Gateway AR-230 (REV2) is a Lite-On 5005 /5006 ?

[SuperTech]

Just got a new Gateway AR-230 (REV2) Part # 2521671 . Firmware is 1140.
Manufactured July 2004. P/N on back says 7005346
Unit would not take the 1163 update, kept saying data disk and just sat there.
Pulling the cover revealed some interesting things !
It appears to be a Lite-On 5005/ 5006 ??
Only physical difference seems to be the additonal front panel "input" button on the 5005

DVD drive is DDW-451S
http://www.liteonamericas.com/us/odd_dvdrw.htm

The Motherboard is a LVWS5006A REV:01
The main chip is the LSI Logic DiMeSion 2
DMN-8602 B0
The chip is NOT heatsinked and runs very hot. Why is Lite-on so incompetent on thermal issues ?

On paper this is a rather neat unit with 4X Plus and Minus Media support, Mpeg-4 playback ability , USB I/O etc. The dumbed down
firmware of the unit might be upgradeable in the future.
http://www.lsilogic.com/files/docs/marketing_docs/consumer/dmn8602_pb.pdf

So the question of the hr is how do I load the 5005 firmware on this puppy. Or at the very least get this up to the 1163 firmware of the 5001 ?

[cchang]

LiteOn 5001 and 5005 both used the same 5001 mother board , 401/411 drive (Drive firmware started with letter F) and LSI 8600 chip. Many people tried to flash the 5005 firmware on 5001 machine but failed. They have a hardware ID somewhere in the EPPROM to prevent you from doing that. The newer (after April 2004) 5001, 5005 , 5002 and 5006 also shared the same 5006 motherboard, 451 drive (drive firmware started with letter G) and LSI 8602 chip. But I also wonder you can really flash different class of firware on your machine.

[lordsmurf]

Did you do it correctly?
I know a lot of people have been putting ZIP and RAR and "altered named" files on the discs, not using common sense or following directions.

The filename should be LNE1163.D00 (and similar ones), not LNE1163_modified.d10 or LEN.zip or whatever.

If this fails, beats me.

[SuperTech]

Thanks for the reply. Confirming that the 5001 and 5005/5006 are sameish as the Gateway AR-230 (VER2 ) is great news . I love "economy of scale" marketing where you build the same thing and just put a diffferent sticker on it and sell it a greatly different prices. Works great till Joe User " figures it out and does self upgrades ! LOL

[SuperTech]

The older Gateway wants file GWEA1163.D02 which i downloaded and put on a CD-R , CD-RW and a DVD+RW . All three show up as Data disk ...and nothing happens. the readme file states " This version of firmware is meant to update version 1139 systems to version 1163 systems. " So that may be problem one as I'm at version 1140. The other part of the readme says" Applicable Part Numbers

2520516
Well my part number is 2521671, as this is Ver2 of the AR-230 .
Ideal solution would be to find the latest version of the Lite-on 5005 /5006 firmware up-grade and rename them to what ever the Gateway is looking for . Is there a checksum in the file ? Does the checksum inluclude the file name ? On the Motherboard there is is a 10 pin header . USB port ? or a Jtag port to flash the firmware at the factory ? Thoughts ?

[lordsmurf]

Hex editor, find the checksums. I did this on an old Pioneer drive. Was not easy, but did work.

[DragonSlayer]

I just bought a Daytek DVR-P30 in Vancouver Canada at Costco for $259 on Oct 13, 2004. Out of the box it works like a charm. But just like the original poster, I also have problem to upgrade the firmware.

My Daytek unit also came with 1140 firmware. But no matter what I did, it just didn't recognize the new firmware. Whenever I insert the CDRW, it just displays "data disk" on the screen and "file" on the LED.

I tried different firmware version, from original 1143 to original 1163, even hacked 1163, all the same.

I don't think I did anything wrong burning the CDRW. Basically use Nero to create ISO-9660 without Juliot and relaxed items. Drag-n-drop the new firmware (unzipped) to the root directory of the CDRW and it's the only file on the CDRW.

Is there any chance this is also a 5005/5006? Should I try out 5005 firmware?

[SuperTech]

To figure out if it's a 5005/5006, pull the cover, it's easy.

Re upgrading to the latest 1163 firmware for the "5001" .
A friend just did this . He had to do it in 3 parts .
He had to use 3 CD-R's NOT -RW's ! ( Yes I know that all the info says CD-RW's are fine ...but they did not work )
Here is what he said :

the first one I installed of a CD-R was LNEA1143.D10
the second one on a 2nd CD-R LNEA1163.DS1
the last one was on a 3rd CD-R LNEA1163.D11 ( the hacked version )

[Saltydog]

SuperTech,
Have you been following "ILO DVDRO4" post? If so, is there really any diff between the Gateway and the ILO? Both are 5001s right? Or are you now certain that the Gateway is a 5005? Any feedback from your friend on performance after the hack install? LordSmurf speaks pretty highly of the LiteOn, but I'd really like a 3 hour mode. I have a bunch of old family VHS-Cs to copy and I think that is the sweet spot between quality and time.
SD5

[DragonSlayer]

To figure out if it's a 5005/5006, pull the cover, it's easy.

Here is what I found out inside my Daytek:

Motherboard: LVW5006A REV:01
LSI LOGIC: DiMeNsion 2 DMNJ-8602 B0
DVD Writer: DDW-451S
Manufactured Date: August 2004.

Since this is DDW-451S, doesn't it support DVD-R/RW?

S/N on the setup screen:
4901-1140-0090-G2B9 (100-010B)
So is it with firmware 1140?

[Edit] On the back of the box, it said:
FTEA1090
D:G2B9 H1-P0T OK

So what's the firmware version, 1140 or 1090?

[stimpy1864]

I also just got the AR-230 and have tried every way to update the firmware but it just keeps comming up data disc. Also in regards to picture quality I am very disapointed this unit seems to brighten up all dark seens making them grey and washed out looking. Even for $135.00
I am disapointed.

[cchang]

Here is what I found out inside my Daytek:

Motherboard: LVW5006A REV:01
LSI LOGIC: DiMeNsion 2 DMNJ-8602 B0
DVD Writer: DDW-451S
Manufactured Date: August 2004.

Since this is DDW-451S, doesn't it support DVD-R/RW?

S/N on the setup screen:
4901-1140-0090-G2B9 (100-010B)
So is it with firmware 1140?

[Edit] On the back of the box, it said:
FTEA1090
D:G2B9 H1-P0T OK

So what's the firmware version, 1140 or 1090?

The firmware is 1090. It is a newer machine, will not take 1163.

The drive will burn DVD-R if you hook it up to your PC. But the AR-230 firmware does not allow it to burn DVD-R.

[SuperTech]

OK so your DAytek and my gateway are both Lite-on 5005/6 's under the skin. They are both at Firmware version 1140, which is a dumbed down OS to make the units behave like Lite-on 5001's.
I can set my date to 2099 so it has some of the 1163 firmware features ? I'm will not be near the unit for a few days to actually test things . The ideal situation is of course to "upgrade " these toys to Lite-on 5005/6's .

[SuperTech]

cchang
Why do you state:
The firmware is 1090. It is a newer machine, will not take 1163.

Since the Serial number indicates it's firmware is at 1140 ?? ie a sticker on a box don't mean much.

[SuperTech]

Hi Saltydog,

Yeah, I've been following hte ILo threads ....;-}
It seems that the ILO is also a 5005/6 with dumbed down firmware to make it look like a 5001. But it's layout and actual Motherboard are a bit different based on the part numbers and pictures posted.

[DragonSlayer]

cchang
Why do you state:
The firmware is 1090. It is a newer machine, will not take 1163.

Since the Serial number indicates it's firmware is at 1140 ?? ie a sticker on a box don't mean much.

I think that for the new format of S/N, the third number is the firmware version. Correct me if I'm wrong.

With this firmware, I can also set the date to 2099. And it also has the OTR feature. So the firmware definitely is not 1140.

If it's 1090, is it a new firmware of 5005/5006?

[cchang]

cchang
Why do you state:
The firmware is 1090. It is a newer machine, will not take 1163.

Since the Serial number indicates it's firmware is at 1140 ?? ie a sticker on a box don't mean much.

I think that for the new format of S/N, the third number is the firmware version. Correct me if I'm wrong.

With this firmware, I can also set the date to 2099. And it also has the OTR feature. So the firmware definitely is not 1140.

If it's 1090, is it a new firmware of 5005/5006?

Yes. For xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx format, the motherboard firmware # is the 3rd #. The 4th # is the drive firmware #. My LiteOn 5001 is 0101-0143-1163-F2SC, after 1163 update. Before update it was 010143-1143-F2S8 and 010143-1141-F2S5 before that. My Gateway AR-230 got 400143-1139-F2S8. So when they changed the firmware from 6-4-4 format to 4-4-4-4 format, they splitted the 1st #, the platform and hardware id # into 1st and 2nd # to present platform and hardware separately.

I am not sure it is the # for 5005/5006. You can put a cdr in the machine and see. 5005/5006 should automatically format the cdr. More likely, it is the firmware for 5002. Unless somebody figure out a way to flash the mothboard EEPROM (may be through that 10 pins header on motherboard) from 5001/5002 to 5005/5006, we will not get the allwrite functionalty of 5005/5006 eg. recording to CDR(VCD, audio CD), write to DVD-R and DVD-RW (This fuction is not that exciting to me, since all of them used DVD+VR format).

BTW, for (100-0109) the 1st digit of "100" is regional code. 2nd digit is macrovision (0 for on, 1 for off). My code free, macrovision free LiteOn and Gateway got (010-0109).

[SuperTech]

My friend opened up his Daytek:
Daytek DVR-P30 Manufactured Jan. 2004
Mainboard LVW5001 A Rev. 04
Drive Liteon DDW-411S
Chip LSI Logic DiMenSion DMN-8600 D0
SN: aftermod's 0101-0143-1163-F2SC (010-010B)

This explains why the 5001's 1163 firmware worked ! It is a 5001 .

[cdnuser]

My friend opened up his Daytek:
Daytek DVR-P30 Manufactured Jan. 2004
Mainboard LVW5001 A Rev. 04
Drive Liteon DDW-411S
Chip LSI Logic DiMenSion DMN-8600 D0
SN: aftermod's 0101-0143-1163-F2SC (010-010B)

This explains why the 5001's 1163 firmware worked ! It is a 5001 .

Mine is

Aug 2004
LVW5006 A Rev 01
Liteon DDW-451S

Should I use firmware from 5006?

[cdnuser]

I found out that if you need to update the firmware on a Daytek you must change the file names with the daytek one which is DTEA.

[gshelley61]

edit

[Guitarman]

You have to be VERY careful when trying to update a recorder with another models firmware. Each recorder's eeprom has a model code written to it that will indentify it to the firmware when trying to update. If a Gateway sees an ILO firmware file, it will automatically reject it. Also, while there may be many recorders base on one design or model, they all will have slightly different features and using a firmware from another make/model could render the recorder a nice looking paperweight.

[delaluz]

SuperTech: or anyone else:

I just bought the same Gateway AR 230 as you:

Just got a new Gateway AR-230 (REV2) Part # 2521671 . Setial number 4001.1140.0086.G2B7

Is there anyway to update this firmware to enablke 3 hr. recording and stop Macrovision?

I spent around 10 hours reading posts on the net. I tried applying Gateways firmware for the "11" series and a couple of Lite on firmwares. In all cases theplayer thought I loaded a "data" disc and didn't do any upgrading.

[SuperTech]

Neat info found !!!
Gateway can be flashed to Lite-on ver 1180.
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=150107