have i completely messed up with firmware?

[zak_swan]

i was updating firmware on my optorite dvd writer

it froze and i rebooted.

after that my dvd rom and dvd writer were not recognised by windows.

when i put dvd rom in on its own it is recognized.

when i put dvd writer in on its own it is not recognized

when i put the 2 in together they are not recognized.

it's a firmware problem but what i want to know is have i completely knackered my dvd writer?

is there anyway to rectify the problem

[tito13kfm]

That sucks.. .Um.. yeah, as far as I know you completely hosed the drives. It almost happened to me with an iomega SuperDrive.

I would try going through tech-support to see what they say (It was an official firmware.. that's all you need to remember, even if it wasn't, it was..)

and of course there are ways of returning something that you have owned for a long time. no I won't discuss them here, but I can give you some tips via PM.

[zak_swan]

ive bought a lot of dvd-r's out of shop i bought dvd writer and have let it slip in past that i updated with firmware so i dont think he'll take it back.

i'm 99% sure i've put my dvd writer in an early grave but the good thing is they are pretty cheap these days.

can u say for sure it's knackered due to the symptoms i explained?

[zak_swan]

i'm feeling kind of stupid and will sound even more stupid after this

i had burned a load of bulkpaq dvd-r's but on my last spindle nero wouldnt recognize them and dvd info pro didnt recognize them

i took them back to the shop and got another spindle of bulkpaq dvd-r's
the same thing happened they were'nt recognized

i thought to myself although they are bulkpaq maybe they are slightly different to the old ones and maybe i would need to upgrade firmware for them to be recognized.

is that a completely idiotic idea or would there be any truth in it?

so are the bulkpaq part or a bad batch? (how many could be in a bad batch?)

[gmatov]

Did you try running the updater again. The prog may have a better chance of seeing the drive than Windows does.

[zak_swan]

the updater does'nt find my dvd writer now

[jeex]

you might try updating the firmware with a hacked one;

http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?category=4&manufactor=60

prolly wont work, but at this point it cant hurt.

[proxyx99]

First, you never reboot when drive is beeing flushed, even if it takes 2-3 hrs. You have terminated the process be4 new FW was saved. Most likely the drive is toast. Try putting it as sec. master (disconnect the drive, leave without power for 5 min., reconnect) see if BIOS is picking it up. If not any software won't work. To make sure run FW check. If no drive detected the drive is toast. Call manuf. and follow advice above.

[gmatov]

I'd say you have an argument in that it didn't recognize 2 packs/brands of blanks before you flashed.

More likely it just hapened to fail when you ran the new disks. Shop you bought it at should help you with an exchange/repair, since you do trade with them.

Cheers,

George

[zak_swan]

i think the writer must of been going wonky before i flashed.

i've bought a new pioneer 106d for £79 and it recognized the dvd-rs which the optorite didnt.

i didnt take optorite back to shop coz i knew it would just of been a lot of hassle and the guy would probably of sent it back to manufacturer and charged me for doing so.

also when i put pioneer in i discovered i must of accidentely in the past unplugged the fan in the pc.
i was wondering why after burning dvd's they came out red hot lol
maybe this had contributed to writer's downfall before my dismal attempt at flashing.

anyway i'm very happy with pioneer and for £79 it was'nt too much of a disaster.

[jeex]

dont forget to hack your firmware

rpc1.org

[Mad Malc]

Hi Zak
I do not think it is anything to do with your firmware updates, I was using my Optorite DDR203 to back up files and like you the next Blank DVD was unrecognised Media. The drive would not even recognise DVD's previously burnt that I had read in the Optorite to do a re-install after adding another Hard Disk.
My optorite then showed up as new hardware in WindowsXP and XP had to install drivers, this for a plug and play device that does not usually need drivers.
The upshot was the Optorite did not recognise any DVD Media at all, it would sit there after windows boot proudly declaring itself to be a DVD-RW until i put a DVD in ,then its description changed to CDROM.
I tried flashing it after the failure using the official Optorite Firmware flash upgrades to no avail.
I have now sent it back under warranty.
The supplier has now fouled up on the receipt side of my return but I am getting proof of delivery so who knows a carefully crafted complaint letter might get me a decent DVD writer. I live in hope.
All you have to say to your vendor is that you flashed your drive to make it work, the earlier drives, mine bought September 2003 in UK needed a firmware upgrade to support HDD burn.
That never did work always gave a power calibration error even after flashing.
My advice if it is still under warranty take it back, It's a dead drive now anyway and you can but try.

[Noek]

This is why I am so afraid to flash my bios or upgrade my firmware when everything seems to be working fine. I know it is recomended to do both to take advantage of upgrades and fix bugs, increase performance, etc, but I am leaning towards the "if it aint broke, dont fix it" mentality.

[louthewiz]

This is my opinion only but why risk messing with something if it works fine? I have the sony 500ax and it burns 4x with no trouble and I never had to flsah it anyway,so why mess with it?? 8) 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

[Viss]

mine bought September 2003 in UK needed a firmware upgrade to support HDD burn.
That never did work always gave a power calibration error even after flashing.

It will work but you need cd's that support HD Burn, I found the benq brand one of the only ones who support HD burn, My advice to you all If you own an opto write or a MSI sell them and get yurself a sony or a pioneer I had a MSI and had no end of trouble with cheap media (opto write internals) Ive just sold it and got myself a Pioneer and it works like a beauty with cheap media such as princo