The Firmware Page

I have a HP Pailion N5495 with a Toshiba SD-R2102 DVD/CD-RW drive.
The problem is that my drive does not seem to recognise DVD-R or
DVD+R discs. On browsing this forum, I determined that I need a
firmware upgrade - mine is at "1006". So I went for 1018 revA (again
based on what I read from some of the posts on this forum).

I followed the instructions in the readme and when I ran the
'update.bat' command, it gives me the following error:

< Primary >
0 : <Master> Not ATAPI Device
1 : <Slave> Not ATAPI Device
<Secondary>
2 : <Master> Not Connect
3 : <Slave> Not Connect


Drive Not Connected

A:\>

Here's the output of my DISCINFO:

DISCINFO VERSION : 1.6.1.6
VENDOR : TOSHIBA
MODEL : DVD-ROM SD-R2102
REVISION : 1006
VENDOR SPECIFIC : 07/19/01
LOADING MECHANISM : Tray
NUMBER VOL. LEVELS : 16
BUFFER SIZE : 2048KB
TOSHIBA CODE : IO
TOSHIBA MODEL : Toshiba SD-R 2102 revA
INTERFACE : ATAPI
RPC2 SCHEME : YES
STATUS : Set
USER CHANGES : 4
VENDOR CHANGES : 4
CURRENT REGION : 1
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 : NO
CAN READ DVD+R : NO
CAN READ DVD+RW : NO
CAN WRITE DVD-R : NO
CAN WRITE DVD-RW : NO
CAN WRITE DVD-RAM : NO
CAN WRITE DVD+R : NO
CAN WRITE DVD+RW : NO
MAX CDR READ SPEED : 24
MAX CDR WRITE SPEED: 8


Can someone provide me with some directions on how to proceed ?

Is the fw upgrade going to help me ? Will it enable my drive to atleast
recognize DVD-R so that I can burn some DVDs ?

I am not a computer savvy individual, so appreciate your patience.

Thanks.
OV

One short question: Was the drive preinstalled in your HP laptop and can you boot from CD with your SD-R2102?

I thought you must be kidding, but because you are not computer savvy, asking this question is ok.

You have an COMBO drive, that is a DVD-ROM drive combined with an CD-RW drive and this drive will NEVER be able to burn any kind of DVD media.

Oh my God, I haven

Thanks for being gentle.

Now that I know that my drive is pretty much useless for burning any
kind of DVD, what's the recommendation ? Basically, I need to be able
to burn DVDs so do I need to get my drive upgraded (is that a possibility)
or do I just need a new drive ?

Any recommendations with regards to a new drive ? What are the
key things that I need to look or watch out for ?

Once again, appreaciate the help

I whould recommend the Toshiba SD-R6572M or the NEC ND-7550

hi
does ayone tell me if there is somewhere a firmwarefor my combo ?
I'd like it could read DVD+R !!


DiscInfo says this :

DISCINFO VERSION : 1.6.1.6
VENDOR : TOSHIBA
MODEL : DVD-ROM SD-R2102
REVISION : 1A16
VENDOR SPECIFIC : COMPAQ
LOADING MECHANISM : Tray
NUMBER VOL. LEVELS : 16
BUFFER SIZE : 2048KB
TOSHIBA CODE : IP
TOSHIBA MODEL : Toshiba SD-R 2102 revB
INTERFACE : ATAPI
RPC2 SCHEME : YES
STATUS : Set
USER CHANGES : 4
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 : NO
CAN READ DVD+R : NO
CAN READ DVD+RW : NO
CAN WRITE DVD-R : NO
CAN WRITE DVD-RW : NO
CAN WRITE DVD-RAM : NO
CAN WRITE DVD+R : NO
CAN WRITE DVD+RW : NO
MAX CDR READ SPEED : 24
MAX CDR WRITE SPEED: 8

thank you for your help !

Kemet33

DVD+R isn

Dell firmware for R2102 does support reading of DVD+R and DVD+RW, but their firmware shall make the drive slave.

I used an Dell Inspiron 8100 with R2102 revA installed. It reads both DVD+R and DVD+RW using firmware ID13 and later upgraded to 1D98. Recently I moved it to a Samsung P10 in order to try out the Vista (because the P10 was equipped with CDRW only) recorded on a DVD+RW.
However, the P10 BIOS does not recognise the R2102 because it is in slave position so Vista does not boot. I have to flash the drive to firmware 13xx or 17xx with inverted CSEL. After flashing P10 BIOS recognise the drive but the DVD+RW was not recognised any more (for both 13xx and 17xx firmwares). Eventually I have to burn the Vista on a DVD+R instead which it is recognised.

If your notebook needs optical drive in slave position you may try 1D98 for DVD+R/RW capability. I wonder if anyone (maybe Backfire) would mod the firmware of 1D98 so that it can support inverted CSEL as well.

It's quite easier to bridge the pins 45&47 with a piece of copper wire or another tiny wire (as thin as a hair) like 1cm long....


Images by Dschen Reinecke

Applying a tiny blob of solder to short pins 45 and 47 will work too!

Backfire