Surface Pro 3 USB DVD/CD drives and getting them to work together

Anonymous

Have a Samsung USB DVD drive. My Surface Pro 3 will "see" the drive for purposes such as copying files and folder or photos. It will also play a much CD if placed in the drive. However, if I place a DVD or CD with software to install the Surface will just loop and cycle - making a little sort of beeping noise, and that's about it. The device also sort of disappears when this process is going on. I've fiddled around with the AutoPlay settings and nothing seems to make this happy.

I was able to install some of the software I needed by copying the CD info over to a USB hard drive and then running the Setup from there. But, just can't get the machine to run them from the DVD.

I'm new to Windows 8.1, so this probably isn't helping me figure this out. I get the feeling I just have something set wrong somewhere, but I sure can't figure out what it is.

Thanks

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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Anonymous

Even with a powered USB hub the device can still not get enough power, depending on the device.

What I had to do for my LG DVD LG DVD drives is use a split USB cable. One connection to the device and two USB connections to the hub. The two connections are one for power and one for data. This works great and can be reasonably purchased from 'MONOPRICE.COM'. I don't remember if the SP3 charger has a USB on it, if not you will need a hub. If it does then put on USB port on the SP3 and one on the charger port.

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Anonymous

I have had the same issue. The USB3 port on the SP3 isn't providing enough power. Until a fix is provided in the form of a firmware updated, (maybe or maybe not) get yourself a usb3-y cable. Plug the secondary USB cable into the charging port on the AC power adapter.

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Anonymous

Is this happening with the SP3 plugged into an AC source?

Does the DVD have a separate power supply?

If it doesn't have an external power supply, the SP3 port might not produce enough power to run it.

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Anonymous

The drive does not have enough power for what you want it to do. It does for a few basics but when installing software, the drive has to maintain a fixed RPM level.

I had a Samsung USB DVD drive before and I think mine had an additional dongle on the end to hook up to another USB port for additional power.

I would basically suggest to just continue doing what you are doing by transferring the files onto a USB pendrive and install from there. No moving parts; no additional power needed to operate. It would be a one time function anyhow and not worth changing the drive for.

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Barb Bowman 80,805 MVP Volunteer Moderator

my LG external cd/dvd drive acts as if it is being disconnected and reconnected multiple times while i am trying to access files on the optical media. the surface will make its disconnect noise, the folder will close and then it will make the connected device noise and open the folder again. This will happen in the middle of trying to install a program and will error the installation out. I have tried two different drives and they both act the same way.

Try using a POWERED USB hub, or try a Y cable that can plug into the USB charging port on the SP3 power brick. There probably isn't enough power from the USB port on its own.

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Anonymous

You actually have a "powered" USB hub now. Look on your power brick for the Pro 3. You will see a USB port. If your DVD writer has a "Y" cable, plug the main plug into the tablet and the "branch" cable into that USB port on the power brick. That will give you the power you need.

Normally, DVD writers are USB 2.0 (Blu-Ray 3.0 only) but newer models are coming out with USB 3.0.

As for external powered USB hubs? Any model you want. They are not technical and are just normal hubs with an external power supply.

There is a chance that the problem you have is the drive does not have enough power to operate. Just use the power brick and try it out.

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Anonymous

I thought I'd reply that this problem now appears to be fixed, and I don't have any problem with the USB3 ports on my docking station.

The problem seemed to be resolved after I applied the several Microsoft firmware updates, so make sure you download them all!

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Anonymous

Hi all,

just made a discovery: the previously non-connecting external hard drive USB 3.0 now connects, but only when the Surface Pro 3 is connected to power with its power lead.

Although this may be annoying on the road, at least I can now use the drive when power is connected.

David

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Anonymous

I am having the same problem as everyone else: my external HDD won't work. It's a 750GB USB 2.0 WD. Even when I plug it into the Surface Pro 3's docking station it won't work.

Ah, finally got it to work: I connected the HDD to one of my monitors, which have powered USB ports, even though they are only USB 1.0.

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Anonymous

It will support external optical drives, BUT, the USB port is underpowered.

Make sure that the external drive has a "Y" cable and you will need a powered USB hub to provide the extra power to the drive. Once you do that, the tablet will support most drive models on the market.

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Anonymous

I purchased a Samsung Ultra Thin Portable DVD writer. I am trying to load a parts program to use on my surface Pro 3. The SP3 keep saying that it doesn't have enough power. It is plugged into the ac adapter. SE-218

I have the same USB writer. I purchased the following USB Y cable

http://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-USB2HABMY1-Cable-External-Drive/dp/B003WV5DMO/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1407412485&sr=1-1&keywords=USB2HABMY1

Note that it is USB A to mini B, since the Samsung SE-218 uses mini USB cable. Also note that my version is only 1 ft, which is relatively short, but I like it since there is less to carry. They have a 3 ft version. I plug the red one into power supply of the surface pro 3 and it works. I can read and write to DVDs.

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Anonymous

The DVD drive is what does not have enough power. On the DVD writer, is there a "Y" cable attached to it. One end goes into the tablet and the other can be plugged into a regular PC or laptop and it is designed to provide more power.

If the DVD writer does not have a "Y" cable, it won't work. There is no other way of boosting the power. The USB 3.0 port has a fixed power output to provide to devices. It cannot be increased.

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301 additional answers

Anonymous

2014-10-25T19:50:25+00:00

Thanks for the report. My experience has been very similar. I think your evidence suggests that it isn't a power issue but a MS firmware issue. Annoyingly, my OP got stuck into this chain which is considered "Answered" so I'm not sure MS people look at it again. This is very frustrating since I'm worried that this glitch like the one I posted about the problem with Daisy chaining Dell monitors won't get fixed.

OK waverlybrian -- Success! I have my hardware-encrypted drive working now by "manually" changing the power state from D3 (deepest sleep state -- the default for Surface Pro 3 USB drives) to D0 (always on). Since I use the dock, there is no need to conserve power and I should have been able to turnoff power saving in the device manager, but the check box there for selective suspend does NOT function. Others on the web say there is a flaw in the user interface so it does not change the required key value if the key does not yet exist for the device, so the default of D3 never changes unless you go into the registry and create the key. I didn't really want to meddle with the registry by hand so finally tried out a powershell script that a MSFT person posted. An update at the top of the post says the powershell script workaround should no longer be required because a Windows update mid 2014 fixed this and other USB issues. But looks like the "fix" did not take for my system. The powershell script did. You can try it (your own risk, but probably a small one!) by reading the post at:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/usbcoreblog/archive/2013/11/01/help-after-installing-windows-8-1-my-usb-drive-disappears-or-file-transfers-stop-unexpectedly-r-a-post-title.aspx

Read this section near the bottom of the post:

PowerShell script to disable suspend

I download the script and ran ToggleSuspend.ps from an administrative command window. It only works on drives that are currently plugged in, and mine only stayed plugged in for 30s, so I had mount it quickly, then run the script quickly so it could see the drive and write the registry key for it. It worked (drive stayed on past 30 s) on reboot, changing the D3 power state that used to be there (deepest sleep) to D0 (always on). Now in device manager the Buffalo drive shows the correct D0 state (look for Power data in the dropdown list). You should uncheck the power settings on the USB Root Hub to which your external hard drive is connected since power management is supposed to be able to selectively suspend the hub itself as well as specific devices on it (go to its Power Management tab).

Hope this works for you and for others who have trouble with devices disconnecting too often. All my other USB drives are OK (they get suspended at about 30s, but come awake quickly and without issue). I really needed the fix for the encrypted one which locks itself when going to sleep.
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