samsung se-s084

Hello. I see a lot of people have had issues with the cheap Samsung drives but none seem to have the same problem I do.

My mac is a Powerbook G4 w/ OS X 10.4.11.

The DVD drive on the Mac stopped working about a year ago. No idea why. The Mac store didn't tell me what the issue was. They just said they'd fix "any and all problems" for $350. That is way more than I have to spend. I had to buy the cheapest DVD drive I could find. In comes the Samsung SE-S084 (Compatible with Mac OSX 10.4.6 or above).

The first drive (which I sent back the next day) would not show on the desktop. I had to plug it in then restart my computer. Then it would pop up on the desktop. But Itunes still would act like nothing was plugged in. Luckily, I had no problem ripping and then burning a DVD w/ Mac The Ripper and DVD2oneX2. One time. That's it. After that, the drive did nothing. Every time I tried to use it it would just sit there. Nothing. Dead.

So I sent it back and just got the replacement. Hey, Itunes recognized it!! Whohoo! I even ripped a few songs off of a few CDs. Then I put in a CD-r with songs on it. Itunes freaks out. I get the swirly cursor and itunes does nothing. In return the drive does nothing. I have to use a paperclip to remove my CD. Itunes will not shut down, not even force quite. I have to restart my computer. This happens over and over. But now, not even that happens. Now all I have is a dead drive like before. It just sits there. No disc is recognized. (Paperclips are very useful with this drive).

Help.

I hope this makes sense. I have my two year old hanging off of me while I try to write this I'm not very tech minded so even though I have spent hours searching for an answer and trying things I've come up with nothing. Hope you can help me. Thanks