The Firmware Page

Hi,

I am new to the forum and have been reading as much as I can on freeing my DVD drive.

I have a mid 2009 MacBook Pro running 10.6.3 with the following drive info:

HL-DT-ST DVDRW GS23N:

Firmware Revision: SB00
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

Through the research I decided the best way for me to go is with the Flasher since I don't have Bootcamp but rather Parallels. (all software CDs are back home, which I wont be near for a few more months)

I downloaded the GS23N-SB00-01 file.
I ran it through MCSE to patch it with AutoReset.
In the terminal I ripped the .exe file, and this is where my confusion comes in.
The output of the rip was both the Main and Core files, but in Hex format rather than Bin. I'm concerned to go any farther than this and [*Profanity*] up the drive without asking you fine people for your input.

Do I need to convert the .hex files to .bin? Or is my stock firmware already in a .hex format and that is really what I need to dump out rather than a .bin?

Thanks in advance,
-Joe

Hi Puma,

Thanks for your response.

The link that you provided is where I got most of my information to get as far as I have. I have read it multiple times, and from what I can tell, it doesn't discuss the issue of flashing the firmware with a .hex file versus flashing with the stated .bin file.

Do the .hex files that get ripped from the .exe need to be converted to .bin before being flashed?

Thanks,
-Joe

You don't use hex files, don't know what your doing trying to rip files from the exe, these are no good. You need Bin files, as you already mentioned. You can use that utility, or you would need to flash within a windows environment. If you have issues with the utlity, devilsclaw is the author.

bin and hex files from the flasher tool are the same. bin stands for binary file, hex files are binary files also. I will change the ripping aspect of my program to us bin as the extension I guess. It needs a little cleaning up anyway.

Thanks for the answer Devilsclaw!

I realized from your post in the other thread that I was taking a longer/more complicated route. I had downloaded the updated firmware from the forum which was in .exe, then patched it and ripped it to .hex.

I didn't realize that I could just dump the current firmware, then patch that and re-flash.

It worked perfectly!

Thanks for creating/sharing your tool and for all the continued support as well!

How did you patch the current firmware? I tried to flash my GS21N SA18 with RPC1 firmware (http://files.rpc1.org/index.php?act=view&id=5681) but it is not flashing. I was able to rip to .hex file, but the flashing is not happening.

Any help?

Since when is that RPC1 firmware??

I meant to say...patched firmware link posted on RPC database.

Have you read our FAQ?

Yes, I have read the following:
FAQ: viewtopic.php?f=12&t=38756
LG Firmware Requests: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=42502&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Laptop is Apple Macbook 13inch:
DVD Info X v1.0.2, by xvi (xvi@rpc1.org)
Vendor: HL-DT-ST
Model: DVDRW GS21N
Firmware: SA18
RPC-2 (region locked)
State is SET
4 vendor resets left
2 region changes left
Region 2

I also found the firmware posted in RPC database: http://files.rpc1.org/index.php?act=view&id=5681
The extracted file from Zip is MAIN_GS21N_SA18-1.exe and has been ripped to hex using flasher - MAIN_GS21N_SA18-1.exe.hex

I followed the steps posted on Devilsclaws thread viewtopic.php?f=2&t=46137&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=GS21N

Was able to dump the main and core and was able to rip the bin from exe.
After flashing It did show me that flashing was complete, but DVD Info X still shows it in RPC2.

Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks for your Help.

Here is the output from flasher during the flashing:

----------------------------------
bjajalMB:downloads bjajal$ ./flasher -D
Devilsclaw's LG Renesas Drive Utility

AVAILABLE DRIVES AND IDs:
Drive ID: 1 Name: DVDRW GS21N

bjajalMB:downloads bjajal$ ./flasher -d 1 -f MAIN_GS21N_SA18-1.exe.hex
Devilsclaw's LG Renesas Drive Utility
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.
cmd_flashfirm: Flashing process finished
----------------------------------

after reboot it is still in RPC2 mode:
DVD Info X v1.0.2, by xvi (xvi@rpc1.org)
Vendor: HL-DT-ST
Model: DVDRW GS21N
Firmware: SA18
RPC-2 (region locked)
State is SET
4 vendor resets left
2 region changes left
Region 2

as far as i know there is no RPC1 patch for LG drives there is only RPC2 auto reset.

Oh I see. Didn't realize that it was an auto-reset RPC2 patch. Let me test it by changing a region and them rebooting to make sure it is auto-resetting. Will post back the results. Thanks.

It did not work. After changing the region through Mac DVD player, watching movie and rebooting, the region count was reduced by one. Now I have only Region change remaining. What did I do wrong? Can someone help?

Using mac player, I think.

try powering down the mac and then startup. check the number of changes.

I tried multiple reboots, it still shows following:
************
DVD Info X v1.0.2, by xvi (xvi@rpc1.org)
Vendor: HL-DT-ST
Model: DVDRW GS21N
Firmware: SA18
RPC-2 (region locked)
State is LAST CHANCE
4 vendor resets left
1 region change left
Region 3
**************

I have only one region change left so worried that if I change it through Apple DVD player it will be the last change? Is there a way to confirm that the system has auto-resetting firmware?

Thanks.

I got following information from the forum:

************
You can download Flasher here:
http://flasher.sourceforge.net

You Must Read This Info:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=46137

No you don't patch the flasher. You patch the firmware. you can use this to patch it:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=41228
****************

My question is "What exactly do you patch"? and "Is there a Mac version of MCSE?".

Thanks.

You patch the official firmware.

MCSE is windows only.

By official do you mean one dumped from flasher or one posted on RPC's database?

Either one, if available.

If a firmware in the download section is not explicit marked RPC1 or autoreset, then its RPC2 of course.

Finally was able to set firmware as RPC2 auto-reset.

The GS21N SA18 firmware from RPC1 database did not work. I had to patch the dumped main firmware by flasher.

Here are the steps I followed:
1) downloaded flasher on mac
2) Downloaded MCSE on a PC (because MCSE not available on Mac)
3) Dumped Main and Core firmware using flasher on Mac
4) Patched main firmware using MCSE on PC
5) flashed patched firmware using flasher on Mac
6) Reboot
7) Mac DVD player does not work - it shows the DVD region screen but movie does not start
8) Download VLC - It works! Still shows the region change screen, but count does not go down.

Thanks all of the forum members who patiently answered my questions, specially authors of these tools and administrators.