Here?s some help for you MSI DVD drive users. You want RPC1 functionality, but nobody and no website tells you anything? Read on. Note: I?ve only tried this under Windows XP. For other OS, you?re on your own.
First of all, some general info. I have an MSI Starspeed MS-8216. It?s a 16X DVD/ 48X CD-ROM. Using cdvdinfo, I got the following:
Firmware Revision: 1.07
Vendor Specific: 2002/01/21PIONEER
Since I?m using WinXP, my first choice was to download the fup2k flashing utility by Pioneer. I tried flashing with all versions of fup2K, but it kept telling me 'supported drive was not found'.
I then opened the PC casing and looked at the label on the drive. It wrote DVP-1648A. Checking firmware websites told me it was an Acer drive. More confusingly, that Acer drive is in turn based on a Pioneer DVD-500M.
So now we know that, for the MS-8216, it is a Acer drive based on a Pioneer. Follow the steps below. To get all the files mentioned, go to :
http://perso.club-internet.fr/farzeno/firmware
1) Download the Acer DVP-1648A firmware package. Unzip it and you will find 4 files: ACMA107.hex, DOSFLASH, readme, and up. ACMA107.hex is probably dated 1/21/2002. If so, delete it and go through steps 2 , 3 and 4. If it is dated 3/25/2002, keep it and go straight to step5.
2) Download the RCP1 firmware for the Pioneer DVD-500M. After unzipping, make sure that the .hex file date is 3/25/2002 and it?s probably called ATPIO107.hex.
3) Move the Pioneer RCP1 .hex file to the same folder as the Acer flashing utility DOSFLASH.
4) This step is VERY important. If you try to flash your drive using the ATPIO107.hex, DOSFLASH will not let you do it. To get around this, first you must delete the original ACMA107.hex file from the Acer package, then rename ATPIO107.hex to ACMA107.hex.
5) Make an MS-DOS bootdisk by right-clicking the 3.5 inch floppy icon in My Computer, choose Format, and then check the ?Create an MS-DOS startup disk? option and click Start.
6) Now, boot your PC with the MS-DOS bootdisk. Go to the directory with DOSFLASH and ACMA107.hex. Run DOSFLASH and type in the .hex file you want to flash. In our case, it?s ACMA107.hex. The program will run a while, and you will be notified when it?s done.
7) Reboot and check with cdvdinfo. It should show no region lock! Congratulations!
