Quickee, the test report is available at here

(in reply to emperor)

hi guys, i just flashed my NEC ND-3520 OEM drive to the latest 3.22 firmware for a few reasons, it supports DL-R's and it supposodly autobisets DVD+/RW/DL+R to DVD-ROM. I use DVDShrink and under the burn options, the option to change the booktype to DVD-ROM was greyed out and i was told this was because the stock firmware (i had 1.04) didnt support bitsetting for SL DVD+R's. Well, after flashing to 3.22, its still greyed out and when i open binflash -> Booktyle, it says the following:
DVD+R (none): Factory Default (active) - DVD+RW (none): Factory Default (active) - DVD+R DL (none) and its greyed out and it says "not supported". Did i flash it wrong or will it automatically change the booktype to DVD-ROM for all DVD+R/RW/DL media?
Also, when i try to set the SL and DVD+RW booktype to DVD-ROM in binflash, it says that the operation isnt supported by my firmware.

please help me, i was hesitant to flash my drive in the first place and im worried it did it wrong. I havnt tried burning a DVD yet but it read Star Wars Episode 1 and for the firmware, it DOES say its 3.22. I also did dump the original firmware so i believe i can flash it back if somethings wrong right?

(in reply to emperor)

have you actually burned a disc and it didn't autobiset to DVD-ROM?

(in reply to rahzel)

im testing right now and ill post back. So far atleast the drive is working. Im almost done encoding the movie.

im testing it on a Verbatim MKM 4x DVD+RW. How do i know if it autobisets to DVD-ROm? will it autobiset to DVD-ROM with ANY burning program i use?

forgive me im not a DVD burning n00b but im a n00b when it comes to bitsetting as ive never even thought of it before but now that ive flashed my drive, i wanna know if my drive is still working properly. Im just worried that binflash says that binflash says that bitsetting isnt supported with this firmware. Is there any other way i can find out if DVD+R/RW/DL+R booktype is supported?

(in reply to emperor)

well, good news is the drive still works cuz i succesfully burnt the movie but the bad news is (according to DVD Decrypter) the booktype is still DVD+RW =[. Why did the flash go wrong?
heres the steps i did. (using binflash GUI)
1. i dumped the stock firmware with binflash
2. i downloaded 3.22 firmware from scorpio's site
3. i clicked on flash and navigated to the 3.22 exe firmware.
it did its thing and it said i needed to reboot. I rebooted and it says i have 3.22 firmware. Did i do something wrong?

(in reply to rahzel)

ok sorry for so many posts but i tried it on a Ritek/Ridata 4x DVD+R (Ricohjpnr01) and the booktype changed to DVD-ROM... why didnt it work for the DVD+RW? do only some DVD+R/RW's support bitsetting? and is it normal for binflash not to be able to change the booktype?

(in reply to rahzel)

AUto-Bitsetting means that it will always set DVD-ROM for DVD+R and DVD+RW... you can't change that.. so that's why binflash doesn't work. For your DVD+RW... the disc has to be a fresh/unused DVD+RW.. then the bitsetting DVD-ROM will be applied. It doesn't work if you already burned something on DVD+RW with booktype DVD+RW.. then it can't be changed on Nec burners to DVD-ROM afterwards.

(in reply to rahzel)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Quikee

AUto-Bitsetting means that it will always set DVD-ROM for DVD+R and DVD+RW... you can't change that.. so that's why binflash doesn't work. For your DVD+RW... the disc has to be a fresh/unused DVD+RW.. then the bitsetting DVD-ROM will be applied. It doesn't work if you already burned something on DVD+RW with booktype DVD+RW.. then it can't be changed on Nec burners to DVD-ROM afterwards.

ok thats what i was thinking, thanks a lot guys. One more thing im kinda worried about though. The bitsetting for Dual Layer +R's was greyed out in binflash and said it wasnt supported. Should i be worried about that? i wish i had some DL +R's to test.

(in reply to Quikee)

When I try to flash my drive to 3.22 it says that it does not detect my drive is that bad?

(in reply to rahzel)

I got a cyberpowersystem computer recently with a NEC 3520A 16X DVD+-RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER. I chose not to have an OS installed, because I want to install it myself. Meaning I also have to isntall all of my drivers. Going to NEC's website I see no drivers for the 3520A. Rather than being drivers you download, are they actually firmware? Either way, what do I need to do to inatall the drivers or, rather, firmware? Is 1.04 installed by default? Or do I need to flash to 1.04 then to a newer un-offical version if I want? And since this is going to be my only drive, I will be able to boot it up and have it read my Windows XP PRO CD so i can install windows right?

(in reply to emperor)

Are u sure you wanna install your system yourself?

Drivers:
You shouldn't need to install additional drivers if you run WinXp.

Firmware:
Refer to Emperor's post http://www.cdrinfo.com/forum/fb.asp?m=93724
Backup your old one, have a look at it (necdump) and flash with the one that suits most your whishes (I guess 1.26 is fine. However, you can also read through the forum and built your decision.). Check the readmes!!! No, there shouldn't be a reason to preflash your drive.

Installing:
Once again: are you sure you wana install your system yourself? Just make sure your system boots from cd (in the BIOS) and put in your WinXP cd. Do the flashing afterwards.

Cheers.

(in reply to blut3ng3l)

quote:

ORIGINAL: chrissi

Are u sure you wanna install your system yourself?

Drivers:
You shouldn't need to install additional drivers if you run WinXp.

Firmware:
Refer to Emperor's post http://www.cdrinfo.com/forum/fb.asp?m=93724
Backup your old one, have a look at it (necdump) and flash with the one that suits most your whishes (I guess 1.26 is fine. However, you can also read through the forum and built your decision.). Check the readmes!!! No, there shouldn't be a reason to preflash your drive.

Installing:
Once again: are you sure you wana install your system yourself? Just make sure your system boots from cd (in the BIOS) and put in your WinXP cd. Do the flashing afterwards.

Cheers.

I'm sure.

Well, my biggest question is, an oem version of this drive, is v 1.04 on it by default?

(in reply to chrissi)

quote:

ORIGINAL: blut3ng3l

I'm sure.

Well, my biggest question is, an oem version of this drive, is v 1.04 on it by default?

Check it yourself. Even v1.04 is different from drive to drive, see here http://www.cdrinfo.com/forum/fb.asp?m=94895
Use BinFlash and NECDump.

(in reply to blut3ng3l)

hey again, i have a few question about firmware updates and riplock.
1) is the firmware version 3.22 and all the other firmware's that are on scorpio's site (the 'original' firmwares) are they considered 'official' firmwares? ie they dont void your warranty?

2) i understand that riplock lets your writer read at the speed its supposed to and that riplock enabled locks it at a certain speed. Is it safe to disable riplock?

(in reply to chrissi)

@ rahzel
1) the originals are manufacture’s firmware, they will not void the warranty since you can get them from the manufacturer. The only case may be if you upload a firmware from a different manufacturer (ie, you have a nec drive and upload a mad dog firmware). However, unless you render the drive useless and not able to upload the original or updated firmware from you manufacturer this will never be a problem. How will they know?
2) disabling riplock is safe.

@ emporer

I have a 3500ag, is the 3520 worth the upgrade. I am ordering a drive for my sister and I will give her my drive and order this one if it is. It just looks as a few people are having some probs. Maybe just noob mistakes, whats your take?

(in reply to rahzel)

well its kind of confusing. On scorpios website, it says original firmware but on the NEC site, there is no firmware updates to be found. Also, the firmware i flashed it with is the iodata 3.22 firmware but it was listed under original firmwares. I guess if anything happens, ill just flash it back to the original firmware since i dumped it with binflash.

(in reply to Hawk)