New SONY DRU 500A Hacked Firmare ... anyone tried it?

[Ciuko]

There is "new" firmware for the sony dru 500a ... it will convert your drive to a .. LITE-ON DVDRW LDW-400D ... some people report to have solved the "4x" problem on dvd-r media with this hack ...
Someone here tested it?



http://forum.rpc1.org/viewtopic.php?t=17675

[Ciuko]

Ok ... i've flashed my dvd-rec with this hack ... no changes ... still use 2x on 4x Sony DVD-R Media. (4,7$ each piece DAMN IT ).

[overloaded_ide]

Why would you pay $4-$7 each disk?

Get good media that will last for long as posible and writes 2x or even 1x for $1 or less.

You only burn once~

Burn once, read many! Long as it works and lives!

At the price you listed, I am pretty sure your not planning 20 disks a day

[Metaluna]

There is "new" firmware for the sony dru 500a ... it will convert your drive to a .. LITE-ON DVDRW LDW-400D ... some people report to have solved the "4x" problem on dvd-r media with this hack ...
Someone here tested it?



http://forum.rpc1.org/viewtopic.php?t=17675

I tried it because I was having a problem burning Ritek G04 media at 4x. Using the hacked firmware restored my ability to burn at 4X (for the time being anyway, knock on wood). The burn quality seems fine, both in terms of performance in players, as well as the error rates returned from Kprobe. I also tried some Memorex/Ricoh DVD+R's and they seemed okay as well.

[cognacdog2]

I just tried it , have a dru500a and flashed it to lite on..... fantastic I can burn cheap shintaro 4x at a 4 x rate , 15 minutes!

For months I have been pulling my hair out and getting furious with sony.

I will never buy another sony product...

Thank you very much for the post!

[handyguy]

Im not putting any hacked firmware on my Sony.

" If you are using Sony DRU 500A series DVD burners and looking for guaranteed working 4X DVD-R media, we recommend:
Meritline 4X DVD-R Media
Ritek 4X DVD-R Media
BeAll 4X DVD-R Media"

meritline.com

[Redd]

Using Sony DRU500AX with firmware verson 2.0c
Burns at 4X with Verbatum 4X DVD+R made by Ricoh. Fifty out of fifty.
Burns a 4X with Fuji Up to 4X DVD-R

The older Verbatum dataplus DVD-R is crap. Made by CMC. Don't go there. Seven coasters out of a spindel of fifteen.

[NIIDeep]

Hey handyguy from Meritline.com,

I tried burning Ritek G04s at 4x and I only get 2x with the Sony DRU500AX with firmware 2.0f. In addition, I'm not the only one. Tried it with DVD Decrypter, Nero, and Roxio.

So if you, Meritline.com, guarantees it then can I return the media if it doesn't do what you guarantee?

Point is.. don't make promises you can't keep. There are no guarantees.

[NIIDeep]

BTW Handyguy,

I just bought BeAll 4x media from you guys to see if I can burn 4x. I hope you will live up to your guarantees. I will report back with my results.

[VinnySem]

BTW Handyguy,

I just bought BeAll 4x media from you guys to see if I can burn 4x. I hope you will live up to your guarantees. I will report back with my results.

I dont think he's from Meritline, there is a 'Meritline' user in here that they use. I think he was merely quoting the website. BTW I use the 4X BeAlls in my Pioneer A06 which from my experience more picky about media than the Sony (I used to have an external 500A), and I burn no problem @4X, complete DVD to full capacity in 14:22.

[NIIDeep]

Oh okay...

Sorry about that Handyguy.... just getting a bit frustrated with my media and believing in so-called "guarantees". No worries mate.

[vtecwil]

If its not a compatibility problem just use one of the big name 4X +R discs . They allways burn at 4X in my 500AX .

[cognacdog2]

I am in Australia and we don't have anything like the range of low priced dvdrs that you guys have in USA.

TDK, Verbatim etc are priced at $7.00 to $8.00 Australian = US$4.61 to US$5.26 per disk.

Cheap disks by our standard are $3.00 each Shintaro (US$1.97) I cannot get the riteks here from any store.

So I hacked my dru500a to a liteon and it now burns all media at 4 x .
The hack is a godsend....

[kizer8]

The link is down, is there another link?

Thanks.
Kizer

[cognacdog2]

The whole firware forum site appears down, should be back soon hopefully.

Here is the link for the firmware hacks that still work:

1 to make your Sony dru500a a Liteon and the other to flash it back to what it was:

http://mok.neostrada.pl/Dru500_to_ldw400_hacked.rar

Regards

[kizer8]

Thanks cognacdog2 for the link.

Kizer

[handyguy]

I only use Accus, they make some that are 2x & some that are 4x. 1x accus do 2x on the sony with the right firmware.

"Tried it with DVD Decrypter, Nero, and Roxio. "

What versions? I wouldn't put Roxio on XP cause XP already has Roxio & you just write over it's files....roxio makes a new version for XP though.

[fatbloke]

I've tried it on my Sony and it now writes dvd - r , ritek grade 4 at 4 speed not 2 like the old sony 2.0 f, well worth trying, well done that man.

[NIIDeep]

Handyman,

I used Nero 5.5.10.42, DVD Decrypter 3.1.6.0, and Roxio EZ CD 6 with latest updates and patches.

In any case, I tried out some expensive TDK 4x DVD+R media and it burned at 4x.


As for the firmware hack I'm wondering is it more leniant than 2.0f in judging media speed or is it just going to just "take the media descripter's word so to speak" and burn at 4x regardless if the media is truly capable of it. Eventually I would like to know how reliabe the Ritek disks are after they being burned at 4x. I'm going to chalk Riteks as good for short term use and not for long term longevity.

[cognacdog2]

Link is back up again

http://forum.rpc1.org/viewtopic.php?t=17675


NIIDeep good question! I might try it now I am hacked, to see if it will burn a 1 x disk at 4 x times, probably will nor work but what the heck....

[NIIDeep]

Hello All,

Just wanted to update this thread with my latest findings about my 2x/4x burning issues....

As I mentioned I got some Ritek G04 that weren't burning at 4x but rather at 2x. I then installed ASPI 4.6 drivers per Lightning UK!'s suggestion. But at the time it didn't work. Looking back I remember, though, that I didn't reboot my system.

So I gave up and waited for some BeAll 4x media to show up today. Tried them and they burned at 4x fine (since then I've rebooted my system obviously) as well as some TDK DVD+Rs. It almost seemed like 4x burning is a sure thing so I tried burning a Ritek G04 again. And all of a sudden DVD Decrypter is burning at 4x with no problems.. I'm not sure what's going on but the only thing I did was install the ASPI 4.6 driver. However, I'm not using it in DVD Decrypter under the I/O settings. Still using the standard SPTI driver. Maybe my first three Riteks were bad??

In any case, I'm successfully burning at 4x with a Sony DRU500AX firmware 2.0f. No hacked firmware or anything. And maybe ASPI 4.6 installed has something to do with it. Media I tried that burn successfully at 4x are TDK DVD+R, BeAll DVD-R, and Ritek G04 DVD-R. Please note these are all 4x rated media. I'm not burning 1x media at 4x or anything like that.

So I would like to suggest to people who are having problems to maybe try and install the 4.6 ASPI drivers and see if it solves their problem. Can't hurt to try and probably a good idea to have them installed anyways.

BTW, ForceASPI 1.8 is out and uses the 4.72 ASPI drivers... anyone use this?

[Bhola]

Any one have tried this hack on Sony DRX-500UL?-B

[enderst]

dru500ax here. tried it, didn't work. going back to 1.0f it works.

[Jcubed04]

I "upgraded" the firmware of my dru-500a to lwd-400d 1.2 and so far it works great.

I bought cheap 1x media that burns at 2x in bulk right when I got this drive about a year ago but I've almost run out. So I need to get some more media and I don't even remember when I got my old media from.

Could someone please post the cheapest compatible media that burns at 2x (probably rated 1x but that's fine) and the cheapest media that burns at 4x. Links to sites where I can buy them would be great. Also I'm willing to change to any other firmware if need be. Thanks!

[hardcore]

hey i've got a x4 RW DRU-510A...

since i've had it... i've never ever been able to burn at x4....

would this flash????

[tompika]

hey i've got a x4 RW DRU-510A...

since i've had it... i've never ever been able to burn at x4....

would this flash????

The LiteOn440 is an OEM version of the Sony510.

I suggest you ask this question here before killing your drive
http://forum.rpc1.org/index.php?sid=a447f71815fa4e2fa0e7401edfc44a79

[NIIDeep]

Hey guys,

Check out the new firmware 2.0G from the Sony site. It seemed to fix my 4x burning issue with Riteks.

2.0G revision changes-

-Allows your Dual RW drive to record at 4X on 4X compatible DVD-/+R media.
-Improves reading and writing performance and reliability.
-Reduces vibration noise for the discs with unbalance or eccentricity.
-Improves audio playback on written discs with stand alone systems.
-Improves reading and writing performance with 8cm DVD-R/RW.

[sangofe]

Anyone has a link that works?
And does this liteon upgrade work on DRX-500UL?