so, i bought a BenQ DW1640 & an external case...

[seikima]

then i read that there is some major firmware upgrade for the drive, and the only way to flash it is with a Windoze PeeCee... WTF?! i'm really getting sick of this shyt!

is it even possible to flash a DVD-Writer in a firewire external enclosure, yet alone on a Mac (OS 10.3.9) ???

i have a severe AD/HD afflicted brother who has a Windoze PeeCee with whatever the latest OS is, but i can't stand the thought of this dude trying to flash my drive... and myself going over to his squalor-hut is out of the question! i don't want to catch terminal scabies!

so, am i up the creek without a paddle or is there some ingenious coder who has created a flash utility for use with external drives connected to Macs?

[russurquhart1]

Hi,

I don't know about the BenQ, but i just recently purchased the NEC 3540 (i believe) and put it in a firewire case.

Searching on the web i found a utility to update this firmware to do additional things and it worked thru the case.

So, good news is that it can be done, bad news is i don't know if someone has done it for the BenQ. It really should be possible and if your drive is popular enough i would think someone has done this already.

The utility for the NEC as a GUI wrapped around a port of a unix command to update the NEC firmware.

Good luck, sorry i couldn't have been more help!

Russ

[From a Buick 8]

Check the xlr8yourmac.com web site and see if they have anything you can use. I found a flasher there for the pioneer drive i bought.

[seikima]

i've actually been reading more about this new BENQ drive, and that it doesn't even seem to work with external cases. BENQ's official word is "none of our drives are supported for external use" but that could just be a liability thing... but people have posted that the drive wont work externally... i might have to return it for the NEC.
i have instructions on how to install a new optical drive into my 1ghz iMac... i just need some torx & therm.paste... i dunno...

anyway, i apprecaite the comments and the link to xlr8.

[the future]

I have that Benq drive in a FW case and it works just fine.

[seikima]

I have that Benq drive in a FW case and it works just fine.

what case/chipset? there are some that work, some don't.
does it have EMI sheiding?

[the future]

This one: http://www.dsp-memory.de/v1/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=9011&products_id=10050&PHPS...50b77b98b70f50