The Firmware Page

Here is the System Profiler output:
HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS21N:

Firmware Revision: SA18
Interconnect: ATAPI
Burn Support: Yes (Apple Shipping Drive)
Cache: 2048 KB
Reads DVD: Yes
CD-Write: -R, -RW
DVD-Write: -R, -R DL, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW
Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO
Media: To show the available burn speeds, insert a disc and choose View > Refresh

on a MBP 5,1 - 2.93 GHz

Do I understand correctly that there are no Mac OS X native tools?
I ask because I have a dual boot Mac OS X - GNU Ubuntu/Linux (Karmic Koala) setup.

Thanks for letting me know.

Cheers.

viewtopic.php?p=224494#p224494

have a read of this thread

Thank you so much!
I did. Download and dump went very well.
However, my firmware version is SA18, whereas the one available in files' repository is SA14.
Now, assuming I want to flash my drive with a patched firmware [I do...], does not this mean that I have to wait, until an appropriate firmware is posted?

have you tried flashing with the utility you dumped with? feedback welcome for the author

Sorry, not sure I get it: "flashing with the utility you dumped with".
I take one of the results of the dump (which one?), I patch it (how?) and then I flash it back using Mac OS X flasher. Is this by any chance what you mean?

try MCSE to patch it, if it doesn't work, i'm sure ala, maybe able to help you with this, if you pm him, or he may respond here, the utitilty used to dump the firmware, can also flash, the thread i linked to tells you.

or use the one in the database, patch with MCSE, and flash within a windows environment

http://files.rpc1.org/index.php?act=view&id=5681

Puma, thanks for your assistance.
Apologies, but your shorthand is far too cryptic for me to be intelligible, as I am not an expert.
There is too much interwoven info on these fora...

What you are now saying is:

- "use MCSE to patch it (which is "it"? the main firmware or the core firmware I dumped from my drive?)
and then flash it ( I had understood this, as the same utility, called "flasher", is in fact a utility capable of both dumping and flashing, under Mac OS X, a winning point for me)".
This has the disadvantage of requiring a Win machine for MCSE, and I have none at home (my only platforms are Mac and GNU Ubuntu/Linux)

or
- second alternative you propose, is "fetch the firmware from the database, and again use MCSE, before flashing it under Win".

In other words, it is not possible to do a full workflow under Mac OS X or GNU Ubuntu/Linux, or a combination of the two OSes.

Would you please confirm this, before I try to get a Win machine, given that there seems to be no way to do it under Mac OS X, please?

You can run MCSE under Linux using Wine to apply the RPC2 AutoResetPatch to the main firmware and later flash the patched main firmware under Linux or MacOS as you like. MCSE just patches the firmware file and does not access the drive, so you can run it on any Windows PC or emulator.

There is also wine for Mac OS X for intel systems out there also.. there is pre-packaged but not officially by wine.

Danke sehr to ala and thank you to devilsclaw.
Finally I got it.
Forgive me if I am a bit thick...

Cheers,

ThufirHawat

Having the same trouble as the last poster and would be grateful for any assistance given.
I have the same drive HL-DT-DVDRW GS21 with Firmware Revision SA18 and am struggling to unlock the drive.
Does a relevant patch exist yet?

chas1967,

please follow our request rules and provide an discinfo output at least.

come on, read this thread, its answered in it, its not rocket science to read some posts