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Firmware Help

Discussion in 'DVD / Blu-ray drives' started by Daemon404, Apr 20, 2005.

  1. Daemon404

    Daemon404 Regular member

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    OK, I want tp update my firmware. I've already downloaded the update. Its for a LG GSA-4163B Internal Drive. One part of teh read me is confusing.It says:

    I have no idea what that is and hwo to do that. I have 2 Drives, so uhh.. Yeah. Anyway, Heres the whole readme file. Please help, I dont want to screw up my drive(s), because my famiyl has to used the mas well.

    ^ So many warnings, freaks the hell out of me.
     
    Last edited: Apr 20, 2005
  2. Nephilim

    Nephilim Moderator Staff Member

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    Holy crap! Talk about jumping through hoops!

    Here goes,

    Most PCs will have two IDE channels - one Primary the other Secondary. There are two connections on each cable, master and Slave with Master being the device at the very end of the cable and Slave being on the middle connector. What the instructions want is for the drive to be on the Secondary channel all by itself set to Master with no other devices connected to the cable.

    Ok, so how do you know which is Primary/Secondary and which is Master/Slave you ask? Thats an easy one. Download Nero Info Tool then check out the Configuration tab - this will list the devices on each channel and their position on the cable. It may take some switcharoo's to get your LG on the Secondary.

    The instructions also call for the jumper on the back of the drive to be set to Master. On the back of the drive there should be three sets of two pins and a single jumper on one of them. The three sets are Master, Slave and Cable Select and they should be labeled somewhere on the outside of the drive. You'll want to move the jumper to the set labeled as Master.

    Once all this is done you should be set to flash the drive. Now the million dollar question is - do you really need to flash the drive? I don't recommend flashing the drive unless you're having problems such as media recognition or failed burns. A bad flash can ruin the drive so unless you really need to I'd leave the drive as it is :)
     
  3. Nephilim

    Nephilim Moderator Staff Member

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    Last edited: Apr 21, 2005
  4. Daemon404

    Daemon404 Regular member

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    sound very complicated... I dont think ill update mt firmware just yet.
     
  5. Nephilim

    Nephilim Moderator Staff Member

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    I don't blame you one bit :)
     
  6. Daemon404

    Daemon404 Regular member

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    This is why I always avoided firmware updates for my burner. im two versiosn behind.
     
  7. Nephilim

    Nephilim Moderator Staff Member

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    I don't get why LG makes it so dang complicated. All I do for my Plextors is download the update, make sure the drive is empty and execute the update.

    At least as long as its burning fine you're alright :)
     
  8. Daemon404

    Daemon404 Regular member

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    Yeah, Its fine, i just burned a converted DivX movie.
     
  9. anjas_tsi

    anjas_tsi Member

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    hey... the same drive..
    i got problem with this drive. mine is oem version of LG GSA-4163B, i bought yesterday.
    as I installed on my PC, it is detected fine. but when i tried to put dvd inside, it can't read the disk. no matter what the disk is, cd or dvd.
    the led is blinking as it is doing a hard strive reading the disk.
    so i checked with nero info tools, and nero told me that the firmware installed is AN14. as far as i know, the firmware available for this drive is A101, A102, A103 and the latest A104. so why mine is AN14?
    is it because of AN14 that my drive can't read the disk?
    btw is ok to update the firmware while the drive is in slave?
     
  10. animegir!

    animegir! Member

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    im going crazy here ! i have an i/o magic idvdrw8d IDE1008

    firmware version 0052

    it has been working fine. except i wanted to try and use it with nero now, instead of just dvd decrypter. but it doesnt work !

    i try to burn some vob files to a DVDRW then i press burn and it makes these weird sounds... like its trying to read the blank DVDRW but it cant... and it just keeps trying (sounds like its reading then slows down...then reading then slows down, just keeps doing it!)

    then after a while it gives me the messege that i need to put a blank media of some type!

    so i put in a ridata dvd-r and it still doesnt work it just does the same thing i said before ! tries to read but cant ?!

    do i need to update something ? or change some settings ? and how do i find out what service pack my xp has ?...

    i need help -
     
  11. Nephilim

    Nephilim Moderator Staff Member

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    Have you tried uninstalling the drive through Device Manager? If not then here's how:

    Go to Device Manager >

    Expand the tree for DVD/CD ROM Drives >

    Find the drive in question, right click it and go to Properties >

    Under the Driver tab, select Uninstall then OK.

    Now reboot and Windows should detect and reinstall the drive.

    If this doesn't help try the same steps as above except expand the tree for IDE ATA/ATA Controllers and uninstall either the Primary or Secondary controller depending on which one the drive in question is attatched to. Nero Info Tool can tell you which chain the drive is on under the Configuration tab.

    http://www.afterdawn.com/software/cdr_software/cdr_tools/nero_info_tool.cfm


    If that doesn't do the trick you might want to uninstall Nero, run Nero Clean Tools then reinstall it. Here's a link to Nero Clean Tools:

    http://nero.com/us/Clean_Tools.html

    Let us know if this helps or not :)
     
  12. animegir!

    animegir! Member

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    thank you,

    i will try this tomorrow and let you know !

    very helpful site. my favorite :)

    - J
     
  13. urnonav

    urnonav Member

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    Hi,

    I just got the LG-4163B today. From the reviews I've read so far, it seems like the firmware 1.04 is a little important in order to not destroy media! (http://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters.php?DVDnameid=872&Search=Search&list=2#featuresandcomments)

    My current configuration is that I bought it as "external". It's put inside an ADS DLX-185 enclosure (http://www.adstech.com/products/DLX185/intro/DLX185intro.asp?pid=DLX185) and I'm running the thing on external power and the interface with the box is USB 2.0. I am just not sure how the whole instruction for the firmware upgrade applies in this case, since it's not on the PC's IDE anyway. Any help would be awesome!

    Thanks.
     
  14. Nephilim

    Nephilim Moderator Staff Member

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    Internal drives should always be installed on an IDE cable inside the PC - that includes internal drives in external enclosures.
     
  15. urnonav

    urnonav Member

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    When I run Nero Info Tool, I get the following configuration:

    ============
    Primary IDE Channel
    Master: TOSHIBA MK6021GAS
    DMA on

    Secondary IDE Channel
    Master: MATSHITA UJDA740 DVD/CD-RW
    DMA off
    Autorun on

    Intel(r) 82801DB/DBM USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller - 24CD
    HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-4163B USB Device
    Autorun on
    ====================

    So, given that, can I just run the executable file that updates the firmware?

    Thanks!
     
  16. Nephilim

    Nephilim Moderator Staff Member

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    I wouldn't. The drive's on a USB controller and the flash utility has very specific instructions to have the drive on an IDE controller. The only way I'd update the firmware for your drive would be to remove it from the enclosure and install it inside your PC according to the instructions given at the top of this thread.
     
  17. ALAND

    ALAND Regular member

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    Please listen to me. I have the exact drive you are talking about. The L.G. 4163B. Download the firmware from the Offical site it is under drivers section. Then open your tower and disconnect the slave drive from the IDE cable. Your L.G. should be set to master.(on the secondary drive.) The file will download to your desktop. Unzip the file and you should see two files. One with a Yellow Lightning symbol. Close all applications running in the background, this is very important. Click on the file and press run. You should see your drive listed with the firmware you have and the firmware you want to upgrade to. Press the button to start and do not interupt the power and depending on what kind of modem you have it should be done in secs or min or so. Then reboot the computer. If you are running XP it will recognize the new hardware and you are done. Reconnect your DVD-Rom and burn away.
     

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