GSA-4040B Firmware! Master/Slave

[Kingnog]

The instructions for upgrading the LG GSA-4040B's firmware from A300 to A301 say (about 3 or 4 times) that the drive has to be installed on the second DIE channel and has to be set as MASTER instead of SLAVE. However, I have another drive which is set as master, so this drive is set as slave...can I upgrade it this way, or do I have to open the case and change it just for this upgrade? Anyone tried it both ways?

[smellycanine]

You have to ask yourself, "Even if someone elses system could do this, will mine?"

If you screw your drive up to avoid a little dirt, and wrist twisting, you'll far more regret that than you would not knowing if it would work in slave.

I wouldnt try it even if 5 people had gotten it to work. Most companies want to cover their butts, and find the way it works flawlesly before sending this sort of thing out to the public. So it could just be CYA on their part, or a critical issue.

[tompika]

Why would you install a DVD burner as SLAVE?

[balabas]

You did right thing - you asked first. Four out of five times it might work or three, sometimes two. LG probably has statistics... :P

[proxyx99]

LG always recommends setting up their drives as Master (CDRW as well). It may have something to go with the way drive is initialized by its BIOS.
Follow their advise and disconnect the other drive for 5 min. After upgrade go back to your previous setup if it works for u. Btw. in my opinion you should have no issue upgrading it as a slave as at first any upgrade program will scan your bus and ask which one you want to upgrade. In worst case it won't "see" it. Remember if u screw up it may cost u a drive or a hassle to have it replaced.

[Kingnog]

Why would you install a DVD burner as SLAVE?

Well....its not exactly set up as slave, its set up as Cable Select, but its recognized as slave because the DVD-ROM and hard drive are recognized as master....

[Fred©]

The instructions for upgrading the LG GSA-4040B's firmware from A300 to A301 say (about 3 or 4 times) that the drive has to be installed on the second DIE channel and has to be set as MASTER instead of SLAVE. However, I have another drive which is set as master, so this drive is set as slave...can I upgrade it this way, or do I have to open the case and change it just for this upgrade? Anyone tried it both ways?

I have just bought this DVD burner, yesterday and at weekend it maybe arrived...

where have you found this firmware upgrade? Any important fix?

thanks in advance.

Fred©

[Kingnog]

Go to lg's site (lg.com i think) and under support, click on CD-RW (lol), and it should be the 1st one on the list...and dont forget about my problem!~

[tompika]

Why would you install a DVD burner as SLAVE?

Well....its not exactly set up as slave, its set up as Cable Select, but its recognized as slave because the DVD-ROM and hard drive are recognized as master....

So set up the Burner as Secondary Master, the DVD-ROM as Secondary Slave and leave the HDD as Primary Master

[Kingnog]

Well, what's the real difference? Its working fine now...I just dont know if I should upgrade the firmware the way ita set up

[hech54]

Hi guys...I have a similar problem. In a nutshell:
My ripping(reading) speed now sucks. Installed my LG 4040 on my XP Pro yesterday...replacing my Sony CD burner with the LG.
So I have DVD Rom to LG 4040 to motherboard.
Since it is a Dell computer(I'm assuming) the jumpers were both set at Cable Select....so against my better judgment I left them that way.
Prior to this setup....my DVD Rom was ripping at GREAT speeds....NOW it is crawling....and so is my new LG 4040. I'm not really TOO concerned about my burn speed(right now NOT 4x) and firmware right now...I'll deal with that later.
Any suggestions?

Thanks if you can help.

[bluntman72]

Well, what's the real difference? Its working fine now...I just dont know if I should upgrade the firmware the way ita set up

I have just bought this DVD burner, yesterday and at weekend it maybe arrived...where have you found this firmware upgrade? Any important fix?

I and many others who have upgraded the firmware (to a301) have found that Princo 4x -R now burn at 4x.

[Fred©]

I searched the www.lge.com website and the main reason for that update is faster speed with some media... that's all.

I think I will not upgrade it...

Fred©

[peco]

try update your flash, if it works fine, if not, do it again. I don´t think you will end with a "bad flash update". It´s a matter of yes or not. Try again until you get "YES". -- It´s not your motherboard bios!

[klintman]

yeah, it would be unlikely to permanently mess up a peripheral by a botched flash. motherboards on the otherhand can not be flashed if they will not run post.

[proxyx99]

Reason for upgrades is to show your drive how to read and recognise newly released media + bug fixes in handling instructions. Check upgrade history in txt file explaining the reason. If you feel it does not apply or will not benefit you, skip it. In worst case scenario you may not be able to "see" some media. If this is critical, upgrade.

Master/slave setup may or may not affect your situation. Example:
LG DVD ROM 16x I use ripped DVD's with great speed, then I upgraded to an "unfortunate" new release of DVDDecrypter that slowed down my ripping to a crawl and usually aborted at about 20%.
New ver. made it fly. (DVDDecrypter admitted that it mishandled LG drives). That was post factum. One would think nothing has changed. I have quickly forgotten that I upgraded to a newer "better decrypter".
So, sometimes we miss a detail and start blaming MOBO, BIOS setup etc.
In many (or most) cases user is at fault. So start with yourself first.
Anyway, just a thought....

[klintman]

and the moral of the story is if it aint broke don't fix it.

[bluntman72]

Master/slave setup may or may not affect your situation. Example:
LG DVD ROM 16x I use ripped DVD's with great speed, then I upgraded to an "unfortunate" new release of DVDDecrypter that slowed down my ripping to a crawl and usually aborted at about 20%.
New ver. made it fly. (DVDDecrypter admitted that it mishandled LG drives). That was post factum. One would think nothing has changed. I have quickly forgotten that I upgraded to a newer "better decrypter".
So, sometimes we miss a detail and start blaming MOBO, BIOS setup etc.
In many (or most) cases user is at fault. So start with yourself first.
Anyway, just a thought....

FWIW, this same situation happened to me last night. I downloaded the latest version of CloneDVD, thinking "Hey, it's an upgrade, it must be better/faster than the version I am using now!"

Wrong.

Burning with the same media that I normally use slowed to a crawl and even stopped at 99% completion.

As klintman said, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[Kingnog]

Well I updated firmware to A301, works fine even though its set as slave...dunno what they're talking about

[i am x]

The instructions for upgrading the LG GSA-4040B's firmware from A300 to A301 say (about 3 or 4 times) that the drive has to be installed on the second DIE channel and has to be set as MASTER instead of SLAVE. However, I have another drive which is set as master, so this drive is set as slave...can I upgrade it this way, or do I have to open the case and change it just for this upgrade? Anyone tried it both ways?

Even though most people seem to be recommending that you set up your burner as the master, I in fact have mine set up as the slave, and the DVD-ROM set up as the master. Also, they are both running off the same cable. With that said, I did the firmware update, and for ME, it worked. Even so, if I were to give you advice, I'd say go with what the majority of the people on here are saying. Maybe I just got lucky, but if the instructions say that you should set it up in the IDE 1 port as the MASTER drive, then that's what you should do.

[bluntman72]

I don't know why they tell you to turn off DMA as well on some drives, I've upgraded my Yamaha F1's upgrade a couple of times all with DMA enabled...everything is fine.