HP DVD200e configuration trouble

I just bought a used HP DVD200e external dvd writer and I can't get it to
work at all. It may be a problem with the USB 2.0 pcmcia card I have for my
Pavilion xh136 laptop (600 celeron I bought from Sam's Club a couple of
years ago). But an external hard drive I have hooked up to it works fine and
never crashes anything. When I install the software and hook everything up
according to the directions, it won't detect cd's or dvd's of any kind and
frequently hangs the whole system up. Anybody have any ideas?

Thanks,

DDPool