SH-S183L problems

vbimport
#1

I bought a new Dell in October. You may know XPSs and some or all Dimensions no longer have IDE on the MB. To my shock, when I went to order new SATA burners, there was no selection at all. So I waited and finally Newegg listed the Liteon SH-16A7S. I ordered it and it was practically useless; 2x speed and crashes.

So I wait longer and eventually Samsung starts selling the SH-S183L. I ordered one and it is better but still has a few issues.

For one, Nero 7 will burn at over 16x but it lists 12x as the maximum read speed! And it means it.

How can I fix that? I looked for new firmware and there isn’t any.

#2

What is the problem with 12x read speed on DVD±RW media??

Both burners have issues you say, so you should check your other hardware first.

#3

Chef, just so I’m straight on this, you are on the record that drives should be able to write much faster than they can read?

The other burner is a piece of crap that lots of people complain about. It was just the ONLY available SATA drive at the time and I took a chance.

I swapped in a Dell branded drive and it works perfectly. There is no reason to suspect anything is wrong with the PC.

#4

Have you jumpered all drives to CS how DELL likes it?

It is also with other drives so that they read burnt DVD media slower than they can burn them mainly…

#5

you cant jumper an sata drive to cable select…

#6

Yep no jumper on my S183L. Here is the only firmwares for that drive.

#7

Thanks, rolling56! I couldn’t find ANY firmware for this drive at the Samsung site.

Out of curiosity, anyone know where that came from?

FYI: here is the download page on the Samsung site. Note only a manual is available.
SH-S183L downloads

#8

Not sure but i’m sure it is safe to use. Yes i know there is only manual there.

#9

Yeah, lol. Mixed that up with the 182.

Of course a SATA drive as no jumpers. Better that is.

#10

Hi,

This is according to the specifications. So this is by design.

How can I fix that?
You can’t.
I looked for new firmware and there isn’t any.
Look here: http://www.samsungodd.com/eng/Firmware/FWDownload/FWDownload.asp
But don’t expect higher read speeds. These Samsung drives are rather slow compared to other products, but they are damn good with bad discs. :iagree:

Michael

#11

Thanks mciahel!

Glad the slow read isn’t a “problem”. Its strange that my old 16x Benqs read faster than my new Samsung 18x.

And I hope the Samsung is good with great media. I only use Verbs (non-Indian) and have zero coasters out of over 1,000 burned on my Benqs and set-top Liteon. (not counting 2 from power failures).

Thanks for the firmware link. Turns out it shipped with the current firmware. I have the page bookmarked since Samsung USA doesn’t have the decency to point their customers to firmware and only list a manual on their download page for this drive.

#12

Hi,

The Benq drives are fast, but have trouble reading scratched discs.

And I hope the Samsung is good with great media. I only use Verbs
According to the scans that are posted here, it should do fine. If possible, use DVD+R, as there seem to be some issues with DVD-R.

Michael

#13

try using magic speed from samsung…this will be speed read speeds

still a about 3min - 4min slow than my 1655

#14

Hi,

according to the documentation, Samsung’s “Magic Speed” only works for CD media. The difference in reading time compared to a Benq equal (roughly) the 12x vs. 16x speed. As you have magic speed installed - could you please check the read speeds using CD/DVD Speed? Would be great :slight_smile:

Thanks,
Michael

#15

Hmm…very interesting…it seemed to read faster…my first read took like 30min on pressed dvd…maybe it was a bad disc then

Ok will report back