Samsung ts-h552b cd/dvd-rw won't work

Hi there, i have a Samsung ts-h552b cd/dvd writer which worked fine for a couple of months. I was using nero 6 and was burning some cd-r s. When i got to the 4th cd to be burnt it decided it could not recognise the blank cd-r.

Since then it won't recognise any cd-r whether it be blank or with data on it, however the device does recognise audio cds.

Also data on dvds that i previously burnt before it stopped working properly can still be read and viewed.

I have uninstalled the device and let wiondows find it again. I tried firmware update and i tried opening up and reconnecting the cables. All to no avail.

Any ideas or has the machine just packed up?

Cheers

No, you're not alone trying to struggle with this crap of burner drive!

My Samsung TS-H552B worked for a few DVD and I few CDs I burned recently.

A couple days ago I buned an ISO in a Verbatim 52x media (from the 50 pieces spindle I just bought) and everything worked just fine.
When I put the next blank CD to burn, the drive didn't recognized the media at all. As anyone else CD in the 50 pieces spindle ! As other brands I've then checked out.

I'm using Pinnacle Instant CD - DVD. And I've tried to upgrade it to the 8.3.0.4 version with the patch available from the Samsung web site (althought, clearly this is not a software related problem, as the drive doesn't recognize the blank media even before the software starts examining the disc). I've also tried to upgrade (till TS07) and downgrade the drive BIOS to all the available versions.
No visible changes.

Don't really know if this might be relevant, but I tested the Verbatim (a reccomended brand) 52x CD-R lenght before starting to burn the 1st (successiful) CD.

The drive still reads any media, but won't record CD-R (I've not tested other media, so far, as I'd need some absolutely conventional CDs burned)

The problem also has to be appered in the http://www.samsungodd.com website forum, but the firm doen't really seems to care.
(Btw, the forum really sucks, as it only works on IE)

It might make sense to ask a mass refund from Samsung.

General advice on cd/dvd writing problems is to remove absolutely all burning software, re-apply any service packs, re-apply any chipset patches, & then re-try your burning software making certain that any updates applicable are also applied, having checked your aspi layer after doing all this ;)(this explains more than that ) & also that dma is on in device manager (ask if you don't know how :)) {.. phew !}

Order of application installation & patching with this is paramount !! - as all the variuous features available are added via 'filter or class' drivers (they change other drivers is the long & the short of it ;)) & inheritance from other programs & classes is required which if everything isn't 'just so', doesn't happen right ..

You need to go through all of that to eliminate software issues first.

Brand new firmware for this unit referenced here (vTS07 march 2005)

(but I'd hold off with applying that if everything worked before as firmware updates are generally to add functionality & we need to be sure everything is working correctly before that).