The Firmware Page

hey, i'm looking for RPC1 (region free) firmware for the GT30N drive for a Toshiba C660 laptop
i can't find any firmware on toshiba uk support (or on any other english toshiba website)

i've seen the info about asus firmware for this drive that can be patched with MSCE, can i use the asus ASS2 firmware patched on my toshiba? or what else can i do to make/get a region free firmware.

the info from DVDInfo is
DISCINFO VERSION : 1.7.0 BETA.12
VENDOR : HL-DT-ST
MODEL : DVDRAM GT30N
REVISION : TN08
VENDOR SPECIFIC : 10/03/02 7U01
LOADING MECHANISM : Tray
SERIAL NUMBER :
NUMBER VOL. LEVELS : 255
BUFFER SIZE : 1024KB
INTERFACE : ATAPI
RPC2 SCHEME : YES
STATUS : Permanent
USER CHANGES : 0
VENDOR CHANGES : 4
CURRENT REGION : 2
ANALOG AUDIO PLAY : YES
COMPOSITE OUTPUT : NO
DIGITAL PORT-PORT1 : NO
DIGITAL PORT-PORT2 : NO
READ UPC CODE : YES
MULTISESSION READ : YES
MODE 2 FORM 1 : YES
MODE 2 FORM 2 : YES
READ ISRC CODE : YES
READ BAD CODE : NO
BUFFER UNDER-RUN : YES
MT. RAINIER : NO
CAN READ CDR : YES
CAN READ CDRW : YES
CAN READ CDRM2 : YES
CAN WRITE CDR : YES
CAN WRITE CDRW : YES
CAN TEST WRITE : YES
CAN READ DVD-ROM : YES
CAN READ DVD-R : YES
CAN READ DVD-RW : YES
CAN READ DVD-RAM : YES
CAN READ DVD+R : YES
CAN READ DVD+RW : YES
CAN WRITE DVD-R : YES
CAN WRITE DVD-RW : YES
CAN WRITE DVD-RAM : YES
CAN WRITE DVD+R : YES
CAN WRITE DVD+RW : YES
MAX CDR READ SPEED : 24
MAX CDR WRITE SPEED: 24

thanks in advance

You would need a firmware release by Toshiba first.

can't find a toshiba firmware anywhere, any places i can look other than toshiba's site?

no toshiba is the only place. You could email them and see if they respond.

Knowing Toshiba, there's not much of a chance for a firmware update.

If Toshiba doesn't have an update available (most likely) and you really want a RPC1 drive then you'll have to crossflash your drive. I would suggest using the latest Lenovo firmware (LE12) which is the newest firmware available for GT30N drives (see the LG firmware announcement thread: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=42502). You can patch the firmware using MCSE, which supports this firmware (just load the firmware in MCSE and follow the instructions).

I have crossflashed a GT30N drive (not a Toshiba OEM one, but it should not really matter) to the Lenovo LE10 firmware before without problems, and I have just updated the crossflashed drive to LE12 and I can confirm that MCSE can still patch this firmware to RPC1.

Since there's no Toshiba firmware available, if you're not happy with the crossflash from whatever reason or if something goes wrong, you won't be able to go back to your original Toshiba firmware (since currently there are no tools available to dump the firmware from these drives), so bare that in mind if you decide to go ahead with the crossflash. There's always a small risk involved with crossflashing, but as I said these drives have been crossflashed before so I see no reason why it should not be working just fine for you too... On the plus side, not only that you'll have a RPC1 drive, but you'll also have a newer firmware dated 01.12.2010 (as opposite to your current one dated 02.03.2010).

so i flashed the drive with the lenovo LE12 firmware. i used MCSE to make rpc1 firmware which i used to flash.
everything works ok except windows media player.
i get this error when i try to play dvds.

"Windows Media Player cannot play this DVD because there is a problem with digital copy protection between your DVD drive, decoder, and video card. Try installing an updated driver for your video card."

any ideas what to do to fix that?

thanks

Well done, your drive is now region free!

That's just the first part of the equation, you also need to convince Windows and the DVD software player to behave.

This thread explains it all and gives you all the info you need: viewtopic.php?t=239

Therefore you'll need to install one of the suggested region management softwares mentioned in that thread (some of them are freeware) or alternatively play your DVDs with VLC Media Player (freeware) or any other software DVD player which doesn't do region checks.