5005 drive swap didn't quite work (using a 1693s)

Alrighty.
So I attempted to swap out my 411s drive from my LVW-5005, and replace it with a new 1693s drive.
For the "most" part, it works - but NOT in some very important ways.
I put in a DVD-R and it preped it just fine (I didn't record yet because I had no inputs hooked up to record from).
I put in some DVD-RWs I had made previously with the 5005 and they played back just fine.
I put in some personal DVD 'backup' copies I have made on my PC (ie DVDs copied with DVD X Copy) and they play just fine.
The problem happens when I try to play any commercial store bought DVD. Either they don't play at all, or they freeze a few seconds after the FBI warnings. I have tried a number of DVDs and none of them will play.

Any suggestions?

I don't know if this will help, but here is my system info and what I did for the swap:
My 5005 mainboard says "LVW5006A REV:01"

My old serial number (hacked - region free - no macro - 3 hr mode) :
0102-1140-0098-F23C

My new serial number WITH ORIGINAL 411 drive (after downloading the new FW from liteon (LNFA1101.E10) and using the ILOHack.exe program on it:
0102-1140-0101-F23C

My new serial with NEW 1693s drive (with the KS0B firmware update on the drive): 0102-1140-0101-KS0B

Also of note here is that the link everybody posts to LiteOn to grab the new firmware (http://www.liteonit.com/ODD/English/...del=SHOW-1693S)
has a small problem. Every link I try and click on that site essentially just refreshed the page. I have tried on 2 different computers and on both IE and Firefox and get the same results. Can anyone download the firmwares from Liteon or is it just me that is having this problem?!

I ended up finding the file at
http://www.softwarepatch.pl/plik/358...re_v_KS0B.html
So I don't know if that is some goofy version of the firmware or if that has anything to do with the screwiness I am experiencing.

And yet another thing - people kept saying I should both download the new firmware for the 5005 and at the same time only use up to the 0098 firmware or hack, and I never quite understood how I was supposed to be able to do both.
As I said, I just dl'd the latest firmware (LNFA1101.E10.0102.114x.zip was the file name) and used the ILOHack.exe program. I burned the resulting file in Nero, and loaded it into the 5005 and it worked fine.

As for my new 1693s, I updated the firmware using the KS0B.EXE file I found at softwarepatch.pl - which was all done under WinXP and was not a Dos based firmware patch.

So I know that is a load of info, but I have no clue as to what to try next.
I guess I can be happy with my 5005 only being mainly a recorder, but I would really like to get it to function fully.

sounds like a problem this the 0101 fw and/or region protection my guess is the region code is incorrect use the region hack (2,9,6,0) and you should be OK fw 0098 hacked would be better still
First to install 0101 (for the drive update) then install 0098 hacked for 3hr and MV hack.

also try this link http://codeguys.rpc1.org/firmwares.html

Thanks for the link to the codeguys site.

So I think I have it working as good as I am going to for right now.
I hooked the 1693s up to my PC and installed the KS0B firmware from codeguys. I rebooted with the drive still installed and put in a commercial DVD movie and played it, however, when it started, it asked me to specify a region. So I chose region 1.
When I put the 1693s back into the 5005, it seems to play just about everything for every region, except a region 3 'House of Flying Daggers' DVD I have. I tried both region free and region 3 settings and neither work. It loads and and says it is playing, but just sits there with the LiteOn AllWrite screen.

As for the 0098 FW - I downloded them from the links in this forum, but I can't get them to work at all. they just give me the 'Data Disc' line and spin for a while. I have succesfully burned the most recent FW, but hacked and unhacked, and have been able to load those just fine, so I am not sure what the issue is.

At anyrate, it seems like this is as good as I can get for now, which is fine really.
I have two Cyberhome 300s which are also region hacked and play whatever the 5005 won't play, so I guess I am covered just fine.

Thanks for all the help here - it was a process for sure, but I think it should be fine now.

Romeo,

You need to make the 1693 Region Free. Stick it back into your PC and Use This http://dhc014.rpc1.org/LtnRPC/

Orazal - Thanks a ton!
That did it! I think I am now 100% fully functional...

No Problem Mate!

Are you people saying that the drive will have to be updated AND will have to be made region free, despite the fact my 5005 was already hacked to be region free?

(I've STILL yet to install my 1693 in my 5005. )

I noticed Tiger Direct has the 1635s on sale for $29.99 after rebates. Any comments pro or cons would be much appreciated!!
Thanks!
had1

Hi Gastrof

The hack on the 5005 makes the drive in that region free, if you put a different burner in you have to alter the firmware in it to make it region free. In normal practice if you were to put a stock 1693 in your pc you'd get 5 region changes before you're stuck.

Hi spongemonkey, are you able to record VCD's ok using the 1693s drive? I fitted a 1673s in my 5005 but it won't record VCD's, it prepares the CD's ok but won't burn them, the display just blanks and the 5005 hangs and I have to disconnect power to recover. If it works with a 1693s I'll look round for one and try that. Many thanks.

I have done the 1693s conversion and I have the identical experience. I can prep VCD/SVCD but I can't record! Audio prep/record is fine. DVDs are fine.

Just a bit of additional info.
I fitted a 1635s into my 5045 & it does all the original function's including VCD & SVCD.

R5000

@R5000,

Thanks for the Info.

My old 5005 no longer recognizes DVDs that it previously wrote, or most blank media. I have not tried a DVD cleaning disc, but if that fails, then I think I want to attempt a DVD drive replacement. My serial number on back of the unit is: 602433035756 , manufactured August 2004. The original screen SN was: 0102-1140-0086-G2B9 (100-010B). I believe that I have an old DDW451 drive in there now, but not sure - have not opened the case yet. I have read that there are "two" Liteon DVD PC drives that can be adapted. One is the Liteon IDE model SHM-160P6S (16x record) , and the other is the LiteOn 1693S. http://www.newegg.com has them on sale at about the same price. Which one should I order?
I assume that all I need to do when I get it is to install it as a "slave" in my PC, update the firmware, apply any hacks, reset the plug to a "master" and do a little custom fitting to get it to open & close, etc. properly. I have no idea where to download the required hacks for this drive. Additionally, I an very confused as to setting the "book type" - is this anything that I even need to worry about? Has anyone installed the new DVD drive "outside" the 5005 cabinet - like in a perforated metal holder that sits on top of the 5005? Seems like by removing the DVD from inside the 5005, it would all be cooler. Wonder if the 5005 IDE & power cables would be long enough? OK - I've ask enough questions for today :-) THANKS!
Gene

Hi GeneTX.. Yep, your screen SN appears to reveal that your drive is a 451 with drive firmware version G2B9 installed on it. The only other factory installed type drive on a 5005 I've heard of is the 813S. All 813's have a string of B20* in that 4 digit space. If it were me, I would try a cleaning disk run at least 5 or 10 times first -- but your unit is getting-on in years and indeed may need a replacement. The only thing I've heard against the 1693S is that some are reporting inability to record video to CD's, but the 1693 in my PC does them very well. I haven't heard anything about the SHM-160P6S.

You may have a wrong assumption regarding installing the firmware to a replacement burner/drive. You do not install the hacks for MV, LP or Region-Free to the burner/drive itself, because that is an Operating System hack and it's a function the 5005's motherboard so you would not try to load that as drive firmware. The drive firmware is easily bumped-up using your PC. My 1693s firmware is at version KS0B. I think your 5005's SN (the 1140) is saying it's a version earlier than mine, which is an 1840 config. My SN after hacking (MV, LP & Region-Free) is 0102-1840-0098-B20G (015-010D) after installing the Mr. Wizard hack to the 5005's LNFA1098.ES5 firmware.

I did have to install the 1101 LiteOn firmware so that my 813s burner/drive would be updated to B20G, a feature of the 1101 firmware. But 1101 closed the door on being able to Hack for MV. So I loaded my old hacked 0098 firmware on top of the 1101 set and it worked fine to bring my MV hack back while upping the drive's firmware so that it would read/write to later, faster DVD media.

I'd agree that running the new burner outboard might be an advantage, 'long as you don't use an extremely long IDE cable to it. Some people are reporting that they're doing it that way and it's working OK.

Good Luck, from an old deported TX'n.....

Thanks Jaybird74.

Silly me - it was just a "VERY" dirty laser lens.

I bet there are a LOT of perfectly good 5005s that are junked because of a dirty lens.

Here is what happened to me - and my solution:

1. The 5005 was working great, burning and reading everything I threw at it.
2. It began to dislike certain DVD media that it previously liked. As time went by, it was almost impossible to write and read most media. I "thought" the DVD burner was going out,
but was not 100% sure.
3. I did a little reading in here & concluded that the best possible solution was to simply replace the 451 DVD drive with something like the 1693S.
4. In that I had nothing to lose, I ripped into the 5005 & removed the 451. (Everything is extremely straight forward, except that there are TWO screws that hold the 451 drawer face plate on that need the plastic removed to get a Philips screwdriver in to unscrew them. A pair if tiny wire cutter snips work best. It is best to cut away enough of the plastic to completely remove the two screws and the two tiny springs that fit around the two springs. It will make a lot more sense when you do it:-) The reason that you have to remove the plate is that there are TWO screws on the bottom of the 451 that you can't remove, until you completely slide the 451 out of the 5005 case. BTW - you can open the 451 door, then manually pull the 110VAC power cord out of the 5005 and leave the 451 door open to work on it.

5. OK, I have the 451 out & in my hands. There are 4 screws that hold the top cover onto the 451. When you remove the 4 screws, you expose the inside of this really cheap little 451. I immediately saw the problem. There was a LOT of dust that must have been generated by the friction between the DVDs and the plastic 541 housing, etc. The laser lens was "cloudy" looking, it really did not look all that bad - kind of like a foggy day. Having nothing to lose, I took alcohol & q-tips and thoroughly cleaned the lens. It made a big difference - the lens became sparkling clear - not cloudy. I used the alcohol and tissue paper to thoroughly clean the rest of the inside of the 451.

6. I put the cleaned 451 back into the 550 case - in reverse order of disassembly. Putting the two face plate screws & two springs back was the only thing that took any time. Now the 5005 was reassembled exactly like the day I got it. I plugged it in & fed it all the DVDs that it previously disliked. Each & every one (5 different media) ran without incident. The cleaned 5005 read & wrote EVERY time - zero problems. Most of the time, I did not even see the retry " ----- " things see-sawing back & forth in the display. It just said "LOAD" - and did so.

7. Now that the 5005 was functioning like new, I ran the LNFA1101.ES0 (unhacked) file to update the 451 to the latest firmware - as I needed the -R & +R 16x media fix. I suspect that this update also wrote to the system board (which looks like a PC to me). All was well now, except that I did not have the hacks for 3 hr, etc. After running, the setup screen reported SN = 0102-1140-0101-G2BD (100-010D)

8. To revert back to the 0098 system rev - you must now run the LNFA1098.ES5 (hacked) to convert the system board back to a hacked rev that will allow the 3 hr, region & macrovision fix. The 451 is untouched. CAUTION: be sure that you power off the 5005, then power on the 5005, and you MUST have the normal blue LiteOn "blue" screen on the TV. No other screen will work. With the LNFA1098.ES5 file burned onto a CD-RW with Nero "data mode", you open the 5005 drawer and feed it the CD-RW. As long as there was a blue screen - it should accept the older file. After this update, the setup screen was: SN = 0102-1140-0098-G2BD (015-010D)
Now I have a hacked 5005 that functions perfectly with the latest 16x, etc. 451 firmware installed.

9. CONCLUSION: You "may" be able to clean a 5005 with a DVD cleaning device that you insert into the DVD drive - but I would not bet money that it will clean the lens good enough to fix the problem. You "may" have to do what I did & take the DVD drive apart & manually clean the lens , etc. Other than having to snip out a little plastic on the from of the 451's drawer - the rest is REALLY quite simple. Just lay out the screws, etc., in a nice neat order of disassembly - then reassemble in reverse order. You can do the whole thing is ~ 20 minutes - total. If the 5005 is not working and out of warranty - you have nothing to lose.

10. I have now told you everything that I know :-)

Gene

A'right Gene... Are we big time LiteOn jockeys or what . You're probably right about needing to get 'under the hood' to wash-up that laser lens; especially if you've got a lot of hours on the machine. "Glad ya got things back to going your way now.

Toxie an Italian member has a post here detailing the procedure, except his site is in Italian. http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.ph...65&postcount=1 Here is the translated version:
http://babelfish.altavista.com/babel...od%2findex.htm

I've been thinking I need to replace the drive in my 5045 (hanging on playback of selfburned discs) and was wondering how your's is doing? And does the 5045 OS recognize the DL burn capability?

thnx

Pete in Oklahoma City

My 5045 stopped writing discs (all dvd media) and eventually would not even eject... So I opened it up, cleaned it thouroughly, and the lens was cloudy, used white spirit and a cotton bud, got it crystal clear, put it all back together and just burned 10 disks (mix of -r and +r) with no problems at all....

My 5005A just stopped recognizing DVD brands I had used before and a recording made on a RW was not recognized anywhere else, a new problem.

Took recorder apart and cleaned the lens and DVDs now recognized.

I found it's easier to get the door off if you open the drive before you take it apart. The door will slide off tray and if you break off two tabs at the bottom it will easily slide back in.

Jeff