New SH-S203B not reading discs

I ordered it on Newegg, and suspect I might have to RMA it. However there's some other funny things going on with my computer and I want to make sure it is not a software problem before I go through the trouble of RMA, only to have the replacement work no better.

The drive is recognized in the BIOS, and was installed successfully by windows, but when I put any kind of optical media in, the light not the front jsut blinks for a couple minutes before stopping. I've tried a blank DVD-R, a commercially pressed DVD, a commercially pressed in the preDRM 1980s CD, and last but not least, my Windows XP install disc. Nothing. Won;t even boot from the Windows CD.

Couple things I did to try and remedy the situation:
Updated to latest version of nForce 4 chipset.
Uninstalled Nero, reboot, uninstall Optical Drives, reboot.

System Specs:
Windows XP Pro
AMD Opteron 185
Gigabyte GA-K8N SLi
GeFroce 6800GS (PNY Factory overclock)
2GB RAM (Kingston)
250GB SATA 3.0 Gb/s Hard Drive

Notes:
The drive in question is listed as TSSTcorp CDDVDW Sh-S203B in the device manager. I assume this is because it is OEM from newEgg.

I have not flashed the firmware because I am worried this might affect my ability to RMA the drive.

I do have both magic ISO and Power ISO installed, if that matters.
My SH-203B is hooked up with a Molex-SATA converter
My computer has been hiccuping these last couple of weeks ever since

My old NEC burner stopped reading and writing CDs Mid-January just after a WoW installation. (Hence the new drive purchase.) It still reads DVDs, but it was unable to finish, and gave an error, last time I tried to use Nero CD speed to check disc quality.

My System has been hiccuping ever since Kaspersky caught and removed a trojan last week (backdoor.win32.elw). By hiccuping I mean sporadically freezing for 2 seconds, then going on it's merry way. I've done Spybot, Ad-Aware, and kaspersky full system scans but haven't turned up anything past that initial trojan (and it's renamed .bak friend, and it's cousin hiding in system restore under a funny name.) I suspect my windows installation might have become corrupted from this. I also would not be surprised if the trojan was a false positive. It came up and was removed upon my rebooting windows in Japan code page. (Have since switched back to US-English code page.) I would not be surprised if it was a false positive.

Hi and Welcome!How is your SATA controller configured? To play safe, I'd recommend setting it to IDE compatible mode (not if you are running a RAID).
Can you try the drive with another computer? This would rule out any system related issue.
Also check the cables. Reconnect them all (SATA cables seem to love to get loose)
No. This is normal. TSST means ToshibaSamsungSTorage.
This is not a firmware related issue, so I wouldn't flash the drive at that stage.
Your system is compromised:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/com...mt/sm0504.mspx

Michael

This is what I have been suspecting, yes. It's one of the reasons I got a new burner, I intend to back up my data files and wipe the drive. However, I will say that I unplugged my network cable as a test and still get the occasional freeze. Also when the hiccup occurs there's no change in resource usage, or even CPU temperature. Though I assume a with a fully compromised system there's ways around having CPU usage show up in the performance stats. Looks like I'll be keeping my network cable unplugged and use my old computer (with a Linux Live CD) to access the web.

I'll try out your suggestions with the drive when I get home, but I can say right now that my other computer does not have SATA. (It's an old Athlon computer. Thats regular Athlon, not Athlon 64.)

I'd ask more about which file types are safe to carry over, but I'd like to keep this more or less on topic.

Hi,What about installing an old drive additionally and run a Linux Live CD (I like Kanotix very much) off that drive and use the Samsung as target drive for the files you want to backup?
The additional advantage would be, if there are still issues, then they can be considered hardware related.

Installing a Silicon Image 3112/3512 based PCI SATA controller card would be another option.
Good idea You might start a new thread over there in the Software Forum if you like.

Michael

I tried reseating teh SATA cable. Didn't change anything. My SATA cabls have th spring loaded clips on them, so they would come loose less often, I'd imagine.


Moving the drive from teh other computer seems liek the thing to do at this pint. However if I do that the lice CD is going to ahve to be KNoppix 5.0. I could try burning Kanotix to a DVD instead of teh CD I guess, but if my system really is compromised it makes me wonder if it's possible to secretly append malicous code onto the end of burns.
Actually the REAL reason it HAS to be Knoppx 5.0 is.... My old CD hasn't wanted to open since the great cranberry juice explosion of '06. Despite my best efforts to clean it, it would always stick shut and require use of the emergency release + some slight prying to break the stucky bond. I'm sure you can imagine that it didn't take long for the gears and.or rubberband to get gummed up. So now it's stuck shut, and probalby locked. Fortunately (in this case) with a knoppix live DVD inside.

The other alternative is I think I have a Fedora core install disc around. IIRC it has live functionality. If it turns out it's a DVD version my NEC drive shoudl be able to boot it. Then I could use that to test the SH-203B. Of course, I kind of lost track of it because I didn't care for it much....

Best bet would to get a sata pci controller card w/chipset 3112/3512 as mciahel suggested. That way you'll know for sure if your S203B drive is defective.

Well maybe this is the time where I should mention it did arrive with a dent on the bottom. I got the impression it might not have had the best warehouse storage, though it looked like it should still work fine.

Also, we're talking what, $20 for a card to debug a $30 drive? This computer I would be using to test the drive is old and on it's way out. I have no intention to buy a SATA device to stay in it.

Even of newegg doesn't refund my shipping it will surely be less than that. Also, even though I'd like to personally do more test to be certain the drive is defective, the symptoms are such that I certainly think I can get newegg to issue and RMA. Especially because it has, you know, a dent on it. And part of the board I can see through the back of the drive looks a little discolored on the edge.

Call up NE and tell them that the drive has a dent, but gave it a try anyway. I had to go through 2 LG drives (#1 rattled, #2 dented) to get one that worked. There was no protective wrapping on the drives, just tossed in the box with fillers. And of the course when the box gets dropped or tossed, the weight of the drive caused it to fall on that end of the box only. Though NE won't refund your shipping cost to them, but they would typically give you an allowance. Be patient and explain to them, and they will take care of the problem.

Well I processed the RMA. NewEgg sent me a label which I printed out and affixed to the box over the old one. I don't think they charged me for it, so I guess everything is good in that regard. In the mean time, I ordered a new Seagate HDD from them, which I intend to use to backup my data files (from a linux live DVD) before wiping the old one. Hopefully that will solve my other problem.

If you had mentioned in your first post that the drive was dented I would have told you to RMA it back to Newegg right away.