The Firmware Page

My Macbook, from around mid 2007, has a HL_DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-S10N. Or so I thought. Running 10.6.2

Via Bootcamp and Windows XP I tried to patch it for RPC2 but applying patched BP12 firmware it's gone pear shaped.
The hardware is now dead; disks can't be inserted for example (in either XP or OS X). The drive identifies itself as a GSA-U10N, but applying firmware for that drive doesn't help. I can no longer apply any firmware for GSA-S10N because when using patched or unpatched firmware, the firmware loader doesn't give me the drive as a target device. GSA-U10N firmware can be applied, but it doesn't work.

please paste discinfo data here so we can see what firmware you actually applied to it. the drive it not dead since it can be seen and i can help with the reflashing but need more info.

Use discinfo and post the output here.

I hope this helps. It seems convinced that it's a GSA U10N; maybe it is?
the firmware loaded is unpatched firmware which installs with no error. But the drive appears dead (it doesn't accept CDs inserted).

DISCINFO VERSION : 1.7.0 BETA.12
VENDOR : HL-DT-ST
MODEL : DVDRAM GSA-U10N
REVISION : 1.05
LOADING MECHANISM : Tray
SERIAL NUMBER : ---
NUMBER VOL. LEVELS : 256
BUFFER SIZE : 2048KB
INTERFACE : ATAPI
RPC2 SCHEME : YES
STATUS : Set
USER CHANGES : 2
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

yep you flashed the wrong firmware. it should be able to still be fixed..

have you tried this updater ?
http://files.rpc1.org/index.php?act=view&id=5609

unfortunately, the S10N firmware does not show me a target drive, so I can't apply it.

Is there someway to force the firmware flash? I started by loading an S10N firmware, but perhaps it got corrupted (the drive reported firmware version COR which could mean corrupt perhaps), and from that point I could only apply U10N firmwares.

READ: are you sure your drive is a S10N if you attempted to flash it with S10N and it messed up and now in COR U10N then it most likely was a U10N to start with. Unless you actually applied the U10N instead on accident.

I means that the drive is in recovery mode.. its booted into the core firmware instead of main firmware.. and yes there is a way to do it.

You will need to download the mac or windows version my my tool called flasher.
the mac version is here
viewtopic.php?p=224494#p224494

later in the post is a link to the newest windows version..

then download the firmware from here
http://files.rpc1.org/index.php?act=view&id=5609

use the flasher program to rip the firmware out of the exe



two files will be extracted
CORE_GSA-S10N_AP12.exe.hex
MAIN_GSA-S10N_AP12.exe.hex

I would flash the main firmware first since the the drive is still allowing it to at least get into recovery.

after you flash the drive you must turn the system fully off not just reboot.

then flash the core and do a full power off of the system again.

You can figure out how to flash the drive at the thread the utility is at.

NOTE: There is a message that says the flash possibly failed because its not able to check if it flashed.. you can safely ignore this message.

this is the output (from windows)
flasher -d 1 -f MAIN_GSA-S10N_AP12.exe.hex
cmd_drive: Opening Drive: 1
cmd_flashfirm: Flashing process started
... (skip a few lines)
firm_flasher: Failed to write at 0x001A0000
firm_flasher: your drive should still be fine
cmd_flashfirm: Flashing process failed.

run
flasher -D

and paste the output here.

flasher -D
Drive ID: 1 Name: DVDRAM GSA-U10N

I did a little research on the U10N firmware update you attempted to apply to your drive and it also installs a core firmware.

so im guessing it installed a core firmware and failed on updating the main and so your stuck in the core safemode.


before you attempt to flash again be sure to power off your system fully.. then attempt to flash the core firmware that was also rip from the exe.

fully power off and then flash the MAIN

E:\>flasher -d 1 -f CORE_GSA-S10N_AP12.exe.hex
cmd_drive: Opening Drive: 1.
cmd_flashfirm: Flashing process started

firm_flasher: Drive should be flashing its light.
firm_flasher: This indicates its flashing its self.
firm_flasher: This can take a while, Please be patiant.
firm_flasher: Failed to write at 0x00000000
firm_flasher: your drive should still be fine.
cmd_flashfirm: Flashing process failed


now powering off ...

flasher -D output has not changed.

ok then.. I need you to dump the main and core firmware from your drive so i can see what on it.


flasher -d 1 -m main_firmware.bin
flasher -d 1 -c core_firmware.bin

upload them somewhere and post the link please.

well your whole drive is flashed as the GSA-U10N revision 1.05 which is the only firmware in rpc1 for U10N so you must of flashed that on to it. anyway When i get onto a windows machine later today I will upload a windows updater that does not check what drive you have in and it should be able to flash with it.. one think i will request is to use a program to log the flashing of the drive with the windows updater. I will provide the link for both.

I need to add the ability to recover a drive like this in my flasher program it seems.

thanks, I look forward to it

I need to you log what happens to the drive so I need you to download the tool at this post
http://club.myce.com/f86/spti-scsi-trac ... le-108669/

1) I will need you to install it
2) In the start menu there will be a new folder called Trace SPTI in that folder is Settings I need you to click it.
3) In note pad change the line
From:
Hook=WinBType,DVDInfo

To:
Hook=GSAS10NAP12
4) Save the file.
4 1/2) You might have to reboot here
5) run the Trace program from Start Menu -> Trace SPTI -> Trace SPTI
6) Download the Updater from here
http://www.filefront.com/15336913/GSAS10NAP12.exe
7) Run the updater
8) Upload and send me the log of the flash process from Trace SPTI

at this point your drive should be recovered. I just need the logs so i can make this possible with my flash program.

The Log file is in.

Program Files\TraceSPTI

called SptiHook.log compress it and upload it..

on a side not the flashing process will take longer since its being logged by this program.

I could indeed find my drive as an upload target, but ...
Updating was failed. Please repeat that. (Error data = 70 00 05 00 00 00 00 0A 3B 04 00 00 26 00 00 00 00 00 )

I'm uploading the log file now; I ran the update twice.

log file
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2691811/SptiHook.zip

you mind doing another dump of your main firmware.. I need to see if it was written to the drive or if it rejected it.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2691811/main_firmware_v2.bin
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2691811/core_firmware_v2.bin

hope this helps.

plus:

E:\>\flasher -D

AVAILABLE DRIVES AND IDs:
Drive ID: 1 Name: DVDRAM GSA-U10N

I will post a firmware update that only has the core and see if that gets us on step closer.. if not then we will have to resort to the dos floppy.

but before then do you know how to remove the cdrom drive from your laptop so we can find out exactly what drive and revision you had originally ?

I know how to open the case completely to see the drive. Based on that experience, I'm not very keen on removing the drive. However, there are lots of helpful youtube videos on the topic. There isn't a floppy drive.