# GUIDE FOR FLASHING FIRMWARE (DVD ROM/CD/Burners)



## JAK (Aug 27, 2004)

Seen Quite a few people asking for this lately so decided to post it as a new topic....  

In case of DVD Roms use all ur 5 region changing options and only when they r exhausted try for RPC1 firmware flash.

Do such things when its absolutely needed

Drives compatible with MtkWinFlash/Mtkflash.. Mediatek chipset
SONY 
LITEON
LG
SAMSUNG
there r more but these Drives r common in INDIA

here is the link to mtkwinflash

```
*home.t-online.de/home/theo-pia/Downloads/MtkWinFlash.ace
```

PROCEDURE FOR WINDOWS

Make sure the drive is empty(no media is present) bfore flashing...

1# Run MtkwinFlash
2# U can use the ATAPI mode or the IDE mode. If u are sure as to the 
where u Drive to be flashed is use the IDE mode..Else I wud recommend using the ATAPI mode...

ATAPI MODE

here simply select the Target drive and source firmware file and FLASH the Drive

IDE MODE(USE THIS METHOD WITH CAUTION)

IDE port 1 = Primary Master (Generally HDD)
IDE port 2 = Primary Slave
IDE port 3 = Secondary Master (generally Burner)
IDE port 4 = Secondary slave (generally CDROM/DVDROM)

Here too simply select the target and firmware and flash it

Try and avoid multitasking when doing sensitive things like flashing or best use dos for all ur flashing needs.. 

PROCEDURE FOR DOS FLASHING

Make sure the drive is empty(no media is present) bfore flashing...

Download MtkFlsh(DOS) from here 

```
*www.freewebs.com/izzner/Mtkflash.exe
```

#1 Rename Mtkflash.exe to Mtkfl.exe 
#2 Make a bootable floppy. 
#3 Copy mtkfl.exe on to the floppy. 
#4 Copy new firmware or modded RP1 firmware onto different good floppy(do this as there might not be space on Win98 floppy if used). 
#5 Boot using the Floppy(configure ur bios if required to boot directly to the floppy.DO NOT LOAD ANY CDROM SUPPORT if using WIN98 Boot Disk)

#6 Keep an eye while booting for ur RAM DRiVE and note its Drive letter. 

#7 Upon reaching the C:\ prompt ..type "copy A:\mtkfl.exe %RAMD%:\mtkfl.exe 

#8 Similarily copy ur new firmware or RPC1 firmware to the ram drive or "%RAMD%" 

#9 Now go to ur Ramdrive prompt..(Remember the drive letter I told u to note previously) and  type: "mtkfl x w firmwarename.hex" with out the quotes( sustitute .hex with .bin if required and replace "x" with the followin no's
1 for Flashing Primary master
2 for Flashing Primary Slave
3 for Flashing Secondary Master
4 for Flashing Secondary Slave  
..genrally optical drives are setup on Secondary channel)

#10 It will take a few secs(abt 10 secs or less) saying.... 


> Identifying flash type
> 
> Updating....
> Bank0
> ...



Congrats u just had a successfull flash....  .

Now the Bad part....
If something goes wrong(UPS failed/Windoz froze etc... then the next Tutotial is for getting ur drive back from the dead.

EDIT: Spellin Mistakes


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## JAK (Aug 27, 2004)

*GUIDE FOR RECOVERING THE DEAD DRIVE*

*RECOVERING A BAD FLASH*

CASE1: Able to Boot with Dead Drive
Same as above DOS Flashing..

Download MtkFlsh(DOS) from here 

```
*www.freewebs.com/izzner/Mtkflash.exe
```

Set the failed Drive(DVD assumed) as Secondary master

#1 Rename Mtkflash.exe to Mtkfl.exe 
#2 Make a bootable floppy. 
#3 Copy mtkfl.exe on to the floppy. 
#4 Copy new firmware or modded RP1 firmware onto different good floppy(do this as there might not be space on Win98 floppy if used). 
#5 Boot using the Floppy(configure ur bios if required to boot directly to the floppy.DO NOT LOAD ANY CDROM SUPPORT if using WIN98 Boot Disk)

#6 Keep an eye while booting for ur RAM DRiVE and note its Drive letter. 

#7 Upon reaching the C:\ prompt ..type "copy A:\mtkfl.exe %RAMD%:\mtkfl.exe 

#8 Similarily copy ur new firmware or RPC1 firmware to the ram drive or "%RAMD%" 

#9 Now go to ur Ramdrive prompt..(Remember the drive letter I told u to note previously) and  type: "mtkfl 3 w firmwarename.hex" with out the quotes( sustitute .hex with .bin if required) 

#10 It will take a few secs(abt 10 secs or less) saying.... 


> Identifying flash type
> 
> Updating....
> Bank0
> ...




CASE2: System Stuck at BIOS (PERSONAL TRICK)

Failed/dead drive = DVD ROM assumed
This method works only if u have 2 Optical Drives(One dead/bad flash and other workin)

THINGS TO DO FIRST

#1 Rename Mtkflash.exe to Mtkfl.exe 
#2 Make a bootable floppy. 
#3 Copy mtkfl.exe on to the floppy. 
#4 Copy new firmware or modded RP1 firmware onto different good floppy(do this as there might not be space on Win98 floppy if used). 
#5 Shutdown... switch off all power.

NOW FOR THE BEST PART

#6 Open ur cabinet

#7 Set your CDROM jumper as master and also det your DVDROM jumper to master(yes set both as master you will know later why)

#8 Unplug the IDE cable from your DVD-ROM(donot disconnect the IDE cable from your motherboard) and do not unplug DVD ROM's power chord.

#9 Boot using the bootable Floppy(configure ur bios if required to boot directly to the floppy.DO NOT LOAD ANY CDROM SUPPORT if using WIN98 Boot Disk)

#10 Keep an eye while booting for ur RAM DRiVE and note its Drive letter.

#11 Upon reaching the C:\ prompt ..type "copy A:\mtkfl.exe %RAMD%:\mtkfl.exe 

#12 Similarily copy ur new firmware or RPC1 firmware to the ram drive or "%RAMD%" 

NOW BE EXTRA CAREFULL FROM HERE ON DO ALL THIS WITH OUT POWERING OFF
TAKE CARE AND AVOID SHOCK
#13 UNPLUG the IDE cable  from ur CD ROM,but DO NOT  UNPLUG IT FROM UR MOTHERBOARD.

#14 Now Plug the IDE cable removed from the CDROM into the DVD ROM.

#15 Now go to ur Ramdrive prompt..(Remember the drive letter I told u to note previously) and  type: "mtkfl 3 w firmwarename.hex" with out the quotes( sustitute .hex with .bin if required) 

#16 It will take a few secs(abt 10 secs or less) saying.... 


> Identifying flash type
> 
> Updating....
> Bank0
> ...




NOTE: The Second method is tried and tested method for recovering a dead drive if the BIOS freezes and doesnt make it past POST..

EDIT : Spellin mistakes


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## medpal (Aug 27, 2004)

great work jak.

will be more usefull if you can give source of other firmwares.


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## Krishanu.De (Aug 27, 2004)

Thanks man! This is just great. But I am not sure wheather I am going to try this.


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## JAK (Aug 27, 2004)

medpal said:
			
		

> great work jak.
> 
> will be more usefull if you can give source of other firmwares.



Sorry medpal..
but  givin links to RPC1 firmware's wud be in violation of the forum rules...Try Google...  
genuine firmware upgrades can be found at their respective company websites....


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## Krishanu.De (Aug 27, 2004)

You want firmware? One stop solution for firmware:


```
*forum.rpc1.org/portal.php
```


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## blade_runner (Aug 27, 2004)

Gr8 tut man ! Wish we had a rating system here, would have given reps to u.


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## it_waaznt_me (Aug 27, 2004)

*Great post JAK ...*
I dont have any DVD Rom yet ..
Will try soon ...


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## krish (Aug 28, 2004)

That is good stuff.  You probably won't fine that stuff on the net.


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## superwiz (Aug 29, 2004)

thank you for helping me in different letter in this website,

me and our brother make the  writer to work THANK YOU


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## digen (Aug 31, 2004)

nice tut jak.awesome post.I'll surely try this after I get a DVD-Rom.


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## sunnydiv (Aug 31, 2004)

a better thing to do is use a region free software and get rid of all the mess


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## suave_guy (Aug 31, 2004)

A gr8 and intelligently done post jak.... Really its impressive....

This topic being a sticky....hell Yes!

Enjoy


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## pankyprk (Sep 1, 2004)

good work, keep it up jak !!

must be sticky for a long time !!


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## djmykey (Sep 1, 2004)

Yo man i also agree may many posts like this come to the forum. Hell yeah this is to sticky.


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## aadipa (Sep 1, 2004)

gr8...


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## darklord (Oct 1, 2004)

No offence intended Jak but is this whole tutorial written by you or just a copy/paste from somewhere else?
Just curious.


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## JAK (Oct 1, 2004)

darklord said:
			
		

> No offence intended Jak but is this whole tutorial written by you or just a copy/paste from somewhere else?
> Just curious.




maybe I Copied it from Tech-Arena...lol   (no offence)

The Flashing procedure using Mtk(dos/Win) is conventional...

But the Recovering a BAD FLASH CASE 2...is  my trick buddy..works like a charm. It was discovered accidently by me while fidlin with my system to find  a way to recover my dead Drive when all conventional methods didnt work...[Apple fallin on Newtons head was also an accident wasnt it...  (was it a apple or mango  )]

u find anything even with 60% similarity tell me..I will delete this post myself....


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## darklord (Oct 1, 2004)

I had said in the beginning,no offense.
I was just curious thats why i asked.

Very well put up tutorial.Keep up the good work.


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## bipin_hbk (Oct 10, 2004)

how to detect which is right firmware for your dead drive


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## sikku (Oct 12, 2004)

I  installed a DVD writer (pioneer 107d) and it is not being recognised by Windows Explorer (ie no icon or handle for the drive in my computer), though curiously I was able to see the drive and contents  on the first day of installation. Still able to see by using disk management (control panel>administrative tools>disk management) and on right clicking the explore option is greyed out. I can see the drive with Nero CD speed, BIOS sees it. 

I have a cd-rw which is recognised. 

The DVD writer is connected to IDE-2 and is the master. 
Pl help urgently[/u]


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## JAK (Oct 12, 2004)

sikku said:
			
		

> I  installed a DVD writer (pioneer 107d) and it is not being recognised by Windows Explorer (ie no icon or handle for the drive in my computer), though curiously I was able to see the drive and contents  on the first day of installation. Still able to see by using disk management (control panel>administrative tools>disk management) and on right clicking the explore option is greyed out. I can see the drive with Nero CD speed, BIOS sees it.
> 
> I have a cd-rw which is recognised.
> 
> ...



Hmm...

Get to device manger and uninstall secondary IDE channel and reboot.

upon reboot windows will automatically detect the drive along with the IDE channel....


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## pr@k@sh (Oct 20, 2004)

What  A Great Post...!!


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## xenkatesh (Oct 27, 2004)

Gr8!!!


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## funkymonkey (Dec 22, 2004)

well i can contribute a link here.

*forum.rpc1.org/portal.php

you will get almost all firmwares for your drives here. Most of them are modified which let you burn disks at higher speed and stuff like that.
And also these are windows executables. Just download and run to flash.


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## bhush_18 (Feb 12, 2005)

Is there any way to flash firmware of DVD player I am having CyberHome 300s dvd player for which I want to flash & place new firmware if available b'cos it does not plays some DVD format, whereas the latest DVD player with no change in model have new version of firmware. Can anybody help me out on this?


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## rachitboom2 (Mar 2, 2005)

*Hey DUDE this things is cool yar.I shure di want to do this but I have 3 problems =>

1. How can I backup my old Firmware???

2. I have downloaded 2 files KSY_1.zip and KSY_2.zip form the same same site. Both the Zip files contain different files 1 has KSY1.bin and the other has KSY2.bin  in it. What to use to upgrade???

3. The site says that it will make my SONY COMBO some LITEON COMBO. what should I do???

I have a SONY CRX 300E Combo driveand I download the firmware upgrade from =>  *forum.rpc1.org/portal.php*


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## rachitboom2 (Mar 21, 2005)

*Hey DUDE this things is cool yar.I shure di want to do this but I have 3 problems =>

1. How can I backup my old Firmware???

2. I have downloaded 2 files KSY_1.zip and KSY_2.zip form the same same site. Both the Zip files contain different files 1 has KSY1.bin and the other has KSY2.bin  in it. What to use to upgrade???

3. The site says that it will make my SONY COMBO some LITEON COMBO. what should I do???

I have a SONY CRX 300E Combo driveand I download the firmware upgrade from =>  *forum.rpc1.org/portal.php*


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## Maverick340 (Mar 29, 2005)

Flashing        



Filmware        :shock 



Wish sum1 would give a bAckground to the topic befor starting!


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## rachitboom2 (Apr 1, 2005)

amanwannalearn said:
			
		

> Flashing
> 
> 
> 
> ...


What do you mean ???
Dont you know what flashing means !!!
Theirs nothing to be shocked of about   !!!


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## krishnathelord (Apr 3, 2005)

rachitboom2 said:
			
		

> *Hey DUDE this things is cool yar.I shure di want to do this but I have 3 problems =>
> 
> *



he man stop writing in bolds
is signifies that  u are shouting which i belive u r not


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## Maverick340 (Apr 3, 2005)

I am not shocked..........I just dont KNOW!
tried Wiki...no help


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## abhishek_sharma (Apr 20, 2005)

thanks for starting such a great topic, really helpful stuff...


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## abhinav (May 19, 2005)

whats flashing a drive huh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## rohanbee (May 28, 2005)

I'd rather not change the settings of the regions and live with not having to flash my drive for fear of something going wrong. But excellent tutorial for someone who has no option, Thanks


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## mohit (May 29, 2005)

hey guyz plz help me update the firmware for my SONY DRU-720A DVD-RW drive ... i downloaded the firmware from 

*sony.storagesupport.com/dvdrw/downloads

i checked the instructions for the update and i need help in the following,

 the instructions say "Before executing firmware update, uninstall any packet writing software, such as [DLA], [DirectCD], [B's CLiP] etc, from the PC." ..... i am having nero, alcohol 120%, daemon tools, avi2dvd installed . are these packet writing softwares ? plz provide more info on packet writing softwares and their examples.

 the instructions ask me to disable [DMA setting] in Windows before executing firmware update ...... how i do this ?

 finally if something goes wrong in this whole process will i be able to recover my drive or not ? 

plz provide the requested info. thanx guyz. any other suggestions/tips are welcome.

and hey one more question , what is the official sony website for indian users from where we can download firmware updates and also register our products ?


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## dinesh_singh (Jun 28, 2005)

will this firmware upgrade suupoortmy sony dvd combo drive


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## QwertyManiac (Aug 6, 2005)

its already sticky, so y the poll .???


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## deepak_m (Oct 13, 2005)

the poll is to know whether it should continue 2 b a sticky


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## thrash_metal (Oct 21, 2005)

Thankx a lot man ....... was lookng out for this a long time ...


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## spikygv (Feb 7, 2006)

great post . i dont think u should flash to get moer region changes. even simple softs can do that.

what is RPC ? 
i updated from a102 to a105 for my lg gsa4163b dvd riter . all a'ok.

i have a small prob with my lggcr8523 cdrom .

it reads data cd's fast and well , but vedio cd's it doesnt cross 12x speed ( data cd's upto 51.36x).
will flashing it help ? which one shud i flash it with ?


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## spikygv (Feb 7, 2006)

and someone had asked how to detect the right firmware for dead drive , is say it doesnt take newton to see that.
Dudee , i'm certain that u can find out ur drive's model name etc.. , then download th e firmware and flash.

and well u r reeally a newbie if u donty know wwaht s flasshing and firmware.

firmware- small set of instruction (soft written of ur drive) that tells ur drive to do all activites and like bios for ur mobo it is bios for drive

flashing-updating or writing ur firmware.(common name for updating firmware and BIOS )


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## MotoMaster (May 30, 2006)

What does this firmware do????

I mean...whats sort of features does it enable?


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## –•(–•Raghav™•–)•– (Oct 29, 2006)

Thanx... Is Really Useful


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## Anurag A (Nov 26, 2006)

i have a Sony DVD writer (model no. DWQ 120A) and iam facing problem while writing Video DVD, however it is writing data DVD properly, it was strange - then i tried to find firmware for the same but could not find it yet! i hope your guide will be useful. please help me in this regard.


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## caleb (Feb 24, 2007)

This is great!


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## shyamno (Mar 21, 2007)

I have Sony DVD RW DW Q30A and I downloaded and .EXE file..from the sony site..

I don't know whether it is firmware or flash..?? What should I do to upgrade my DVD.

How can I know the current version of the firmware and how to back up the current copy ??


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## Harvik780 (Apr 21, 2007)

Can i flash my sony drive firmware with the liteon drive's firmware to make my drive write xbox 360 backups well..Please Reply.I read it here *forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/492408


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## luvruble (Apr 23, 2007)

*Hey Guys do any one know where to get MSCE Turtorials CD from. I would be very thankful...*


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## Vivek788 (Apr 24, 2007)

my dvd writer doesn't officailly support writing dvd-rw..but can i get an upgrade to change that?


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## reshadat (Jul 23, 2007)

Hey great tutorial man!!!Really nice...the best part is the method to recover a dead drive!


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## thetillian (May 3, 2008)

Hey good work dude keep rocking.........


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## sreenidhi88 (Jun 2, 2008)

my dvd writer is sony dru 830a .i dwnloaded the firmware from sony's site and flashed it to new one.(cos dvd reading and writing was not working after an year.it was nt detecting dvd's at all)problem still remains even after flashing!!should i flash any other company firmware?any suggestions in this regard??


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## anilmail17 (Aug 10, 2008)

what are the advatage of installing these firmware over the original firmware??


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## JojoTheDragon (Dec 8, 2008)

Like it


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## Siddhartha_t69 (Nov 14, 2009)

My 2 GB sandisk flash drive has been lying dead for months now. Whenever i connect it to my PC or laptop, It shows a message that the device is not recognized. I would like to ask and gain some knowledge before i head start and try. Is flashing the solution?


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## insaneYLN (Apr 14, 2010)

I have a Sony DRU-840A DVD writer but sadly there is no Firmware update for this model, neither on the Sony website nor on *forum.rpc1.org/portal.php




People, need your advise..


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