Please english only.
I don't belive 2.R8 wasn't relesed because of bad scanning ability.. and you're right scanning depends on reading and not writing. =) However 3520 is a worse reader that 3500 and also Emperor compared  scanning in 3500 and 3520 and the results were very similar so there is no excuse for Nec not releasing the firmware. They just decided to drop support for Nec 3500 or just postponed it till next firmware release that will happend sooner or later... I hope.

(in reply to emperor)

quote:

Post New

I just bought NEC a 3520a OEM dvd burner, but I guess I messed up.  I went to NEC's site to see about drivers.  No drivers necessary for XP, just Firmware, but no Firmware for OEM models.

Is my only recourse as an intermediate PC user age 61, to return it?  I sure can't use it as it is and don't want to ruin in it by flashing the firmware.  Please any advice (including return it) will be welcome.  I guess you are never too old to learn the hard way.  Thanks.  :)

(in reply to jayl)

quote:

ORIGINAL: zmartha

I just bought NEC a 3520a OEM dvd burner, but I guess I messed up.  I went to NEC's site to see about drivers.  No drivers necessary for XP, just Firmware, but no Firmware for OEM models.

Is my only recourse as an intermediate PC user age 61, to return it?  I sure can't use it as it is and don't want to ruin in it by flashing the firmware.  Please any advice (including return it) will be welcome.  I guess you are never too old to learn the hard way.  Thanks.  :)

I'm not sure I understand what your problem is?!

Your drive already comes with firmware. Firmware is a kind of software inside the drive itself. So you don't need to get firmware, unless there is something you need which is only available in newer versions of the firmware.

If you have already discovered that there is some firmware feature you need, which is only available in newer versions of the firmware, then you can have a look at the many firmwares available from this site:

http://www.micheldeboer.nl/firmware/3520.html

Many of those firmwares come with their own installation program, but for those who don't you can get a firmware flashing program from the following site:

http://binflash.cdfreaks.com/

(I suggest you download the Win32 GUI version).

If you flash your drive with unofficial firmware you lose the warranty on your drive. In reality it is no more dangerous to flash with one of the unofficial firmwares as it is with an official firmware.

The latest official firmware is the "NEC 3.04" firmware.

If you want the latest and greatest unofficial firmware, I suggest you get "Liggy's And Dee's NEC ND-3520 1.UG".

If I have misunderstood your problem, then pleasy clarify - "I sure can't use it as it is" is not very helpful in understanding your problem.

(in reply to zmartha)

I guess I shouldn't have said it won't work for me BEFORE I physically install it.  I was thinking that I had to download the latest firmware for it work.  So my next project is installing the new drive and see how it works.

I asked a question yesterday so I will ask you.  Is it okay to use the calbes and wires that were plugged into my now defunct CDRW? 

Thanks for those sites and explanations.  :)

(in reply to Quikee)

quote:

ORIGINAL: zmartha

I asked a question yesterday so I will ask you.  Is it okay to use the calbes and wires that were plugged into my now defunct CDRW? 

Yes it probably is. If your current data cable is of the older 40-wire type, then it would be better to exchange it for one of the newer 80-wire data cables. It shouldn't be strictly necessary though - just recommended.

You should probably also have a look at the jumper at the back of your old CD-RW drive and make sure the jumper on the new drive is set to the same position. The available positions should be Master, Slave and Cable-Select. (A jumper is a small detachable connector that connects a pair of pins, and is used for adjusting the behaviour of a drive).

(in reply to zmartha)

I installed it just fine, BUT the ethernet stopped working, so I had to go back to dial up.  In Device Managers the Network Adapter had a yellow question mark on it, so I unplugged the DVDRW and re-started the PC and the Newtwork adapter (and ethernet) came back.

Now, Windows says there was too much hardware chaging so I have 3 days to activate Windows.  Now, I am really in a pickle.  Do you know if reactiviating windows can be turned off without messing in the registry? (I steer clear of that; I am not good enough to tinker there.)  I hope it doesn't reformat my harddrive.  Any suggestions?  I am going to try re-plug in the DVD drive and re-start to see if it takes out the Network Adapter again.  I hope not.

(in reply to Quikee)

Hello,

I was wondering which firmware is the latest and greatest for the 3500? 

(in reply to zmartha)

Go to the main page (cdr-info.com) and you can click the firmware, and find the latest download for your drive.

(in reply to spaz the greek)

I saw the standard firmware for that drive.  I do know that there was a modified tdk firmware posted here which i dled.  Also, there was another one as well. I wanted to hear the opinions of other pertaining to the firmware as to which one I should use.  I created a DVD DL disc which is a ritek 01 2.4x and it was basically a coaster, and before I use another one I want to make sure I have a good firmware to use it with. 

(in reply to MP3Mogul)

quote:

ORIGINAL: spaz the greek
I created a DVD DL disc which is a ritek 01 2.4x and it was basically a coaster, 

When I used a DVD+R DL of MID code "Ritek-D01" on my NEC 3500 drive
with any firmware (the latest official from Nec 2.19  or the Mad Dog 2.FD)
I used to get a coaster nearly every time so I don't buy them anymore ...
and I use always a "MKM-001" MID code (Verbatim or Mitsubishi brand) and sometimes "RicohJPN"

It seems that this has something to do with the way both DL medias are manufactured: "2P method" or "inversed stack"
To know for sure you have to ask "alexnoe" (the author of the scanning software PxScan)

(in reply to spaz the greek)

On trying the Dangerous Brothers latest RPC1 version for 2.1A for the NEC 3500A on both of my machines after booting into DOS
 
I get ERROR:  Image Type Mismatch

I have used the Dangerous Brothers previous RPC1 versions without any probelms

Any ideas ?

(in reply to franz99)

Hi, you can try to use the DOS32 version of Binflash http://binflash.cdfreaks.com/#download. That worked for me....

(in reply to emperor)

Havent heard much about the 21A firmware. What was the change? Also, its been so long since I have poked around in here, does our drive (3500, duh) support 16x DVD-R? I just bought a batch and it looks like it does not. Guess I will have to hold on to the 100 disks I just bought!! That is until I upgrade again.

(in reply to dzena)

Just to answer my own post. I upgrade to Dangerous Brother's 21A (had to go into safe mode to get it to reconize my drive however) and now the 16x dvd-r's work. Havent tested the write speed yet except with DVD Decrypter's write option and it got up to 12.4x.

(in reply to Hawk)

Hi,
Can someone tell me if the NEC ND-3500 AG is capable in writing 900MB CDRs?
Or do I have to upgrade it first.

(in reply to Hawk)

Seems like this thread has hibernated or maybe this burner has gone obsolete. Unfortunately, I still have the 3500-AG and still is in need of the latest firmware. I recently purchased new media, Memorex DVD-R 16X and I'm only burning at 2x. Can somebody please direct me to a site where I can upgrade my drivers and how to check what version my burner currently has?

Thanks.

I use DVD Shrink 3.2

(in reply to Xerox6502)