Hi there. I recently bought the above model. It was listed as having a CD-R Write Speed of 40x but everytime I burn something around 650mb-700mb it takes just as long as my old burner on 4x.
http://www.liteonit.com.tw/ODD/English/e_product/e_sohw812sx.asp
If I’m just an idiot and screwed up somwhere along the way please let me know how and where.
Bump. 
Did the drive flash to orange during the burn?
Check that DMA is enable. If you don’t know how to check it,Nero Infotool will tell you if it is enabled or not.
The drive? If you mean the light signifying the burning process, then yeah.
I recently did that, still havn’t notice any change in speed.
Sorry to double post. I could not find the edit option. Anyhow. I believe I have USB 1.1 and that is the culprit. I purchased a new 2.0 addin. So if that works, you won’t hear a peep from me.