Calling back dead drives from the firmware death.

[Aeolis]

Hi folks,

Question 1: A long time ago I had a full working LG combo drive, but in that time my knowledge about computers was very small (not that today they are amazing, but I can handle myself) so in a disastrous firmware upgrade I stopped the upgrading process before it correctly finish. The drive was dead and I left him behind. Well today, I have found that drive in my “private mess” and I was wondering if is there anyway to call it back from the dead? I mean any way, dangerous or not I would try it. I am not going to use it anymore, but I could give it to someone of course only if the drive is working OK.

Question 2: Is there any way of limiting my drive write speed? I mean if I had a 4X, 8X media could I force my burner to write it in a slower speed like 2X for instance? Of course, it should be a safe way, no damage this time.

See you later,

Aeolis

[redwudz]

You could try a program like this: http://dhc014.rpc1.org/howto.htm#mtkflash

If you are having problems burning 8X or 4X media, burning it at 2X probably won't help. Better media would be my fix. Some newer burners won't go that slow.

[ZippyP.]

Question 2: Is there any way of limiting my drive write speed? I mean if I had a 4X, 8X media could I force my burner to write it in a slower speed like 2X for instance?

Most (but not all) burning software has the ability to set the desired burning speed.

[TaoTeWingChun]

Aeolis,

See if you can back-level the drive's firmware to the version you had initially. Likey that firmware is out on the manufacturer's website, so go grab it and try. After all, the drive is already dead, so what possible harm can come of this? I've actually had a similar situation with a LiteOn drive that I had, and that one came back better than ever after I rolled back to a previous firmware version.

Best wishes and post back your results so we can close this one out, ok?

Cheers!

TTWC

[Aeolis]

Hi folks,

Thank you everybody for your help. I really appreciate it. Well I can burn my media in 4X and 8X I don’t have problems with my software or hardware. I just wanted to know if I can force a drive that can burn a 4X, 8X media to burn in less speed that the media is originally designed. Because of that I said to force it to burn slower, 2X for instance. I want to do that to try keeping best quality backups for my own PS2 games (PS2 has a slow reader so slower burns could preserve its integrity, I guess…, but I can’t get on 2X anymore so I need a way to burn faster media in slower speeds).

For the second question, my drive is really dead it can’t be seen for BIOS or Windows. Do you really think that ZippyP. suggestion would work? I will give it a try. ZippyP. have you used that utility? Could you explain or point me a guide to it. The explanations in the link are not enough for me I am not very used with DOS commands.

See you later,

Aeolis

[redwudz]

If you are asking about MTKFlash, no never used it before. Just found it with a Google search. It's a long shot anyway, but it sounded like a program that might work is some cases. You can do a further search for the software name and maybe find more info. Like this:

http://digi.rpc1.org/mtkflash.htm

But if you can't see it in BIOS, it may not be worth the effort. That's a risk you take when you flash a drive. But never interrupt a flash in progress. There should have been warnings to that affect in the flash program.

[Kingnog]

Thank you everybody for your help. I really appreciate it. Well I can burn my media in 4X and 8X I don’t have problems with my software or hardware. I just wanted to know if I can force a drive that can burn a 4X, 8X media to burn in less speed that the media is originally designed. Because of that I said to force it to burn slower, 2X for instance. I want to do that to try keeping best quality backups for my own PS2 games (PS2 has a slow reader so slower burns could preserve its integrity, I guess…, but I can’t get on 2X anymore so I need a way to burn faster media in slower speeds).

Media with higher speeds are meant to be used at those speeds. A 12x drive burning 8x media at 8x or 4x will get you the best results you can expect. Trying to burn at lower speeds will not work well, if it is even possible. It's like saying you want to take your brand new Corvette and fill it with low-grade gasoline...it'll work, but not well