quote:

ORIGINAL: MP3Mogul
Yes, I have a HP DV1240US and my NEC 6500 is set to (Secondary) Master.

Ok...
Is it fixed master or CS-master  ?
CS = cable select, set through firmware

Note that NEC-support states that the ND6500 can only be set to:
CS-Master, CS-Slave or Fixed Slave, NOT fixed master...
And NEC also reports that the NEC-ND6500A is normally/standard delivered as CS-Master

If you managed to perform modifications te set it to FIXED MASTER, how did you do it ?
 Thanx for your help !

(in reply to MP3Mogul)

Mine is MA - Master, there is no "fixed master" setting on the drive.

It's either MA, SL, or CS same as regular DVD writer on the back of mine.

(in reply to gerbruggeman)

quote:

ORIGINAL: MP3Mogul
Mine is MA - Master, there is no "fixed master" setting on the drive.
It's either MA, SL, or CS same as regular DVD writer on the back of mine.

???
Are we talking about the same drive here ? (NEC ND-6500A, slim drive for laptops)
http://www.sw.nec.co.jp/products/optical/en/ND-6500A/index.html
I'm curious !
Could you make a pic of the back of your drive ?
Mine looks like this:

(in reply to MP3Mogul)

My notebook is at work right now, but the back of my NEC doesn't look like that.  I will try to take a pic on Monday and post it for you.  Yes, we're talking about the same drive, mine is a NEC 6500.

(in reply to gerbruggeman)

quote:

ORIGINAL: MP3Mogul

My notebook is at work right now, but the back of my NEC doesn't look like that.  I will try to take a pic on Monday and post it for you.  Yes, we're talking about the same drive, mine is a NEC 6500.

Did you checkit already ?

(in reply to MP3Mogul)

I read this thread once more and noticed some Toshiba users (Satellite Pro 2100 & 6100) had some luck...

My satellite pro 4600 doesn't recognise the ND-6500A (GEN-version) at all:
neither in bios nor in Win2k.
Furthermore: the 2nd controller DISAPPEARS with the ND6500 connected !
(while it reappers when the original TEAC CD-224E is connected)
Note that I have in bios 2 seperate controllers for HD and CD/DVD (irq14 & irq15)

I cannot flash because my notebook doesn't recognize the drive/i have no converter to normal ide.
Could I try the soldering trick (pin 45&47) and then try reverse ata & then disconnect pins 45&47 again?
I rather keep my laptop in original state...

Please help !

(in reply to gerbruggeman)

gerbruggeman,
The solder trick will force the drive to MASTER.  If that works, I would not flash the reverse ATA, as that then limits you to firmware 4.xx. ( of which there are very few)  If the solder trick works, you will be able to use all the 2.xx firmwares.

(in reply to gerbruggeman)

quote:

ORIGINAL: michaelc

gerbruggeman,
The solder trick will force the drive to MASTER.  If that works, I would not flash the reverse ATA, as that then limits you to firmware 4.xx. ( of which there are very few)  If the solder trick works, you will be able to use all the 2.xx firmwares.

Well thanx Michael !
And everybody else who took part in examining solutions for resolving their own & other people problems !!

The ND-6500A (GEN-version) works on my Toshiba Satellite Pro 4600 after soldering pin 45-47 together !
Some hassle btw if one doesn't have the right equipment..., like me...

The ND-6500A seems already to have firmware version 2.24.
DMA is functioning, and selfburned +R discs are playing fine (even though I only have a PIII-700)
Did a test with nero cdtest.exe with a recorded 4x DVD+R (don't have any faster !)
Results below: (keep in mind I only used a 4x DVD+r disk)
I will come back later with more results...
greetings from the Netherlands !
Ger

(in reply to michaelc)

Well, it seems the drive works OK.
Ripping DVD's are bad though: even after flashing & rebooting Liggy's 2.24 version(s).
Ripping speeds are slow about 500-800kb/s, whichever firmware I use...

Which one should I use ? In the zip files there are 3 versions:
224fast.exe (should be the one to do it ?)
224orig.exe (is the original firmware ?)
224rpc1.exe (removes the region-lock?)

Any suggestions ?

(in reply to gerbruggeman)

From reading this forum toshiba notebooks seem to be a problem with the 6500a drvd drive, with firmware 2.N0
my toshiba tecra 8200, bios 1.60, 1ghz cpu, 512 ram also will not recognize this drive when i boot up or if i reboot.
i have found a work around  that is mildly annoying but works satisfactorily.
here r pics of how the drive is configured on my system.
what i must do after each boot or reboot is to unclick the safety under the notebook andslihgtly detach the drive from the connection and reconnect it. after which if i ask the notebook to find new hardware it finds this drive everytime without fail. the burning abilitiy is unaffected. i am not sure if this problem is toshiba based or firmware based but as yet i have been reluctant to risk making a paperwieght out of this drive by re flashing into the unknown. anyone have suggestions as why this drive acts in this manner?

(in reply to gerbruggeman)

Okay, problem solved. I *did* need to use the 6500boot and 6500main routines (thanks to the NEC America guy who answered my question!).  This thread has been somewhat confusing to follow but the nice NEC guy told me that essentially my Pana CF-48 required this drive to be "ATA reversed" to work.

I did. It does. It is now seen by XP as a Secondary Master and DMA is ON, and it is BOOTABLE..(now I can boot from a Ghost CD again!).

Since I didn't want to try doing this (the flashing) in a laptop computer that already had problems seeing the drive in the first place, I removed the drive and connected it up to a slim drive adapter (to an IDE cable NOT USB).  The adapter cost me $9 but in this case it was worth it. I did all the flashing using my desktop machine as the mule. Then put the drive back in the laptop.  Works great and I hope it lasts a long time!

Mike

(in reply to MikeG)

Hi,
I have little experience with firmware upgrades but I face a problem with my newly installed nec nd-6500a. My laptop is a Gericom Masterpiece and since I installed the drive I have noted a delay in the file transfer from a cd to my hard drive. It takes 16 minutes to copy the contents of a cd-rom to the hard disc and thats is even more than with my previous one. Could this problem be solved with by a f/w upgrade?

(in reply to MikeG)

I don't see my particular bizarreness in any of the pages in this thread, so here goes:

I have an ND-6100A that came with my slim-cased desktop machine from Dell.  The drive is attached as the master on the secondary IDE bus, with nothing as a slave.  I've checked the UDMA settings and deleted the upper/lower filters.  I'm running XP Pro SP2.

I have since flashed it to think it is an ND-6500A with the 203D firmware.  However, in both modes, the following identical behavior is seen:

The drive can read and burn CDs fine (at 24x).
The drive can read and burn RICOHJPNW11 4x DVD+RW SL fine.
The drive CANNOT identify blank RICOHJPNR02 8x DVD+R SL media, but...
The drive CAN identify and read the same RICOHJPNR02 media after it has been burned in a different drive.

and today's news:

The drive cannot identify blank Ridata 4x DVD+R SL media (don't know the media code for this, though).

Can anyone explain the following:
1.  Why does the drive require Dell-specific firmware, as opposed to generic NEC firmware?
2.  Why can the drive read burned RICOHJPNR02 disks, but not identify blank ones?
3.  Are there any potential issues with the drive thinking it is a 6500A when it really is a 6100A?

I've been around and around with Dell on this.  Their attitude is that, since it can burn the W11 +RW media, the drive is mechanically fine, and since I have the latest firmware, I'm basically screwed.

The general concensus I've read is that Ridata disks are pretty high quality, and the 4x ones have been around for a while, so I don't see any reason why I should accept the situation.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

(in reply to gerbruggeman)

There is a guy who posted on the first page of this thread who has a Gericom notebook as well.

I had to call NEC about my laptop to get them to confirm that my problem was "Reversed-ATA" specific.

I don't know anything about Gericom laptops.  Do they have one IDE controller or two? It could be that your 6500A and your harddrive are "wrestling" over the same drive controller channel.

If you have Nero you can use the Nero Info tool to get configuration information about your drive, controllers, and settings (DMA On or Off, what controller your drive is connected to, etc).  You can also go to the Device Manager and select "Devices by Connecction" and "drill down" until you find what controller your 6500A is on and then check the drive controller to see if DMA (or UDMA - very fast) is on or whether the drive is using "PIO Only" mode (very slow).

The drive ships (retail) in Cable Select mode. There's no little "jumper" on the back of the drive to set it to match what the bios is looking for. (Oh if it were that easy!) So in order to match your drive to *your* laptop sometimes you have to flash the drive with firmware that actually reverses the ATA setting so that your laptop's drive controller correctly recognises the drive.

Four key things to look for that may give you a clue (but maybe not depending on your machines controllers, etc) are:

Does Windows take about 10-15 seconds longer than it used to to boot with the new drive installed? (Mine did)

Can you boot your laptop from a bootable disk in the 6500A (like the Windows XP disk)? (Mine wouldn't)

When you check your device settings (Nero Info tool or Device Manager) is DMA turned off and you can't turn it on? (Mine was)

Does it take a lot longer to burn anything than it used to (CDs, or maybe DVDs if you previously had a DVD burner installed before the 6500A)? (Mine took at least twice as long to burn a CD than with the original combo drive)

These may all be clues that you need to flash your 6500A to the "Reversed-ATA" firmware with the 6500Boot and 6500Main firmware flasher routines.  Those files are found as attachments to posts on the first page of this thread.

Check your bios to see how many drive controllers you have (Primary, with a Master and Slave, or a Primary and Secondary using Master on both instead).

Hope this helps. I feel your pain. I've been there.

Mike

(in reply to csm00506)

Hi;

You may have seen this posted somewhere else before but a NEC 6100A is the OEM version of the NEC 6500A retail drive. The same drive.

Your problem is not that your drive doesn't work, but that it doesn't recognise certain types of media. There is no conceivable reason you couldn't flash to one of the Dangerous Brothers versions of the firmware for the 6500A that may be more up-to-date with regard to media types, but I don't know how "new" the 203D version from Dell is. You may get more insight by visiting the Dangerous Brothers website (or somebody else here more familiar with the different versions can speak to that issue).

I'm one of the newly converted "Reversed-ATA" crowd who is now confined to using versions from NEC that start with the number 4 (as in 4.21, 4.23, 4.24) while you (I believe) would be using the NEC OEM versions starting with number 2 (as in 2.23, 2.24, etc). 

regards,

Mike

(in reply to JMuskovitz)

Sir;

You need to do the "Reverse-ATA" flash with the 6500Boot and 6500Main just as I did. You have exactly the same issues I did with my Panasonic CF-48.

Pull the drive out and use a desktop machine with a "slim" IDE drive adapter to do the flashing. Boot from a boot floppy with the drive connected as Secondary Master on the desktop's IDE cable (end of the cable connector), boot to setup and confirm it's seen as a Secondary Master in the bios, and then run 6500Boot.bat from the boot floppy. When it's done, shutdown and change the IDE drive connector on the slim adapter to the Secondary Slave position (inboard drive cable connector, not the end one), boot to setup and confirm the machine's bios sees the drive in that position and then boot from the floppy again and run 6500Main.bat. Shutdown and disconnect the drive and pop it back into your laptop. It should now be recognised *in your laptop* as a Secondary Master (exactly the oposite of what it was recognised as in the desktop machine you just took it out of, hence the term "Reversed-ATA").

You need to make sure you follow the steps, so print out the readme file and use that as your guide.  The files are found as attachments on one of the first posts in the beginning of this thread.

regards,

Mike

(in reply to MikeG)