Problems with a Lacie Lightscribe drive

Ok I am going to say right off the bat that I am Mac illiterate but I am trying to learn so if I am missing something obvious please let me know. I bought my girlfriend an external Lacie Lightscribe firewire DVD drive for christmas. I am having trouble with it though. When I go to print a label it tells me there is a communication error and I need to restart the system. I updated all the software that I could, the dvd firmware updater told me there was nothing to update although I now wonder if that was also a communication error. I contacted Lacie and they told me to upgrade the software and try a different cable. I am going for a new cable today if that doesn't work is there anything you guys can suggest before I have to send it back.