Firmware up grade

[Foz]

I have a NEC ND 1300A DVD burner, and bought some blank DVDs that will not burn. The people I got them from said I need to up-grade my firmware from version 1.06 to version 1.0B. I have read that this can be risky, and render my DVD burner inoperateable. I have been able to burn Sony, Memorex, and Imation media with no problems, except for burning speed. Sometimes it burns at 1X, some at 2X, and some at 4X. Please advise me if I should try to up-grade, and if so where can I find a step by step on how to do this. I'm including a link to NEC about the up-grade, but I have not found instructions at their site on how to download and install up-grade. Thanks Foz

http://www.de.nec.de/faq.php/id/573

[ccbadd]

First off, any time you flash a new firmware to your drive you are risking your drive, or any other device you are upgrading. If you are not comfortable with that risk, you are screwed. New firmwares add features and/or media compatability and possible problems. Also, keep in mind that what ever the speed rating of a drive, that does not mean your drive is capable of that speed with any given media. I would suggest doing some additional research reguarding media id codes and understanding exactly what type of disks you are writing to. Just because one drive can write a certain media at a given speed does not mean that all can. This is the nature of dvd writers and will get better with time just like cd writers did.

[wulf109]

http://www.herrie.org/

The website above is dedicated to NEC drives. I have a 1300 and upgraded the firmware several times. Make sure you get a windows upgrade,not DOS. Flashing is in windows and is perfectly safe if you follow the onscreen instructions. NEC is among the easiest drives to flash.

[blade9z]

Every flashing of firmware carry it own risks. I sometime worry if my "reliable" windows xp would crash in a middle of a reflash. Just remember that flashing you firmware invalid your warrenty. I recently had the problems with the Herrie's firmware when the media is being burn at 2x even it reports 4x by Nero. I am not sure what the real problem is but I got it fixed when I reflash my NEC 1300a with NEC's 1.0B DOS flash. My NEC 1300a is a OEM version, the firmware stated it should not be used on OEM drive but it still works.