks sometimes and not others. Thats the only reason as to why its not in the bin yet :).

[Agility]

Well get LG. They're good and lasts.

[Pinchy]

Lol, its not my burner thats dead...mine works fine :D.

I'm just trying to get this one to work to put in my other comp, for dual-DVD burners (hate having to copy DVDs and CDs to the HDD then burn).

Anyone know anything about this problem?

[Verikon]

How old is the drive? If you have used it frequently for quite a while then it is very well possible that the drive has failed and needs to be replaced.

Is there a certain type of disk that will not read consistently (CD-Rs, DVD-Rs), or even a certain brand? I know my Toshiba burner hated Memorex DVD-Rs. Does this problem occur on commercial CDs and DVDs as well? Will a specific disk read one time, and then be unreadable another time?

[Pinchy]

Not sure of age. The drive has been given to me by a friend. The date it has is September 2004, so I assume thats when it was manufactured.

Its really odd. It wouldnt read a whole lot of CD's/DVD's, then I put some old ASUS VGA driver disk in and it read many times (but also didnt read at times).

The guy that gave it to me originally said that he was having problems with it, but when he vaccumed the dust from his computer, the problems stopped.

[Verikon]

Well the lens is probably dirty and having trouble reading. You can try cleaning it by blowing the drive out with compressed air, vacuuming it out, or buying a lens cleaning disc, but honestly, 3 years is a decent lifetime for a burner. They are fairly inexpensive too, at least in the US.

[Pinchy]

Cleaned the lens too with a cotton bud. Made no diff.

Yeah, they are pretty cheap here too ($39). Its just I dont need one, as I said above I just wanted it fixed for dual CD-drive purposes :rolleyes:.

[Wile E]

Lol, its not my burner thats dead...mine works fine :D.

I'm just trying to get this one to work to put in my other comp, for dual-DVD burners (hate having to copy DVDs and CDs to the HDD then burn).

Anyone know anything about this problem?Just so you know, most programs still cache DVDs to the hard drive before burning the disk, even with dual drives. Not with most CDs, tho.

[AsRock]

Ive got a Samsung TS-H552 DVD burner here. Its got a really weird problem.

The problem is its reading issues. What happens is that sometimes it will read a disk, without problems, and sometimes it will act as if nothing is in the drive.

So, I opened the drive up and looked at what was happening. I put a disk in and it spun for around 1 second, stopped, spun again for another second and stopped. Wouldnt read. After a couple of tries, with different disks, it did the first two spins, then continued to spin as normal. No problems reading at all.

Its an IDE drive and I have selected all different jumpers as well as flashing the firmware to the latest version. Ive also tested in a range of computers.

Any ideas? I'd like to get this drive fixed :).

Thx in advanced.

Pinchy


I have the TSSTcorp SH-S182M (Samsung)and mine would not play copyed CD\DVD's of other players or ones made on the drive would not play on other players.

All though i updated the Bios on it and compleatly fixed :).

And if out of warrente why not strip it and clean the lens and rails. some times dust gets there and can make these problems. Just be carefull as a lot of stuff sold actualy can damage the lens.

[Verikon]

I have the TSSTcorp SH-S182M (Samsung)and mine would not play copyed CD\DVD's of other players or ones made on the drive would not play on other players.

All though i updated the Bios on it and compleatly fixed :).

And if out of warrente why not strip it and clean the lens and rails. some times dust gets there and can make these problems. Just be carefull as a lot of stuff sold actualy can damage the lens.

Did you mean the firmware on the burner AsRock, or your PC's BIOS? I assume the firmware. That is a good idea... I don't know why I didn't think of it.

[Pinchy]

I have the TSSTcorp SH-S182M (Samsung)and mine would not play copyed CD\DVD's of other players or ones made on the drive would not play on other players.

All though i updated the Bios on it and compleatly fixed :).

And if out of warrente why not strip it and clean the lens and rails. some times dust gets there and can make these problems. Just be carefull as a lot of stuff sold actualy can damage the lens.

Yeah, I flashed it to the latest BIOS/firmware but it didnt help.

See its not just copied DVD's/CD's it doesnt play...but any DVD/CD. And it does at random times :p.

Oh and I have opened it up and cleaned the lens and things. Still didnt make a diff though.

Just so you know, most programs still cache DVDs to the hard drive before burning the disk, even with dual drives. Not with most CDs, tho.

Lol, didnt know that :p. But still, from 4x to 16x would be a nice "free" jump :D.

[AsRock]

Did you mean the firmware on the burner AsRock, or your PC's BIOS? I assume the firmware. That is a good idea... I don't know why I didn't think of it.

Yeah i did mean the Bios on the burner.

I'vehad a CD player drawing to much power before only once though and i been building PC's since 1994.

Howabout trying the burner in another computer ?..

[Pinchy]

Yeah, tried the drive in 3 diff comps. All same problem.

[AsRock]

Yeah, tried the drive in 3 diff comps. All same problem.

:( i was not happy having the problems i had with mine. Think i'll go back to TEAC my self when needed.