Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

nicorojas

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 18, 2003
83
0
Chile
Hello guys:

I need your help. The superdrive on my powerbook (Al 15" 1.5 GHZ) is almost not working (it rejects almost every disc for no reason - have tried all solutions I have found on the web, and it's still the same), so I went last saturday and bought an external dvd.

I wanted the portable Lacie firewire one, but it wasn't available. Therefore, I went out and buy an LG GSA-E50L. It's nice, it doesn't need a external power supply, USB 2.0, but it doesn't say a word about mac compatibility. I read in some sites that they wrok right out of the box, so I didn't worry that much. I should have done it, though.

The problems have been: 1) the dvd writer is only recognized after a reboot. 2) even then, I always have to use both usb ports (one for connection, one for power). 3) Toast 8 works "sometimes", other, just hangs.

I also had a kernel panic when disconnecting the thing. The writer seem to respond better once I switched the usb port that I was using. However, later I experienced other problems (drive spinning for a while the stopping, after a couple of seconds, again).

Are these problems normal? Is there a procedure for using these things that I don't know about? It is always necessary to reboot for the dvd writer to be recognized? it is normal that I have to use both usb ports? is it my powerbook? is it leopard? is it the writer?

I know about patchburn, but the developer states in the website that there is no need for it in leopard, and that there is no and there will not be a leopard version.

As of today, my options are: 1) Reinstall Leopard; 2) Return the writer and wait for the Lacie FW to be available again; 3) install patchburn anyway; 4) buy the Lacie usb dvd writer.

Any help or other suggestions will be greatly appreciated. I need the capacity to burn dvds on the road. I have a band and we record our rehearsals on the powerbook (on several tracks, using Cubase SX) but we mixed them on a pc. We also make copies of new songs and burn them on audio cds to hear them over the week.
 
You might have a bad drive. I have a GSA-E10L and haven't had any problems in Leopard. I would think newer models would be even more compatible, rather than less.
 
Before I return it, I have a question for you: do you need to reboot your mac in order to get the drive recognized, or you just can plug it in at any time?

On monday I'm going to try it in a friend's macbook, ti try to determine if it is my mac or if it is the drive.

Thanks.
 
Before I return it, I have a question for you: do you need to reboot your mac in order to get the drive recognized, or you just can plug it in at any time?

Yeah, I just plug it in and unplug it whenever, never have to reboot or anything. But mine has an actual AC power adapter as opposed to being powered over USB, so it might be different. But in general, USB devices should be able to be hot-swappable.
 
Solved. It was a power problem. The usb ports in the powerbook don't provide enough power. I use the power to usb cable that came with the drive, plug it into my iphone power adaptor and voila....everything works now.

Thanks for the help.
 
Ingenious. Glad it worked out for you, I'll have to remember that trick if I have usb powered devices in the future...
 
Hi,
I plan to buy this DVD burner to use it with my powerbook 12" 1.5GHz
If the USB cable is plugged in your iPhone power adaptor, how can you plug the burner to your powerbook ?
Do you use an Y USB cable ?
Thanks for your help
 
The burner came with 2 usb cables. One is a typical mini usb, and the other is a "power/dc 5v 2A" to usb.

In theory, if your usb port doesn't provide enough power, you can plug the other cable (therefore, using two usb ports in your computer) to get additional energy. However, even with both cables connected, my powerbook did not provide enough power for the burner to work properly.

The solution was to use the "power" to usb cable and connected to my iphone power supply, while the mini usb was still attached to the powerbook. There was no need to buy additional cables.

By the way, the burner is not the fastest thing in the world, but it gets the work done (and way faster than my old beloved superdrive, anyway). Also, it is quite small and nice. Very portable.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.