The Firmware Page

Please Read This Thread at Least Once

FMA: Frequently Mailed Answers

- NEVER INTERRUPT THE FLASHING PROCESS. Aborting the firmware update will probably ruin your drive.

- Having a region free drive is only half of the job. You also need a region switcher for the DVD Player. Region (for OS 9) and Region X (for OS X) handle this situation. This may be hard to believe, as it seems pretty stupid, but it is true, alas.

- Most region free Mac firmware updates come as an OS 9 application. This requires you to boot in OS 9, OS X's Classic environment can't be used to this purpose. Don't boot from OS 9 CD, as your CD/DVD drive will be offline during the flash process.

- The firmware is NOT part of the OS. Reinstalling your OS won't change your region-free status. Only firmware updates labelled as such can change your drive's status to/from region-free.

- Region free firmwares are not patches to an existing firmware, but full firmwares. Unless explicitly stated, your current firmware doesn't matter, you may run the updater without worrying. You can update from a firmware to another without any intermediate steps, e.g. from an AA17 to an AX24 without applying the AA24 update first.

- If you're in doubt, this forum is the right place to ask

(xvi original modified/updated - Dec 2006)