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  1. Not tested yet, but maybe interesting for all owners of this drive:



    http://sony.storagesupport.com/dvdrw/downloads/dru500a/FirmwareUpdateDRU500A.zip


    November 08, 2002

    Firmware 1.0d will improve read and write speed on DRU-500A. It will also provides enhanced writing compatibility with DVD recordable/rewritable media.

    Firmware will work only on the following operating systems;

    Windows 98SE
    Windows ME
    Windows 2000
    Windows XP


    Instructions:
    1. Download the file to Desktop on the computer.
    2. Unzip file. For utility to unzip, please go to www.winzip.com.
    3. Open file 500A510d.
    4. Confirm that the drive is Sony DVD RW DRU-500A.
    5. Click on the option "Start Update". The Firmware Updater might ask you to restart the system. Save and close all open applications and background programs before accepting the restart option.
    6. When the computer has been restarted go back to file 500A510d and open it.
    7. Click on the option "Start Update". It will take approximately 40 seconds. When the
    firmware is updated, you will be prompted to restart the system again.


    Note:

    *If wimdows prompt you to activate auto insert notification, select "no."
    *To check if the firmware has been update to 1.0d, please reopen the file 500A510d.


    "Windows" is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation
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  2. thanks for the link...i downloaded the firmware already...didn't install it yet...i think i will wait a little bit to see if any problem come up with it before i do mine..
    The most important problem will be compatible issue with media...hope this will make the sony drive to work with all media...
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  3. Thanks!

    Sony is not usually known for issueing firmware updates for their CD burners very frequently.
    I am glad they are doing the right thing for the DRU-500A DVD burner.

    I can't wait to flash it and retest one brand of media that failed before...
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  4. To Veff,
    please post the results as soon as you test the new firmware
    thanks
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  5. Updated the firmware to 1.0d and now the DVDPro DVD-RW that never worked before now works in my DRU-500a
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  6. Originally Posted by vw671
    Updated the firmware to 1.0d and now the DVDPro DVD-RW that never worked before now works in my DRU-500a
    Excellent! That is good news.

    I upgraded to 1.0d about 35 minutes ago myself.
    It also seems faster as promised.

    I just burned my first ever DVD+R (always bought DVD-R up until now,
    with both my previous DVD-R burner and my dual DVD burner DRU-500A)

    It was a Philips 2.4X DVD+R disc and burned in 22 minutes for 4 gigs
    Now going to test it on my stand-alone DVD player.

    EDIT:
    My Apex plays the DVD+R.
    Unfortunately I have found out (this was my first DVD+R disc ever) that my Toshiba DVD changer does not like +R media; it always plays DVD-R media fine.
    I'll use the remaining 4 Philips DVD+R discs for data DVDs or mp3 (also data technically) DVD discs.
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  7. i have problem with upgrading...everytime i click on the start upgrade...it tell me to restart....and after i restart it...it don't let me upgrade...just pop up the window and say...choose restart yes or no....

    anyone counter this problem?
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  8. You can try booting into safe mode. It won't update if it detects a program using the drive (it attempts to disable auto notification).


    I'm using Win XP Pro and I think mine updated correctly (it lists as 1.0d in Nero's Infotool), but I'm not sure the update went smoothly.

    When I clicked Start, the status bar filled in a bit, then froze. About 30 seconds later it said it was finished and to click "OK" to reboot. I clicked OK and nothing happened, so I clicked Exit from the program and then tried to manually do a restart. Then my machine locked up.

    I did a hard reset and when I booted back into windows it redetected the Sony DRU-500A as a new drive. Did it do that for everyone else?

    I don't have any blank DVD media, but it let me write to a DirectCD formatted CDRW I have. I also made a VCD on a CDRW as a test.
    I'm just a little worried about the machine hanging though.
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  9. thanks for the info,
    i don't know which program is using my drive in the background...i open task manager and try to close as much as i can...i have xp pro sp1 and norton antivirus on it...
    anyone done this, please help
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  10. I have XP pro sp1 and also have Norton Internet Security 2003 (which include Norton Antivirus). I also have DirectCD installed.

    This is what I did:
    1. Ran the program, confirmed the drive and clicked start.
    2. It told me it needed to reboot
    3. After booting up, DirectCD warned me that Auto Insert Notification was disabled and asked me if I wanted to enable it. I clicked no.
    4. Ran the update program again, confirmed the drive and clicked start.
    5. It updated and tried to reboot my machine (which hung), so I hit reset.
    6. Booted back up and Win XP redetected the drive.

    If you're still having problems you can check to see if Autorun has been disabled with Nero's Info Tool (the Configuration tab).

    You can also use the TweakUI XP program to disable autoplay for cd/dvd drives (under the my computer section).
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  11. Member
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    Sep 2000
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    Just did the upgrade and it went fine after the reboot.
    I re-tried some cheap re-writables that I bought at a local computer show that the drive wouldn't even recognize before and "WOW" the drive sees them and I can even use them now.(1X only but hey, now they work) Hmmmm, maybe I won't take the damn thing back after all.
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  12. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

    I upgraded the drive

    the problem is the Deamon software (the virtual drive). After i uninstall it...run the upgrade..it flash to 100%...then tell me to reboot...
    After reboot, winxp recognize it as new drive....i open DVDdecrypter and go to capacities...it show the sony as 1.0d firmware....Wooo

    I don't have any cheap dvd-r to try.....i hope an increase in speed will yield.

    Now bring on the cheapies media.......I'm ready to rock now.

    On another note...anyone know what the error when you reboot and has the Norton error: Drive C: Access denied!
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  13. Someone's going to have to make a new media list or at least test the ones that used to be bad.
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  14. Report after upgrade:
    there is a slight increase in the speed of writing to dvd-r
    I used Accu dvd-r 1x and dvddecryptor to burn...

    Before with 1.0c firmware:
    the speed varies from 0.8 to 1.0x
    Now with 1.0d firmware:
    the speed stay mostly at 1.0x...sometimes 0.9x but i would say 90% of the time is 1.0x


    Now, would anyone got a bad media....please send it to me :P :P :P
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  15. I tried upgrading the firmware last night and the system froze after it completed the flash. I thought the drive was fried, so rebooted into safe mode, and flashed it again. froze again. so rebooted, loaded up stomp recordnow and successfully made a backup of gta3 from an original ps2 that i owned. only problem was that it burned only at 1x, the media was a 2.4 x Imation. everything was fine, but how doyou burn at faster than 2x and using which app?
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  16. Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    Netherlands
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    Yeeeeeeeeeeeeees !

    All my media problems are solved;

    Before firmware update (v1.0c)

    Sony DVD+RW
    Optodisc DVD+RW

    After firmware update (v1.0d)

    Optodisc DVD-R
    Optodisc DVD-RW
    Bulkpaq DVD-R
    Prodisc DVD-R

    Thank you very much Sony ... this is wat I call support !
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  17. Graet news ! I still have one DVDPro (Grade A) from Meritline. I am going to try it after upgarde this weekend. I will post result.
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  18. Originally Posted by donpedro
    Graet news ! I still have one DVDPro (Grade A) from Meritline. I am going to try it after upgarde this weekend. I will post result.
    Upgraded my to 1.0d. Very smooth upgrade process. Just follow the direction included in the zip file. Remember you do have to reboot a couple times before finishing the whole process. I haven't done any new disc yet. Keeping my fingers crossed. To be honest. I have been having sucessful burn since installing it. Only one no brand cheap media gave me problem. Even the Meritline DvdPro disc grade A burns fine with the older firmware. Maybe I'm just lucky.

    Derek
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  19. Originally Posted by derekyeu
    Originally Posted by donpedro
    Graet news ! I still have one DVDPro (Grade A) from Meritline. I am going to try it after upgarde this weekend. I will post result.
    Upgraded my to 1.0d. Very smooth upgrade process. Just follow the direction included in the zip file. Remember you do have to reboot a couple times before finishing the whole process. I haven't done any new disc yet. Keeping my fingers crossed. To be honest. I have been having sucessful burn since installing it. Only one no brand cheap media gave me problem. Even the Meritline DvdPro disc grade A burns fine with the older firmware. Maybe I'm just lucky.

    Derek
    There must be different batches of DVDPro and Prodisc media out there (meaning they changed the dye or something else) because I have had good results with one batch and bad with another batch, for both brands (that was before upgrading to 1.0d).

    Maybe now all types will work with the DRU-500A.
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  20. Originally Posted by VEFF
    There must be different batches of DVDPro and Prodisc media out there (meaning they changed the dye or something else) because I have had good results with one batch and bad with another batch, for both brands (that was before upgrading to 1.0d).
    Were they same type of DVDPro Grade A disks ? I believe that ones with white top didn't work and silver ones did. But that is just my conclusion from whar I read.

    Originally Posted by VEFF
    Maybe now all types will work with the DRU-500A.
    I hope
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  21. Originally Posted by donpedro
    Originally Posted by VEFF
    There must be different batches of DVDPro and Prodisc media out there (meaning they changed the dye or something else) because I have had good results with one batch and bad with another batch, for both brands (that was before upgrading to 1.0d).
    Were they same type of DVDPro Grade A disks ? I believe that ones with white top didn't work and silver ones did. But that is just my conclusion from whar I read.

    Originally Posted by VEFF
    Maybe now all types will work with the DRU-500A.
    I hope
    The ones I have successfully burned recently were silver, because that is all I have.

    (I initially got a few coasters with both silver and white, but that was not knowing Veritas had a Lossless Linking feature).

    My brother has some white DVDPro discs.
    I may trade one of my 2X Princo DVD-Rs (my brother doesn't want to trade any of his white DVDro blanks for one of my silver DVDPro blanks) discs for a white DVDPro 1X, so I can test it.
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  22. Originally Posted by morac
    Someone's going to have to make a new media list or at least test the ones that used to be bad.
    I maintain a media list for the DRU-500A. You can view it at
    http://www.ebisschop.nl/dru-500a
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  23. good update. I had a princo cd-rw that the drive would not read, and it had some files on it that I wanted. With the new firmware, it reads the disc just fine now. Nice to see Sony on the ball.
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  24. When I tried to update the firmware, I get the following error:
    "Write Header Mode6 Failed"
    I tried again in Safe Mode with the same result. I have auto-play disabled. I called Sony tech support, and they were totally clueless. Any ideas? Thanks.
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  25. you might want to edit that post ebi because I have princo 1x cd's , the 59 cent versions and they work excellent. check your software, i use nero, padus, recordnow max on them perfectly, before and after 1d firm.
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  26. Originally Posted by ebi@
    Originally Posted by morac
    Someone's going to have to make a new media list or at least test the ones that used to be bad.
    I maintain a media list for the DRU-500A. You can view it at
    http://www.ebisschop.nl/dru-500a
    After upgrading to firmware 1.0d, Princo DVD-RW worked perfectly.
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  27. How can you tell if it was successful?

    I have WinXP Pro. It kept saying it needed to reboot before it would work (I even killed off all my tasks int he task manager).

    I rebooted into safe mode and ran the update -- it said it worked and when i rebooted it detected a new drive.

    Does that mean success?
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  28. Originally Posted by steppin_razor
    How can you tell if it was successful?

    I have WinXP Pro. It kept saying it needed to reboot before it would work (I even killed off all my tasks int he task manager).

    I rebooted into safe mode and ran the update -- it said it worked and when i rebooted it detected a new drive.

    Does that mean success?
    the samething happen to me...I found out that the problem is some program using the ide bus...it was my Deamons virtual drive program..after i uninstall it..it updated smoothly...
    as long as you reboot and winxp found a new drive..then you done..
    welcome to the new world
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  29. Originally Posted by ebi@
    Originally Posted by morac
    Someone's going to have to make a new media list or at least test the ones that used to be bad.
    I maintain a media list for the DRU-500A. You can view it at
    http://www.ebisschop.nl/dru-500a
    Your email address on that page bounced, so I'll mention it here. I burned 2 TDK DVD+RW 2.4X discs I picked up at Circuit City. Had no problems.
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  30. Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Brooklyn,NY/Newark,NJ
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    I got the upgrade,and it burned on a DVD-R that i got from www.cdrdvdrmedia.com,that wouldn't work prior to the upgrade. Just to let you guys know,it works well with crap media (Khypermedia),and works flawlessly with Clone CD (latest version) It's all good in my neighborhood.... 8)
    Ruffrob Entertainment,R/B for the Digital Age
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