[superstar]

Hello,

I own two LG dvd burning drives:

- GSA-4167B [Model]

- GSA-H10N [Model]


I bought both of these in canada as OEM products at a computer store. I don't know anything about firmware or how to use it, all I know is it updates hardware to work better... I think I'm correct but not sure. Well if hardware has updates it must be for the better no? So therefore I would like to update the firmware on both of these dvd burning drives. I have no idea where to get firmware updates for these two drives and I am scared because I have never done a firmware update before. I heard you can damage your hardware by updating firmware, or something along those lines.

I've been looking long and hard for firmware updates for these two drives on the LG site and Google. I've found nothing on the LG site, and Google only gives me urls to sites I would don't trust since they are not the manufacturers site.


Questions:

1. Can someone tell me what firmware/updates is for when used on hardware?

2. Can you please let me know the dangers of installing firmware or the wrong one?

3. Can someone please help me find the firmware updates for my two LG dvd drives? [Or let me know if I even need them, since I have no clue what firmware version I currently have]




- Thank You



P.s.
The reason I want to do this is to have my two drives up to date, and also have the best burns. [If that is what firmware updates do...]

Edited by superstar, 13 April 2007 - 12:53 PM.

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1. Can someone tell me what firmware/updates is for when used on hardware?

firmware is SORTOF (not exactly) like a driver but...it's actually stored in the device itself (drivers are stored in windows)...firmware is called firmware because you used to not be able to change it...it was actually hardcoded...they've changed that though... firmware updates can fix minor issues or little weird things that the manufacturer did wrong etc.. they won't make your drive go from 16x to 32x or anything like that....

2. Can you please let me know the dangers of installing firmware or the wrong one?

i tend to treat firmware updates like BIOS updates...if i don't have a specific problem that i know FOR A FACT the update is designed to fix...i don't do them....Firmware updates are hard to revert if there's an error or something goes wrong (just like BIOS updates) unlike normal drivers that you can uninstall or rollback to a version you knew was working

3. Can someone please help me find the firmware updates for my two LG dvd drives? [Or let me know if I even need them, since I have no clue what firmware version I currently have]
the LG site won't let me link directly to the FW for each of your drives but

go here
in the first drop down box choose DVD-ROM (writer)
in the second box choose Windows XP (unless you're not on XP)
in the third...put the model name of your drive (do this one at a time..I.E. do it for the GSA-4167B then do it for the GSA-H10N seperately)
then press the search button
this will bring up a list of new Firmware versions for the drive

[dsenette]

1. Can someone tell me what firmware/updates is for when used on hardware?

firmware is SORTOF (not exactly) like a driver but...it's actually stored in the device itself (drivers are stored in windows)...firmware is called firmware because you used to not be able to change it...it was actually hardcoded...they've changed that though... firmware updates can fix minor issues or little weird things that the manufacturer did wrong etc.. they won't make your drive go from 16x to 32x or anything like that....

2. Can you please let me know the dangers of installing firmware or the wrong one?

i tend to treat firmware updates like BIOS updates...if i don't have a specific problem that i know FOR A FACT the update is designed to fix...i don't do them....Firmware updates are hard to revert if there's an error or something goes wrong (just like BIOS updates) unlike normal drivers that you can uninstall or rollback to a version you knew was working

3. Can someone please help me find the firmware updates for my two LG dvd drives? [Or let me know if I even need them, since I have no clue what firmware version I currently have]
the LG site won't let me link directly to the FW for each of your drives but

go here
in the first drop down box choose DVD-ROM (writer)
in the second box choose Windows XP (unless you're not on XP)
in the third...put the model name of your drive (do this one at a time..I.E. do it for the GSA-4167B then do it for the GSA-H10N seperately)
then press the search button
this will bring up a list of new Firmware versions for the drive

[superstar]

I greatly appreciate your support "dsenette". It's people like you who keep me coming back to geekstogo.com when I have mind boggling computer problems I cannot resolve myself because of inexperience. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to do this for me. & good luck with all those you help in the future. I am about to link to those sites right now! If there is no major firmware I need I WILL NOT INSTALL IT.

[dsenette]

i was able to find FW updates for both of your drives on the LG site...the first one has 3 revisions (.11, .12, .13 i think) and the second one only has 1 revision (is it newer?)...i didn't check the release notes on any of the versions to see what they changed...so..i can't say whether you need them or not

[superstar]

- GSA-4167B [Older Model]

- GSA-H10N [Newer Model]


You said theres 3 firmware updates for my older model? So does that mean I have to apply all three updates for it in sequence or just get the newest one? [ie: highest number version]

[dsenette]

firmware updates (like drivers and BIOS updates) are usually cumulative updates so if you see three...the newest one has the fixes from the first one, second one, and the new ones added for #3...so you'd get the newest one if you chose to do so

[superstar]

I guess I can't use any for both drives... Sadly enough the read me files say:

This firmware update is for drives with original firmware versions below DL11.
The drives must be original LG branded drives with the DVD Writer model number
GSA-4167B (no OEM units).

When I bought my two drives from the local pc store the site had them listed as OEM. The reciept for the drives say LG Model # and OEM. The actual drive itself does not have OEM written on it though, and I see no other companies name on the drive other than LG.

What the heck is OEM, and why can't I do this when my drives clearly say the model name and number on a sticker attached to them with the LG logo? On top of that Everest sees my drives as being LG's with the model numbers the firmware's are for!!!

Look at this photo I took of the older drive: [don't mind the blue because I have a see through acrylic case, I can't take a photo of the newer drive since it's below this one and you can't see but I'm 100% sure that it's the same kind of sticker on the drive with the same kind of info, just different since it's a different model]

Edited by superstar, 13 April 2007 - 03:25 PM.