Samsung 20x DVDRW ( TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S203N) locks system

[reduxtion]

I've just gotten a Samsung DVDRW (detected as TSSTcorp CDDVDW SH-S203N) ... but it's unusable. The drive seems to be detected, but it doesn't read anything and when I try to write anything with it, it locks the system up. Locking also happens during install making it impossible to use the drive for installation. I had to use an older LITE-ON DVDRW to install Kubuntu 8.04. This was also happening with 7.10 with the same drive. I haven't found anything on Google or in this forum about this problem so I'm guessing I'm just special. Anyone have any ideas?

[cygnus-X1]

I have the same drive, but a slightly different twist. Drive is recognized and reads fine (so far). Burning always fails using Brasero. It looks like it gets almost done burning and then a box pops up saying that it failed and if I'm not mistaken, makes a reference to the optical drive. Viola! Another coaster! Being a noob to Linux in general, any 'detailed' help would be greatly appreciated. BTIA!