GSA-5163D has problem with Dell Inspiron 600m

[lcad]

Hi,
I bought a GSA-5163D no long ago. I have a no-brand old desktop with USB 1.1 port and Windows 2000 SP4. The drive works fine with this computer although it is slow. But this is understandable because the computer has only USB 1.1 port.
The problem is that the drive does not work with my Dell Inspiron 600m notebook (Windows XP Pro SP2). I do not use video DVD, just use DVD to store data files. When I connect the drive to the computer, the computer can find the drive. But if I try to copy a large file (300M) from the DVD drive to computer, I get the error message " The volume for a file has been externally altered so that the opened file is no longer valid". Then the computer loses the drive. I cannot see the drive in Windows Explorer. Burning does not work properly either, but I think I should first solve the reading problem.
Did anybody have similar problem? How did you solve it?
Thank you.

yue

[Kenshin]

It's a problem caused by your USB driver in the notebook. Try IEEE 1394 instead. GSA-5163D is bundled with two IEEE 1394 ports and at least one IEEE 1394 cable and Inspiron notebooks should have at least two IEEE 1394 ports. Not sure whether you'd need to buy a 6-to-4 (pin) 1394 cable separately. Whether with IEEE 1394 or USB, first make sure the GSA-5163D is correctly recognized and installed. It takes some seconds. If the connection still seems to be instable, check some things for both drive and notebook like power source, cable connection, software conflicts, etc.

[lcad]

Thanks for the suggestion. It seems the problem I have is an uncommon one because not many people replied.
Unfortunately, Dell Inspiron 600m does not have firewire. Maybe the best way is to find another 600m to test.
Thanks.

yue

[xGraFiX]

you can buy PCMCIA firewire card for your laptop :iagree:

http://www.emptor.de/pics/angebote/3697_1.jpg

[Kenshin]

I'm surprised that your Dell Inspiron notebook doesn't have an 1394 port at all. It's unfortunate. USB 2.0 has up to 480Mbps or 60MB/s bandwidth but it's hardly good for 16x DVD burning.

It's a common phenomenon for USB devices to be lost sometimes. I myself often experience it, but I also have IEEE 1394 cards and I can always connect the same DVD writers using PCI cards of onboard connectors. It's usually USB driver problem, on the software side that is.

[lcad]

I have just updated the 5163d firmware to A104 and the USB driver from Intel website. The problem is still there. It seems that I am the only one who has this problem. Google only turns up this thread. How frustrating it is!

[Kenshin]

Are you still using USB 1.1 to connect GSA-5163D? Get PCMCIA USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394 cards.

[lcad]

Thanks for your help but the USB on Dell Inspiron 600m is 2.0.

[Kenshin]

Aha, you meant your no-name desktop has USB 1.1 only.

Maybe another notebook or another burner to test external burning?