I did it! Daytek DP-30 upgrade to 1176 hacked Liteon....

[oldfart13]

cdnuser suggested the change in suffix but buzzinhornets said it didn't work, so I got to thinking...

I figured that the drive needs to have some spin up time so I padded the disc out with 150 Meg of RAR files that the drive will not recognize anyway. I then added the 1197 firmware (legit) and changed the name from LNJDE197.DA0 to DTEAE197.DA0 and burned this with Sonic (although Nero should also work). Put that into the Daytek DP-30 on the opening splash screen (the one you get when you turn the deck on) and you will get an updating message. On mine, it hung at 97%. Don't panic! When you turn the deck off and remove the disc (eject while the deck is off) and turned back on again the splash screen will be Liteon! Do the same thing as above but this time replace the upgrade file with the hacked firmware LNEA1176.DSU which you will change to DTEA1176.DSU before burning. When you put this disc into the converted DP-30 it will update to 100%. Turn the deck off, remove the CD-R and turn it back on again. Now when you put in a DVD +R and go to the record screen, you will have the option of recording in 3 hour mode along with the others!

Kudos to cdnuser for the suffix change and Lordsmurf for the hacked software archive...

Oh yes, my recorder says it was manufactured January 2004 in case anyone is keeping track...

[oldfart13]

Just been thinking again that it may not be necessary to change the 1176 hacked firmware filename once the unit has taken the Liteon 197 FW upgrade. Someone else will have to try this though...

[oldfart13]

PS I've also found that the Memorex RicohJapan 4X +RWs I was using before the upgrade work perfectly now. I was getting a 20% recognition from the DP-30 with the old FW. Now I get 100%!

[buzzinhornets]

sounds interesting. ...a few questions.

so I padded the disc out with 150 Meg of RAR files
- can you post a screenshot of the directory of your disc? (imageshack.us for free hosting)

Put that into the Daytek DP-30 on the opening splash screen (the one you get when you turn the deck on) and you will get an updating message.
- so, just turn it on, open the tray and insert the disc?

it hung at 97%
- so you shut it off in the middle of updating? yikes! the 97% never went away? but on restart it was complete?

eject while the deck is off
- you can eject with the deck off? you sure?

finally, what type of disc for both updates? CD-RW?

Thanks,

Buzz

[lordsmurf]

That's excellent news.

Padding the disc is definitely an interesting concept, I don't believe that's ever been attempted before.

[buzzinhornets]

hey oldfart... any chance you can post .iso images of both discs to yousendit.com? I can't download the legit 1197 firmware cause my serial is rejected... or pm me and i can give you access to my ftp?

[lordsmurf]

Oldfart, let's look into adding your files to the firmware archive.

[oldfart13]

To get the legit firmware from the server, change the 49 in the serial to 01. Mine is 490143-1141-F2SB. I changed that to 010143-1141-F2SB. Now you can download the firmware.

I'll see about getting ISO's done and uploaded somewhere.

[lordsmurf]

Send me the hacked/official files, I don't need an ISO full of dummy stuff. When you have it ready, and have some time, PM me for contact info.

[oldfart13]

so I padded the disc out with 150 Meg of RAR files
- can you post a screenshot of the directory of your disc? (imageshack.us for free hosting)

If you have any downloads or large files that the deck doesn't recognize, that will do fine. The deck has to try to read them so it will spin up to speed. This is the same problem I've encountered using PS2 mods without adding chips to that machine...the drive needs time to get going so it can read the file. A small file is probably too little time for this to get up to speed to read. Padding it out with 100 Meg of files is the cure.

Put that into the Daytek DP-30 on the opening splash screen (the one you get when you turn the deck on) and you will get an updating message.
- so, just turn it on, open the tray and insert the disc?

Yes, that's right...then close the tray.

it hung at 97%
- so you shut it off in the middle of updating? yikes! the 97% never went away? but on restart it was complete?

leave it on for 10 - 15 minutes. The drive won't even be spinning and no data will be transferred. You should see the data transfer light on the drive if it was. For me, this was a bit of a gamble but it was no real loss since the deck was so cheap for me to buy in the first place ($20).

eject while the deck is off
- you can eject with the deck off? you sure?

Absolutely...but then, the disk drive in my deck is outside the case now. The original drive was broken by my friend...it should still work for the original drive though. This is a pretty simple system...

finally, what type of disc for both updates? CD-RW?

Nope, regular old Memorex CD-R...

[buzzinhornets]

"I then added the 1197 firmware (legit) and changed the name from LNJDE197.DA0 to DTEAE197.DA0 "

...1197???? I only stuff mentioning "1176"

[Sam Ontario]

Why not convert it directly to ILO R04 firmwares to get the 3 hour mode?

[buzzinhornets]

hmm... i have a different serial number layout... 4901-0143-1163-F2SC(xxx-xxxx)

...and i got brought to a page with two files:

"Please download this file for system update: LNEA1176.DSU.upd.once.rar

After system firmware upgrade (if any), please download this file for drive firmware update: LNEA1000.D10.0101.014x.zip

Please note that update system firmware should be done first before you update drive firmware.
This is to prevent some drive update issues.

After update above FW, please goto FW download page again and submit the new SN, you will get the latest system FW. "

so what do I rename? the first file? to what?

[AaronT]

Hey Oldfart, do you have your ISO kicking around?? It just happens we have the same model and I was wondering about upgrading my Daytek to use a liteon FW base. That is, before I attempt a drive swap...

[oldfart13]

Okay...you got the firmware update file. That's good. Pad the CD-R out with some dummy files and add the upgrade file with the name changed to DTEA from LNEA. After the unit upgrades you can add the drive upgrade firmware if you wish. This would have done me no good since I am using an LG4040B drive instead of the original (and it seems to work much better...there are reports the new 16X drives will not finalize discs, while the LG4040B does it in about 45 seconds!). Then go here for the 1176 hacked firmware:

http://www.digitalfaq.com/dvdguides/buyerguides/dvdrecorders/liteontips.htm

Do the same thing...pad out the disc with the dummy files and then add the hacked firmware file (I don't think you will need to change the name since your recorder is now recognized as a Liteon 5001). Once it takes the upgrade, check the record function and see if you have the 3 hour mode. If you do, you now have a fully upgraded, macrovision free Liteon 5001 DVD recorder...

[AaronT]

Actually that is the problem I don't have the firmware update file. The firmware files were removed from the Liteon download site. I was hoping you still had them kicking around.

Since you on the subject, tell me more about the LG4040B swap.
I was thinking about popping in a Liteon SOHW 1693B, which I heard was a good fit. Now I am having second thoughts, given the problems with Liteon drives. My original drive being a prime example. I think I could possible get a couple more CD reads out of it to upload the firmware, because it sure can't read DVDs.

[AaronT]

Oldfart, strike that comment on the firmware, I think I got a way forward on the firmware. Thanks.

I am still interested hearing about the LG4040B swap, that is, if you don't mind sharing..

[oldfart13]

The inside uses a standard IDE connector. I used an old cable I had lying around and ran it outside the case. Power comes from the internal power connector which is also the same as any standard computer HDD power cable. The 4040B seems to work very well and is a much better build than the drive used in the Liteon/Daytek. The only problem I've encountered with this new set up is the disc format that these units use seems to have problems on conversion to other formats. Playback on other DVD recorders was great though...

[AaronT]

Thats pretty easy for some reason I thought you had to hexedit the firmware with the DVD drive code.

One of my first attempts at drive swap was to replace the orignal unit with an HP +R writer in and it errorred everytime it read anything.

[MButler]

I followed your instructions to upgrade my Daytek P-30 by padding the disk and changing the file names for the upgrades and it worked. It did stall at 97% as you indicated when upgrading the first file. The machine would not shut down so I had to unplug it to power off. When I plugged it back in everything worked fine. The new splash screen is Liteon rather than Daytek.

The only issue I have with the upgrade is that the shortest period that you can choose for the automatic insertion of a Chapter is 2 minutes. Is there any way to change this or to add chapters manually after the recording is made but still using the DVD recorder?

Thanks for all of the tips.