The Firmware Page

Hi all. I have a Dell I8000 with the Toshiba drive as per the subject line. I'm keen to remove the region restriction so I downloaded and tried to flash the test firmware available from this site. However, when I run the flash program with the .hex file as an argument, I get a message that says "Hex file format error!! Line[1], Code[-1]". Does this mean anything to anybody? How might I contact the author of this firmware and quiz him/her on it? Thanks and regards

Hi. I have your same computer, and I had the same problem and the same message of error. Let me know if you will find something, and so will do I. By.

Hi, i have also the same Compputer and have the same Problem. Let me know, if anybody solve the problem.

Hi, this is what I received from a friend:
According to the readme you've done everything correctly. I've seen this problem mentioned many times but I can't remember seeing a solution.

One thing bothers me. You say you restarted the computer with a boot disk. Is this a WinME Startup Disk created from the Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs? If so, I think it would be better if you carried out the flash from a proper "Real DOS" disk (a Startup Disk loads drivers, a memory manager and a ram disk which take up valuable DOS memory and can spoil the flash process).

You can download a file (winme_plain_boot_disk.exe) which will create a "Real DOS" minimal boot disk from here:

http://www.putergeek.com/downloads/#winme_plain

Run this file under Windows after putting a blank floppy in your drive and it will write the boot disk. Then copy the flash utility and the firmware file to this floppy. Reboot making sure your BIOS is set to boot from floppy, if necessary. Then input the command you used earlier at the "A:\>" prompt friend:

Is working, but the DVD-Rom, after that, was fixed with the region of the first DVD-Rom that I played; I tryed to flash back 1D13 firmware, and I did it, but this took out a number from tha changes count!!!
Let me know what will happen to you!

It is not sufficient just to flash region-free firmware to your drive. Your player software (WinDVD, Power DVD) also has region protection and it is the allowed changes in this you are seeing counting down. You must overcome region-protection in the player software with the program DVD Genie obtainable here:

http://www.inmatrix.com/files/dvdgenie_download.html

Dear joegib, you are really my angel!!!
Thank you and forgive for my stupidity!!!!
Everything is working, now.
Thanks, again, a lot!
Simone.

It worked for me too! thanks simone!

just something that is different in my case: I didn't have to use dvdGenie to change the RC. I checked whether my drive is rc-locked or not with DVDInfo1.01 and it's not.. (!)

I don't know if it's normal.. the comparision-process terminated with an error.. my hearth nearly stopped to beat

greetings and thanks again!