It refuses to detect dvd's

might be a lemon take it back i have seen this before

click start control panel,administrive tools,computer management,device manager scroll to cd/dvd rom drives right click properties then properties again then tick enable cd digital cd audio for this cd rom device or scroll to dvd regions select the no _ for your specific area
hope this helps

Hi firma,

Not sure if this is what you are looking for, but check ou tthis link to the SH -S223F firmware:

http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/FIRMWARE/Samsung/Samsung-SH-S223F-DVD-Writer-Firmware-SB03.shtml

I also found this:
This optical drive is a Plug 'n Play device in Windows OS's. The only requirement is connection to a WORKING SATA controller. Check in Device Manager to insure the sata controller is working/enabled and you shouldn't have any problem. Windows will auto-detect / auto-install the drive without user intervention once this condition has been met.

Additionally, you will need 3rd. party recording and dvd decoding software in order to use all the functions this drive was built to perform, ie: play dvd movie disks and record to dvd and cd-rw disks. Windows is sorta limited on what all it will support.... that's the reason for the additional 3rd. party software like Nero or Roxio and PowerDVD or WinDVD.

Here is a link to InfraRecorder:
http://infrarecorder.org/

WinDVD:
http://windvd.en.softonic.com/

PowerDVD:
http://powerdvd.en.softonic.com/

Nero:
http://www.nero.com/eng/downloads-nbl-free.php

Hope this helps, let me know how you made out in a comment, if you need more help, feel free to ask in the comment.

try update drive firmware. may resolve . but dont forget the coms scanning software, like tomtom, nokia suit, or evan some models of HP printer software suit, may cause the symtoms

What sometimes works is disconnecting the drive and then switch on the computer, allow it to boot and then close it down and reconnect the drive. If the drive and the motherboard and components are good the found new hardware wizard should appear or the system should tell you the drive has been recognised and installed automatically.

If it doesn't then try another drive.

try going into setup; choose boot options and place your HDD in first boot position. Also you may have to designate your new DVDRW as a slave if you have another CD/DVD in the system

Install Power ISO software.

im having the same problem with this drive and samsung has not helped at all. i cant even upgrade the firmware because the automatic upgrade program that upgrades the firmware comes up with a warning window right off the start, but the window is the wrong size for the text and you cant quite see the OK button or click on it to continue. just a reflection of samsung quality. nothing but garbage. to me samsung is just a big scam. once they have your money, thats it , 0 support. oh well you got me again samsung, my fault. ill just throw this drive on the pile of samsung.

http://www.winhlp.com/tools/resetdma.vbs
save and run this script on your computer!

Have the same problem, it used to work and suddenly it wont do it anymore. I guess this is due to windows XP updates. Windows says that the driver is up to date and I also installed the latest firmware. I am using Nero 7 to burn. I had troubles before but somehow fixed it. Now when I insert a DVD (data) and try to open the dvd drive the whole computer hangs. The content shows for a moment before the computer freezes so it IS in the DVD.