Problem with Vista and Optical SATA drives

I have spent the past 7 days non-stop trying to solve this problem. My suspicions started off on the DVD-R drive I was using, then moved to my motherboard, then to my SATA controller drivers, and now finally lie on Windows Vista itself (dozens of hours of troubleshooting, adding and removing hardware, and re-installing Vista and XP led me to this conclusion).

Specs:
ASUS P5W DH Deluxe
E6400
4GB DDR2
8800GT
Auzentech Xplosion 7.1
Samsung S203N (SATA DVD-R)

The S203N worked completely in XP. In Vista, it works "almost" completely. The catch is that when you put a disc in the drive, the volume label in Windows Explorer does not update (nor does the drive icon, or more importantly, the right-click context menu). Sometimes it recognizes data discs as blank, because of this. However, either rebooting the system, or simply logging out and back in (even easier) will "force" the drive to refresh (volume label, icon, and all).

What's even weirder is that other software (DVD copiers, for example) other than Windows Explorer WILL recognize the volume labels of newly inserted discs withOUT having to log out or reboot. This supports my theory that it's Vista (the file browser itself) and not the mobo or the chipset drivers. Vista CAN recognize the drive contents properly; it does so every time I login. It is scanning the drive in a certain way at login that it should be scanning it every time I insert a new disc or hit F5, and it's not.

More info to backup my theory that it has to be Vista related:

Mobo BIOS is up to date (2704)
SATA controller (ICH7R) drivers are up to date from Intel
Vista is up to date (SP1 + other updates)
Firmware on my DVD writer is up to date, AND I have even tried ANOTHER completely different SATA DVD writer (Pioneer DVR-2810) and the same thing happens. This does not happen with an old IDE DVD writer I have.

Has ANYONE heard of this problem? I've been searching everywhere and can't seem to find other people having it.

Thanks!

I have heard of SATA issues with Vista. I would try a different SATA optical drive.

The111 said:

Firmware on my DVD writer is up to date, AND I have even tried ANOTHER completely different SATA DVD writer (Pioneer DVR-2810) and the same thing happens.

Click to expand...

What's worse is I found a report on Newegg of a guy with the same Mobo and drive as me, and using it fine on Vista. Of course, I can use mine fine too... just have to log out and in if I want to see the volume label.

Do you have rights to the device?

I'm not sure what that means. I'm an admin, if that's what you're asking.