I found this forum after experiencing the same issue and I think I've found my problem. I have a Samsung CLP-510 Laser Printer and an external LG Super Multi Drive GSA E10L. At first the samething would happen my dvd writer would bring up the USB malfunction error, well I decided to try and unplug the printer and that appears to have caused the issue or so it appears. If it comes back again I'll let everyone know.
System Info:
Dell Dimension 4700
Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHz Dual Processor
Windows XP Media Center Edition
Thanks,
Luis