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[Ecrofirt]

I've got an NEC 2100A that shipped with my Dell.

It came with 103D firmware, and I'm looking into flashing it.

Well, I've actually already flashed it, but now I've got some questions.

This site said that 2100A, 2500A, and 2510A drives were all the same.

So, I've gone ahead and flashed with an RPC1 2.16 firmware 2.16 (2100@2500, riplock removed, RPC1, RITEK DL support, DL bitsetting!) for the 2510. Here's where the questions come in:

1) I've noticed mention on some pages (although I can't seem to find them) that certain NEC firmwares allow you to burn at speeds faster than the media is listed as. I just don't know if this is automatically done with the patched firmware I got or not. If it is, what do I have to do to get the media to burn faster?

2) Also, is the bitsetting done automatically? If not, how do I get it to work?

I'd look for these answers from Herrie's NEC site, but the damn thing got hacked recently, so that's not going to happen.

Thanks for any info you can give.

 

[Ecrofirt]

quick bump. I changed the thread around completely after I figured out how to get the stuff flashed correctly.

Hope someone can answer these questions.

 

[The Faceless Master]

http://tdb.rpc1.org/

 

[Ecrofirt]

Thanks for the link.

I've been there. That's where I got my current firmware. It doesn't really answer my questions, unless I missed it somewhere.

 

[tenchir]

Thanks for the link.

I've been there. That's where I got my current firmware. It doesn't really answer my questions, unless I missed it somewhere.

Have you gone to the NEC forum at www.cdfreaks.com ?

 

[Ecrofirt]

hah, yea. The link I have in my first thread is from the CDfreaks forum.

I was just wondering if these things were enabled by default or not.

I'm also trying to find a good desctiption of The Dangerous Brothers 2.16 beta firmware. I can't find much info about whether it allows bitsetting and has the burning-faster-than-the-media-says stuff.

 

[The Shadow]

The Dangerous Brothers 2.16 is only RPC1 + Riplock + 2100>25xx. It won't have bitsetting or media speed hacks.

AFAIK, only Herrie's 1.07v2b5 has speed hacks like burning Ritek G04 (4x) at 8x. Some programs read the rated speed from the media (lots of free software) and some programs read what the drive says it's capable of and burns it at the fastest possible speed (Nero).

Bitsetting has to be set by some program. DVDInfoPro will do it, and if you click the "Options" button in Nero just before you burn a disk, it should give you a small click down menu where you can set the bitsetting. With Nero, I just assume it's a per-disk setting. When you set the bitsetting with DVDInfoPro, it becomes the "default" bitset.

Personal Note:

A lot of people recommend Harrie's 107v2b5 firmware but personally, I got much, much better burns with NEC official 2.16. Lots of errors with Ritek G04s at 8x and 4x but perfect burns with NEC 2.16

If you absolutely need bitsetting (you really don't if you burn DVD-R), then I believe there is some NEC firmware floating around the net that features the media codes from the official NEC 2.16 but also has SL Bitsetting. They're by DVD Boost and they're based on the TDK 2.21 IIRC.

 

[Ecrofirt]

Hey Shadow, thanks for the answers.

OK, so I've got The Dangerous Brothers version of 2.16, and I'm using the RPC1 version of the firmware, which has RPC1, rip lock, and 2100@2500.

Does Herrie's 1.07 beta 5 have single-layer bitsetting? I can't find a lot of info on it, and some people at CDfreaks seem to think it does. I'm looking into using it for +R discs that I'll burn for my Xbox.

Two more quick questions, and I'm done.

Where can I find more info about Herrios 1.07v2b4 and 1.07v2b5? I'm just trying to figure out the difference between them.

How can I tell which type of media I have? I want to see if I can burn my remaining Memorex -R discs at a higher speed.

And finally where the heck do I set the book type in Nero? I can easily find where to do it with Nero Express, but I can't find it at all with the regular burning ROM.

-oh, and you can't set the booktype with -R discs, right?

 

[Great King Bowser]

So I have an NEC 6100A in my Dell laptop.

How the hell do I flash it? Completely new to this, so help me out. Pretty please.

 

[Ecrofirt]

Looks like your 6100 is the same as a 6500, but with a different firmware. I could be wrong, so check up on it first.

Here's some links you'll want to look into for flashing your firmware and getting -R and -RW compatability:

http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?download_id=1883
http://tdb.rpc1.org/#ND6500A

Note that if you are using the DOS flash tool, you'll need to make a boot disk, as it has to be flashed in pure DOS.

edit: Now back to my questions!

 

[Great King Bowser]

Awesome. Just used the windows flasher, now my 6100A appears as a 6500A, hopefully everything is still working.

Thanks for the help.

 

[The Shadow]

Does Herrie's 1.07 beta 5 have single-layer bitsetting? I can't find a lot of info on it, and some people at CDfreaks seem to think it does. I'm looking into using it for +R discs that I'll burn for my Xbox.

Yes it supports SL Bitsetting. If you're burning disks for the Xbox, stick with DVD-R though. You don't need to write DVD+R with Bitsetting since the Xbox can read DVD-R just fine (mine can anyway and it's a Thompson).

Where can I find more info about Herrios 1.07v2b4 and 1.07v2b5? I'm just trying to figure out the difference between them.

107v2b5 supports DL burning and 107v2b4 does not. AFAIK, that's the only difference.

How can I tell which type of media I have? I want to see if I can burn my remaining Memorex -R discs at a higher speed.

I use DVDInfo. They have a free version if you go to the website.

And finally where the heck do I set the book type in Nero? I can easily find where to do it with Nero Express, but I can't find it at all with the regular burning ROM.

On the top of the Nero window you should see "Recorder". Click that and then click "Options" on the bottom left. Should let you set Booktype that way.

-oh, and you can't set the booktype with -R discs, right?

Yes and no. DVD-R specs don't support booktype setting but there are a few drives out there that "hack" the spec and allow booksetting. It's not nearly as effective as setting the booktype on DVD+R since that spec supports it. The NEC drives aren't capable of hacking the DVD-R spec and setting the booktype.

 

[Ecrofirt]

Awesome, thanks man!

 

[Ecrofirt]

One more quick thing.

After checking my media, It says I have:
Media code/Manufacturer ID CMC MAG. AF1

And reading the notes for Herries release.txt from the beta 5 firmware, it says this:
DVD-R
CMC MAG. AF1 @ 8x using 6x and 8x from FUJIFILM03

A few questions arise from this. First, it's a Memorex disc, not Fuji Film. So is this accurate?

Secondly, this is 4x media. What is this 8x using 6x thing?

 

[The Shadow]

One more quick thing.

After checking my media, It says I have:
Media code/Manufacturer ID CMC MAG. AF1

And reading the notes for Herries release.txt from the beta 5 firmware, it says this:
DVD-R
CMC MAG. AF1 @ 8x using 6x and 8x from FUJIFILM03

A few questions arise from this. First, it's a Memorex disc, not Fuji Film. So is this accurate?

Secondly, this is 4x media. What is this 8x using 6x thing?

My guess is that he took the FUJIFILM03 write strategy and basically cloned it for CMC MAG AF1

The 8x and 8x using 6x I can only guess is P-CAV vs CAV (or other spin-up strategy). One spins the disk at 8x and the other starts at 4x and ends at 8x for an average speed of 6x.

 

[Ecrofirt]

Awesome, awesome.

Do you happen to have any idea where i might be able to find a Windows flasher for Herrie's beta 5 (that's the one with dual-layer)? I don't have any floppies to make myself a boot disk.

 

[The Shadow]

Awesome, awesome.

Do you happen to have any idea where i might be able to find a Windows flasher for Herrie's beta 5 (that's the one with dual-layer)? I don't have any floppies to make myself a boot disk.

AFAIK, you have to flash with the DOS flasher if you're flashing firmware that's hacked or not NEC firmware. IE, there's a windows flasher to go from NEC 2.15 to 2.16 but you can't go from NEC 2.15 to HP 520.

There's only one set of hacked firmware that can flash in windows that I'm aware of and that's the Mad Dog 2.F7 that just recently came out. You can find a link for it in the forum mentioned before.

Also, if you don't have a floppy or a disk drive, you can always make a bootable CD-ROM with DOS on it and flash it that way. Note that you'll have to boot on a second drive from the one you're going to flash.

 

[manji]

ritek/ridata 4x discs definitely burn at 8x after the flash. You can find some kickass deals for them at www.techbargains.com or meritline.com

I picked up 100 of'em (4x25pk) for $44 shipped a while back, and they're working perfectly.

Pre-flash, I burned at 2x to be safe...it usually took around 21/22 minutes for the disc to finish. Now, I burn the 4x discs at 6x, no coasters, and finish just north of 8 minutes =)