Asus zendrive not recognised

[Mark Lazzeri]

I have a Brennan B2.  I also have a nearly new ASUS ZenDrive U7M SDRW-08U7M-U. As far as I am aware it is a typical CD & DVD writer and reader with "M" disc capability.  When I plug the Asus into the Brennan, the Asus drive powers up and seems to function normally, but the Brennan seems unable to detect it. I have tried switching the Brennan off then connecting the drive, I have tried connecting the drive with the Brennan switched on.  I have tried to reconfigure the USB, but get a message on the wee Brennan screen that  No USB Device is Connected.  Any suggestions please.  I would prefer not to have to buy another CD  writer in the form of the LG one that Martin recommends even though it is not much money.

[Anthony]

Which USB port did you use?  I believe it needs to be the third jack (USB3).

[Mark Lazzeri]

Hi Anthony,  I have tried using the USB c or 3rd socket (bluetooth dongle removed!).  And have also tried the USB b, and even using a USB splitter cable to use both USB c and USB b (3rd and 2nd ports).  All to no avail.  The Zendrive powers up and spins a disc, but there is no reaction or recognition of anything connected to the USB at all. So it will not let me reconfigure the port because it does not detect anything. A bit frustrating as the Brennan is fantastic and the Zendrive has been very good in other situations - I would like them to be if not friends, then certainly on speaking terms to each other, as it were.

[Brennan Support]

Hi Mark

Martin here - I think you have done all the right things - basically power up B2 with the DVD drive attached.

I had a look at the product on Ebuyer and there is no mention of CD - I can't believe it doesn't play CDs but can you check with a PC?

Also it could be thirsty so if possible connect the drive via a powered USB hub.

Have you tried USB A and USB C.

Don't play with the USB settings - should be high speed.

Martin

[Mark Lazzeri]

Hi Martin.

Thank you for your reply.  I have tried the zen drive in two different PCs and it works ok playing CDs and DVDs on both of them. With one PC (Acer Aspire 5742) it will play with just one USB plug, but needs both with the Dell.  I tried using the main USB plug in the Brennan "B" USB socket and the Brennan "C" USB socket, with and without the secondary USB plug in the vacant socket.  Sadly all to no avail.  The only socket I did not try on the Brennan was the "A" which has the HiFi dongle.  The Zen Drive powers up and spins the CD when just one USB plug is connected to the Brennan, seemingly just as well as with two USB plugs connected.  From my very non-technical perspective it seems that the Brennan simply does not recognise that anything has been connected to it.  When I used the menu to go to USB configuration the display message says "No USB device connected" (or something similar).

I am at a bit of a loss.

Kind regards,

Mark

[Mark Lazzeri]

Hi Martin,

Success !  This time I tried using the main USB plug into Brennan USB socket "A" and the secondary USB plug in the Brennan "B" socket and it worked absolutely fine and ripped at 12 to 24 x.

I am very relieved as powered USB hubs are almost the cost of the cheaper LG drive.

Kind regards,

Mark

[Brennan Support]

Hi Mark

Thanks for the update - I'm glad you got it going - I'm guessing from what you said that the CD has a USB lead that is forked?

Maybe you could post a picture - because I think your answer may help a lot of owners with drives like that.

Martin

[Mark Lazzeri]

Hi Martin,

As requested please see attached photos of the USB fork cable - I think this routes extra power to the CD drive via the second USB plug.  Plus pictures of the Zendrive connected, both without (for clarity) and with speaker cables connected.  

With my Asus Zendrive the "primary" USB plug has to go into the Brennan's USB "A" socket with the "secondary" USB plug going into either the "B" or "C" USB sockets on the Brennan.  I have used the "C" socket.  Using the Brennan "A" socket for the Zendrive, requires that I remove the WiFi dongle from the "A" socket, which in turn means that one relies on the database of artists, albums, and songs, on the Brennan internal hard drive, rather than the internet database, so a bit more renaming may be needed after ripping.

The Asus Zendrive rips at speeds of up to 24x (though often starts at about 4X then speeds up).  It cost me about £23 from Amazon and is capable of writing "M" discs which have a 1000 year (yes one thousand) data integrity life expectancy, as oppose to most storage systems that have a 3 to 10 year life expectancy.

Kind regards,

Mark

[Brennan Support]

Hi Mark

Brilliant - thanks.

Martin

PS Mark's result will probably be relevant to other devices with these forked USB cables - I have seen cheap USB hard disk enclosures as well as CD mechanisms with this sort of connector 

[David Blanchard]

I have this problem which remains unresolved. I have tried a Maxtor USB drive (unpowered) and a Iomega powered drive in both A and C to no avail. I have tried with a powered USB hub but with the same result. "No USB device connected" I am getting really frustrated as I do not want to get rid of my CD collection (all ripped) until I have made a backup. I also reformatted the Maxtor drive with FAT but nothing doing.

Any one have any ideas?

David

[Chris A]

Hi David

Just a long-shot - but when you formatted your drive to FAT, did you do it via the B2? Not all FAT formats are the same (eg ex-FAT won't work with a B2).

[Edwyn Corteen]

Hi David

This is a USB HDD? You will see No USB drive connected if not formatted correctly,  If so it must be formatted with fat32, not fat from a pc, you can format it on the B2 settings/maintenance/format usb c, so long as plugged into usb c port, do NOT use format HDD you will wipe your B2 hard drive!

[Daniel Taylor]

It might be worth noting again that USB B is not available for external devices, even though the port is there.  It is used internally for the B2's HDD.  I do not know if USB B has power on it.  If so, it could be used for the secondary USB power cable.

[PMB]

Hi Mark,

I found I could plug the CD Drive (ASUS - SDRW-08D2S-U) into the B2 - USB A in this case - when the B2 is already powered on and by using Reboot from the Maintenance menu, the CD Drive is mounted.

Paul

Brennan Support.