Samsung Super Writemaster won't work.

[ecca]

Anyone help ?
My original LG DVD optical drive stopped working ( Windows & Pro 64 bit ) after 3 months.
The replacement LG drive I bought wouldn't install, Windows tried but announced that installation had failed. Very helpful.
I contacted LG only to be told it was not compatible with Windows & so I bought a Samsung Super Writemaster SH-S223.
Lo and behold I get the same message and no drive.
Any anyone had similar problems ?
Cheers
Eric Thacker

 

[Jonathan_King]

Hello ecca,

You have not given us enough info to help you. When do you get the error?

Is the drive USB, SATA, or IDE?

~Jonathan

 

[ecca]

Thanks for reply, it's a SATA drive and is recognised by Windows which starts to install the driver but then announces half way through that installation has failed.
A look at Device Manager tells me that "Windows cannot verify the digital signature for the drivers required for this device. "
Help ?
Cheers
Eric Thacker

 

[Jonathan_King]

Hey Eric,

Try reading this and this. See if anything works for you.

~Jonathan

 

[ecca]

Good morning to you Jonathan and thanks for your help.
The 2 articles were of great help to me, the whole problem is now revealed.
I tried various things, some of which worked and some of which didn't and I've ended up, for the moment pressing F8 on boot-up and disabling the driver security.
The Ready Driver Plus worked but odd things seemed to happen after boot-up, I had a curious black screen whereby Windows 7 ran but there were no programs !
The Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider had no effect whatever.
Would I be right in thinking that the only complete solution is in the hands of the device manufacturer in releasing a digitally signed driver ?
Anyway, thanks a million for the help so far, and have a happy Christmas all.
Talk to you soon,
Eric Thacker

 

[Frostmourne]

Wait a min - it wouldn't install? Drives don't exactly have software - which SATA port is it connected to? Is it available in BIOS? Does BIOS show the drive as IDE or AHCI? I installed a brand new retail LG drive and it works - no driver and no bluebird although a removal tool for that is available. It only came with outdated OEM software. Go through the BIOS as above and this will be fixed.

 

[ecca]

Thanks for reply,
The drive is fine in the BIOS, I tried to get Windows 7 to repair itself and it read the DVD OK from the BIOS.
The situation is the same whichever SATA port it's connected to.
The original drive ( see message 1 ) worked when I built the computer in September without any problems whatsoever until last weekend when it disappeared from the radar completely and I assumed it had packed in.
Which should the BIOS setting , be IDE or AHCI ?
Again thanks for your help.
Eric

 

[Frostmourne]

Is it detected in Safe Mode? Do you have any virtual drive software? What antivirus are you using? Can you try a Linux Live CD? Have you tried deleting the upper and lower filters in the registry? Updated the drive firmware?

Apologies in advanced for the deluge of questions, but one of those may help. Getting late over here so I hope you can fix this and Merry Christmas!

 

[MyWin7]

there is no need for a digital signature - install the hard way by using the "have disk" install option - only then the driver will be accepted.

 

[ecca]

there is no need for a digital signature - install the hard way by using the "have disk" install option - only then the driver will be accepted.

I tried this and , sure enough , the driver was supposedly updated from the CD..... until the next time I booted up and it then reverted to the same old problem.... unsigned driver.
The only way so far for me is to boot up pressing F8 and then ignore unsigned drivers.
Thanks for help, any advice gratefully received.
Happy Christmas,
Eric Thacker

 

[Qdos]

After this many duff drives I'd be beginning to think the SATA controller drivers are not the latest, or the correct ones... plus I'd be swapping out the SATA cable... I'd also check my optical drives firmware was up to date...

After working my way through the above, and assuming nothing changed, I'd be very tempted to make a complete drive image, but also reinstall the OS from scratch with the optical drive in situ...

 

[ecca]

Thanks for reply, the sata cable was swapped first and also the power cable to the drive.
The firmware was upgraded automatically by Samsung yesterday.
My suspicion is that the problem is Microsoft's overwhelming security attitude which seems to be pointless and in my case a nuisance.