The Firmware Page

Macbookers!! From one newbie to others...
I'd like to confirm that the MCSE RPC2 autoreset patch worked for me on my Macbook with a HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N and Firmware revision B10. Thanks to all of you here for your posts, queries and answers alike. The answer is always out there somewhere!

1) I found the GSA-S10N_BP10 firmware here: http://files.rpc1.org/index.php?act=view&id=5641
2) I found the MCSE tool here: http://ala42.cdfreaks.com/MCSE/
2) I installed windows on a boot camp partition on my mac.
3) I ran MCSE and loaded the BP10 firmware, then clicked on the RPC2 Auto Reset box, and saved. No need to change anything else.
4) The resulting file is an application. I double clicked it, and flashed the drive successfully.

Now I can change regions when ever I insert a DVD from another region. Restarting the mac is all I need to do to reset the number of remaining drive changes to the maximum. I have been waiting for years to be free of the cursed region lock down.
Bravo!!

Kind regards, rubberware

thanks for your feedback

Hi, Congrats on your successful venture! I also have a McBook with the same drive and would like to achieve the same result. But I would like to know if it has to be done in a Windows environment. If so, Can I use Parallels ? I'd rather work in Mac OS if possible.
Thanks

Apparently it's not possible to do it in the mac environment at this stage. I'm no expert, and I admit the procedure was a little long winded, but I did succeed.
If you have enough room free on your internal hard drive, install Windows using the Boot Camp setup assistant. You can always remove it later. But you must work from within that installation of Windows, and not Parallels. I.e. you must boot into Windows from startup for the actual flashing.

I had intended to erase the Windows/Boot Camp partition after the procedure, but I discovered I can use Parallels to log into this same partition anyway. So I left it on, and for day to day PC tasks, I use Parallels. But if I ever need to boot into Windows from startup, I can do that too.

So, if you prefer, you can do all the preparations for the flashing in Parallels, and then boot into Windows from startup to run the final app that flashes the drive.

rubberware

yes bootcamp gives full access to the drive to allow the flash, where as parallels doesn't

Thanks guys. Duly noted. I'll give it a shot and will post my results. All the best.

Just did this on my MBP, it worked for me too! Except one thing: After flashing the firmware and rebooting (in Mac OS) Mac The Ripper won't work anymore. Tried to delete the program and reinstall, but that didn't help. Anyone know a fix for that?

* Update: All I needed to do was to restart the machine... My hypothesis is that you have to restart after changing the region code for MTR to work, or something like that. Anyway: THANKS A LOT for this extremely helpful post !!!

I flashed my drive (HL-DT-ST DVDRW GSA-S10N BP10 in a MacBook3,1) today with this method and it seemed to work. DVD Player still complains about the region mismatch, but VLC will play discs fine.

you will always get the region issue, when changing from region to region

Hi Puma. I wasn't trying to change the region -- in fact I was scared to, because it said I had only 3 changes remaining (I have switched it twice already.) I just quit DVD Player without selecting a region. It spat out the DVD and I changed my autolaunch setting from DVD Player to vlc.

I have read your FAQ thread regarding hardware vs. software counters, but I have one more question: do you think my drive is resetting itself to three (rather than five) after reboots because of the software counter in DVD Player? In other words, if I change the region in DVD Player, will it reset to at least 3 after a reboot?

Its auto reset and will always revert to the last state before flashing after a reboot!

Got it! Thanks, chef.

No need to thank me, its just the way auto-reset firmware works.

chef, is it possible to reset the drive to the maximum number of changes as when the drive was manufactured? Suppose it is 5 or 4? I also have the LG GSA-S10N with the BP10 firmware and have followed the process as described by rubberware but unfortunately only had 1 change left when I flashed the drive with the BP10/MCSE procedure. Thanks for your help.

you would need to have no changes left, and then flash the MCSE modified firmware

Slight problem with this: I've installed Windows in a partition, using VMware Fusion, but I can't see how to navigate my way to the files on my Mac desktop while using Windows. I've tried searching and exploring, and just can't see them. Can anyone help?

what files on the mac desktop? you run the flasher within the windows partition you have made

How do you get the flasher there, please?

can you not move or copy them over to the partitioned windows installation?

I'm sorry to be so unnerdy, but how do I find that partition, please?

Hi BaffledMacUser,

I'm not familiar with VM, but if it's anything like Parallels, you run Windows within a separate window within Mac OSX, then drag all the files from OSX to Windows, much like you would drag and drop the file from one desktop to another.

rubberware

good advice

Hey all...

So, i took the advice on this board, and flashed the firmware of my GSA-S10N superdrive on my macbook pro. Unfortunately, the drive did not work any faster. The whole point of trying to flash the drive was to remove the riplock. I am not interested in a watching or ripping non-USA region locked DVD's. I'm simply trying to have my superdrive rip as fast as possible. I have learned in the last 4 days that some superdrives as supplied by apple have a feature embedded in the firmware known as "riplock" that artificially forces the superdrive to throttle down when you are ripping. This is what I was trying to remove.

Well anyway, the firmware flash worked. My drive went from firmware AP09 to BP10. Please note the following:
- this MUST be done using bootcamp (it will not work using VMWare or Parallels)
- I suggest you print the bootcamp install directions from apple and read through them completely before starting
- there is a problem with bootcamp and snow leopard in that your MBP won't install Windows XP from bootcamp, but only from holding down the option key with the win XP disc in the system AFTER your drive has been partitioned and after a reboot

Now that I have flashed the superdrive, unfortunately it now only read and writes DVD's. It no longer READS regular CD's. Please note, it appears this has happened to a few users. Be aware, it is unpredictable. This may or may not happen to your macbook pro.

Does anyone know if I can go from BP10 back down to AP12 to regain CD reading ability?

Furthermore, has anyone found a way to remove the riplock from the GSA-S10N superdrive?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated!!

Does MCSE not allow you to go back to AP12?, there was never any riplock removal feature, if there will ever be is a question ala i'm sure will answer

Hey, thanks for replying. Actually, I tried it twice this morning and unfortunately no, MCSE does not allow me to revert back to an older firmware. Believe it or not, the setup exe file to flash the drive can't even locate the drive. The first box remains blank and the button to start the process is gray-ed out.

I guess I'm stuck. My DVD's do read so, at the very least I'm able to continue the process of transferring my personal DVD collection to a hard drive for use with Front Row and iTunes.

Odd that MCSE will not give me the option to go backwards. I'll try again.

Thanks again for the reply.