LiteON SHM-165H6S hangs on BitSetting commands

[CompNetTeach]

I would greatly appreciate any advice as to how to proceed.

I have a LiteON SHM-165H6S in an external Vantec USB drive enclosure (Prolific chipset) that hangs the computer whenever a bitsetting (book type) command is issued. At this point, the only way to exit the software involved, or for Windows to properly recognize the drive thereafter is to power off the external drive and turn it back on.

In effect, it works perfectly fine except whenever a Book Type (read or set) command is issued.

After a month of testing various utilities, here is a summary of the situation.

SHM-165H6S was purchased with HS0D firmware and immediately upgraded to HS0E years ago.
Book type settings were changed at that time to DVD+R/R DL to DVD-ROM. DVD+RW left as DVD+RW.

Unit was able to successfully burn DVD+R/R DL as DVD-ROMs in the beginning. Due to a purchasing mistake (you can't send a computer illiterate person just for a simple media errand at an one-time great price :doh:), I have been working through a supply of -R's exclusively for the last year or so...

I have yet to come across any reading problems (have not had any samples of DVD-RAM or DVD-R DL media though).

Using ImgBurn, my preferred burning software, it always fails at "Checking Book Type" at the start of the burn for DVD+R/R DL/RW (discs do not get written to). There is never any problem burning CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW. (I do not have any DVD-RAM media and refuse to use DVD-R DL media.) Brand types do not matter (have tried Sony, Maxell, TDK, Memorex, Verbatim). Changing from SPTI to VSO's Patin-Couffin does not fix the problem.

Using CodeGuy's EEPROM & Settings utilities, clicking on the BitSetting tab hangs the software. Am able to change hypertuning, etc. options multiple times - normally operated at default.
LtnRPC is able to change user count, but unable to change manufacturer's count (damn, wasted one testing this:a!).
Surprisingly, am now unable to reflash firmware (HS0E - LiteOn & CodeGuys utilities; HS0D - CodeGuys). So, is the EEPROM bad in an unusual, limited way?

Can burn DVD+R/RW with other burning software that is ignorant of BitSetting (e.g. Deep Burner). But then again, part of the point of using +R media is to set the book type to DVD-ROM, and most burning software will not verify what you just burned, which is why I prefer to use ImgBurn.

Have tried the drive with numerous systems (XP Home & Pro SP3 fully automatic updated, XP Home & Pro SP2 selectively manually updated, "factory reload" ThinkPad & Vectra). Have even swapped the drive with a BENQ in the same enclosure, and the BENQ does not suffer these problems.

Only thing I have not done is stick the drive in a desktop tower using IDE and test it that way - timing & lack of spare desktops precludes me from doing this until July. Likewise, will not have the time to try this with Vista or Windows 7 until then as well.

Any suggestions, or do I have a doorstop / boat anchor in the making? Thanks

[bevills1]

Has the Book Type Utility from http://club.myce.com/f44/comprehensive-liteon-tools-collection-v5-0-7-revised-8-january-2007-a-83441/ been tried? I used that to book type DVD+R to DVD-ROM on an external LiteOn SHM-165P6S which works without problem.

[CompNetTeach]

That link points to LiteON which leads to version 1.3.5 of BookType, which I have tried using to no success - it hangs the system as well. (This was my second approach, after trying to change the book type settings in ImgBurn hung the system. Then I started hitting the various CodeGuys utilities.)

Thanks for the thought.

Upon more pondering, this problem sort of reminds me of the issue I once had with an IBM ThinkPad. I did a BIOS upgrade, and the system seemed to reboot OK and worked fine, except for the little problem that the Access IBM button when pressed was either just ignored or hung the boot (since the button is so rarely used, I didn’t discover this for weeks). After days of research, a suspicion led me to go back into the BIOS setup the hard way, reset all settings to factory default, power down, get back into the BIOS setup and then change the settings back to the way it needed to be, power down again, and voila, the system was fine. (Nice thing about desktops, you can pull the battery or short the CMOS reset jumper. Bad thing about desktops - SIZE.)

Thinking about it, I might have changed the book types on the drive before doing the firmware update originally… So… Do I have a case of oddball bad EEPROM data or checksums that needs to be force cleared (like I had to with the ThinkPad CMOS)? Do any of the firmware gurus know if clearing everything is possible?

Thanks.

[mciahel]

Hi,

the problem you are reporting can be indeed due to interface compatibility issues of drive and enclosure. Especially advanced options like bitsetting etc suffer from these issues.
When your drive was new, Liteon used Cypress chipsets in their external units.

So, before you try anything else including messing with firmware or EEPROM, try the drive either with another enclosure or internal.

Michael

[bevills1]

I used the Book Type Utility from the link in post #2 on another internal SHM-165P6S after flashing desired firmware and then installed the drive in a LiteOn LVW-5005 DVD recorder. The recorder now records DVD+R with book type set to DVD-ROM, and setting book type internally as mciahel suggests may work for your situation.