Should I upgrade firmware, and how?

mikewillnot · 3rd September 2003, 18:24

I have a Gateway 700X with an OEM combo DVD burner in it. The burner, they say, is "HLDS (Hitachi-LG Data Storage), Model GMA-4020B." I have problems, esp lately, that make me think I might have a firmware issue. DVDinfo says I have A05. Neither Gateway or Hitachi websites have anything I could find, but I see other sites like THIS that have various upgrades available, including A07 and A08, which seem to be for this model, as in THIS post. The whole business makes me extremely nervous though. This site & forum usually has excellent advice. Any thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. THANKS.

atreides93 · 3rd September 2003, 19:30

I don't know if anyone will recommend you burn the flash because noone wants to take the blame if it screws up your drive.

If I had that drive and I saw that post you linked to, I might consider it. But only if I was having problems.

Imperial Zeppelin · 4th September 2003, 11:03

Flash firmware only if you're sure you have a problem. I just flashed my Pioneer 105 for giggles and now I'm regretting it. Everything was working fine with the 1.30 firmware and I had a fine flash to 1.33, but now suddenly, I can no longer write discs that my Sony set top player can read, even though I'm using the same media and burning program that I used with 1.30. Now I'm going crazy trying to figure out a way to downgrade, but that's a tough nut to crack.

Burner Firmware Rule 1: "If it ain't broke, DON'T fix it."

Doom9 · 4th September 2003, 11:07

Quote:

Burner Firmware Rule 1: "If it ain't broke, DON'T fix it."

Actually, normally a firmware upgrade improves things. You might not notice it now, but in a few months or a couple of years you might not be able to read a disc again because the drive's write strategy wasn't really optimal for a certain disc, and a newer firmware ugprade could'vd fixed that. Personally, I wait for the RPC-1 patch and if there are no serious problems reported I upgrade. I think I skipped the 1.33 firmware and went directly to 1.40 on my A05 (or whatever is latest).

@mikewillnot: what kind of problems are you having?

mikewillnot · 4th September 2003, 14:04

The problems are described pretty well in THIS THREAD. Thanks for the input and conversation. Is this Doom9 himself?

atreides93 · 4th September 2003, 21:43

The best situtation is to have a readme file telling you what the new firmware does or what has changed from the last version. If those changes are important then its definitely worth doing.
I write firmware for a living, and I would usually recommend people have the latest version installed...but if everything is working ok, I'd probably have less headaches if you just left the current version running just in case I introduced a new bug in the new firmware version

mikewillnot · 5th September 2003, 01:16

Thanks for the good suggestions. In this case, with the Hitachi, the only readme info I could find was in japanese. Oh well. I installed the upgrade, to A108, and it seems OK; certainly no worse than before. I still have the original problem.

3rd September 2003, 18:24	#1 \| Link
mikewillnot Registered User Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: not Kansas Posts: 169	Should I upgrade firmware, and how? I have a Gateway 700X with an OEM combo DVD burner in it. The burner, they say, is "HLDS (Hitachi-LG Data Storage), Model GMA-4020B." I have problems, esp lately, that make me think I might have a firmware issue. DVDinfo says I have A05. Neither Gateway or Hitachi websites have anything I could find, but I see other sites like THIS that have various upgrades available, including A07 and A08, which seem to be for this model, as in THIS post. The whole business makes me extremely nervous though. This site & forum usually has excellent advice. Any thoughts or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. THANKS. __________________ "Education alone is not enough. The world is full of educated derelicts." ..... Calvin Coolidge

4th September 2003, 14:04	#5 \| Link
mikewillnot Registered User Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: not Kansas Posts: 169	The problems are described pretty well in THIS THREAD. Thanks for the input and conversation. Is this Doom9 himself? __________________ "Education alone is not enough. The world is full of educated derelicts." ..... Calvin Coolidge

5th September 2003, 01:16	#7 \| Link
mikewillnot Registered User Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: not Kansas Posts: 169	Thanks for the good suggestions. In this case, with the Hitachi, the only readme info I could find was in japanese. Oh well. I installed the upgrade, to A108, and it seems OK; certainly no worse than before. I still have the original problem. __________________ "Education alone is not enough. The world is full of educated derelicts." ..... Calvin Coolidge

3rd September 2003, 19:30	#2 \| Link
atreides93 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 948	I don't know if anyone will recommend you burn the flash because noone wants to take the blame if it screws up your drive. If I had that drive and I saw that post you linked to, I might consider it. But only if I was having problems.

4th September 2003, 11:03	#3 \| Link
Imperial Zeppelin Registered User Join Date: Oct 2002 Posts: 138	Flash firmware only if you're sure you have a problem. I just flashed my Pioneer 105 for giggles and now I'm regretting it. Everything was working fine with the 1.30 firmware and I had a fine flash to 1.33, but now suddenly, I can no longer write discs that my Sony set top player can read, even though I'm using the same media and burning program that I used with 1.30. Now I'm going crazy trying to figure out a way to downgrade, but that's a tough nut to crack. Burner Firmware Rule 1: "If it ain't broke, DON'T fix it."

4th September 2003, 21:43	#6 \| Link
atreides93 Registered User Join Date: Jun 2002 Posts: 948	The best situtation is to have a readme file telling you what the new firmware does or what has changed from the last version. If those changes are important then its definitely worth doing. I write firmware for a living, and I would usually recommend people have the latest version installed...but if everything is working ok, I'd probably have less headaches if you just left the current version running just in case I introduced a new bug in the new firmware version